diff --git a/api.js b/api.js
index 7caf844..17df1ac 100644
--- a/api.js
+++ b/api.js
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 const got = require('got');
+const { getEnvVar } = require('./env.js');
 
 const fetchEvents = () =>
   got('http://localhost:8384/rest/events', {
     headers: {
-      'X-API-Key': process.env.API_KEY,
+      'X-API-Key': getEnvVar('API_KEY','invalid')
     },
   }).json();
 
diff --git a/env.js b/env.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8999dd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/env.js
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+module.exports = {
+    getEnvVar: function (varname, defaultvalue){
+        var result = process.env[varname];
+        if(result!=undefined)
+            return result;
+        else
+            return defaultvalue;
+    }
+};