diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 80e3f6c..293af7e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -143,3 +143,5 @@ temp/
 api/dataset.pkl
 api/dataset_big.pkl
 api/dataset_300.pkl
+
+api/.env.backup
diff --git a/api/.env.example b/api/.env.example
index 3ba88c3..4e40cd4 100644
--- a/api/.env.example
+++ b/api/.env.example
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
-PINECONE_API_KEY="XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
-LOGGING_URL="" # leave blank if you're not testing logging specifically
\ No newline at end of file
+PINECONE_API_KEY="" # leave blank to use our online API instead
+LOGGING_URL="" # leave blank if you're not testing logging specifically
diff --git a/api/Pipfile b/api/Pipfile
index b1c0256..079d058 100644
--- a/api/Pipfile
+++ b/api/Pipfile
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ tiktoken = "*"
 pinecone-client = "*"
 python-dotenv = "*"
 discord-webhook = "*"
+requests = "*"
 
 [dev-packages]
 
diff --git a/api/Pipfile.lock b/api/Pipfile.lock
index a2762e9..29e52ac 100644
--- a/api/Pipfile.lock
+++ b/api/Pipfile.lock
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
     "_meta": {
         "hash": {
-            "sha256": "749858b5ccd522452ddca640dacc919efe05a817bbe907afbd6ee799dfa16cc4"
+            "sha256": "08f83a57e2634a1c749ac33ed618b5f6345f56b11630024574b2c002bc3878f1"
         },
         "pipfile-spec": 6,
         "requires": {
@@ -728,19 +728,19 @@
         },
         "requests": {
             "hashes": [
-                "sha256:10e94cc4f3121ee6da529d358cdaeaff2f1c409cd377dbc72b825852f2f7e294",
-                "sha256:239d7d4458afcb28a692cdd298d87542235f4ca8d36d03a15bfc128a6559a2f4"
+                "sha256:58cd2187c01e70e6e26505bca751777aa9f2ee0b7f4300988b709f44e013003f",
+                "sha256:942c5a758f98d790eaed1a29cb6eefc7ffb0d1cf7af05c3d2791656dbd6ad1e1"
             ],
-            "markers": "python_version >= '3.7'",
-            "version": "==2.30.0"
+            "index": "pypi",
+            "version": "==2.31.0"
         },
         "setuptools": {
             "hashes": [
-                "sha256:23aaf86b85ca52ceb801d32703f12d77517b2556af839621c641fca11287952b",
-                "sha256:f104fa03692a2602fa0fec6c6a9e63b6c8a968de13e17c026957dd1f53d80990"
+                "sha256:5df61bf30bb10c6f756eb19e7c9f3b473051f48db77fddbe06ff2ca307df9a6f",
+                "sha256:62642358adc77ffa87233bc4d2354c4b2682d214048f500964dbe760ccedf102"
             ],
             "markers": "python_version >= '3.7'",
-            "version": "==67.7.2"
+            "version": "==67.8.0"
         },
         "six": {
             "hashes": [
@@ -803,11 +803,11 @@
         },
         "typing-extensions": {
             "hashes": [
-                "sha256:5cb5f4a79139d699607b3ef622a1dedafa84e115ab0024e0d9c044a9479ca7cb",
-                "sha256:fb33085c39dd998ac16d1431ebc293a8b3eedd00fd4a32de0ff79002c19511b4"
+                "sha256:6ad00b63f849b7dcc313b70b6b304ed67b2b2963b3098a33efe18056b1a9a223",
+                "sha256:ff6b238610c747e44c268aa4bb23c8c735d665a63726df3f9431ce707f2aa768"
             ],
             "markers": "python_version >= '3.7'",
-            "version": "==4.5.0"
+            "version": "==4.6.0"
         },
         "urllib3": {
             "hashes": [
diff --git a/api/get_blocks.py b/api/get_blocks.py
index 61574f3..3fc1c70 100644
--- a/api/get_blocks.py
+++ b/api/get_blocks.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import itertools
 import numpy as np
 import openai
 import regex as re
+import requests
 import time
 
 # ---------------------------------- constants ---------------------------------
@@ -46,7 +47,27 @@ def get_embedding(text: str) -> np.ndarray:
 
 
 # Get the k blocks most semantically similar to the query using Pinecone.
-def get_top_k_blocks(index, user_query: str, k: int = 20) -> List[Block]:
+def get_top_k_blocks(index, user_query: str, k: int) -> List[Block]:
+
+    # Default to querying embeddings from live website if pinecone url not
+    # present in .env
+    #
+    # This helps people getting started developing or messing around with the
+    # site, since setting up a vector DB with the embeddings is by far the
+    # hardest part for those not already on the team.
+
+    if index is None:
+
+        print('Pinecone index not found, performing semantic search on alignmentsearch-api.up.railway.app endpoint.')
+        response = requests.post(
+            "https://alignmentsearch-api.up.railway.app/semantic",
+            json = {
+                "query": user_query,
+                "k": k
+            }
+        )
+
+        return [Block(**block) for block in response.json()]
 
     # print time
     t = time.time()
diff --git a/api/main.py b/api/main.py
index f225f6e..3cc0ea3 100644
--- a/api/main.py
+++ b/api/main.py
@@ -11,26 +11,32 @@ from discord_webhook import DiscordWebhook
 
 # ---------------------------------- env setup ---------------------------------
 
-
 if os.path.exists('.env'):
     from dotenv import load_dotenv
     load_dotenv()
+else:
+    print("'api/.env' not found. Rename the 'api/.env.example' file and fill in values.")
 
-OPENAI_API_KEY = os.environ.get('OPENAI_API_KEY')
-openai.api_key = OPENAI_API_KEY
 
+OPENAI_API_KEY   = os.environ.get('OPENAI_API_KEY')
 PINECONE_API_KEY = os.environ.get('PINECONE_API_KEY')
-PINECONE_ENV = "us-east1-gcp"
-pinecone.init(
-    api_key=PINECONE_API_KEY,
-    environment=PINECONE_ENV
-)
-INDEX_NAME = "alignment-search"
-index = pinecone.Index(index_name=INDEX_NAME)
+LOGGING_URL      = os.environ.get('LOGGING_URL')
+PINECONE_INDEX   = None
 
-LOGGING_URL = os.environ.get('LOGGING_URL')
+openai.api_key = OPENAI_API_KEY # non-optional
 
-def log(*args, end="\n"):
+# Only init pinecone if we have an env value for it.
+if PINECONE_API_KEY is not None and PINECONE_API_KEY != "":
+
+    pinecone.init(
+        api_key = PINECONE_API_KEY,
+        environment = "us-east1-gcp",
+    )
+
+    PINECONE_INDEX = pinecone.Index(index_name="alignment-search")
+
+# log something only if the logging url is set
+def log(*args, end="\n"): 
     message = " ".join([str(arg) for arg in args]) + end
     # print(message)
     if LOGGING_URL is not None and LOGGING_URL != "":
@@ -59,7 +65,9 @@ def stream(src):
 @cross_origin()
 def semantic():
     query = request.json['query']
-    return jsonify([dataclasses.asdict(block) for block in get_top_k_blocks(index, query)])
+    k = request.json['k'] if 'k' in request.json else 20
+    return jsonify([dataclasses.asdict(block) for block in get_top_k_blocks(PINECONE_INDEX, query, k)])
+
 
 
 # ------------------------------------ chat ------------------------------------
@@ -72,7 +80,7 @@ def chat():
     query = request.json['query']
     history = request.json['history']
 
-    return Response(stream(talk_to_robot(index, query, history, log = log)), mimetype='text/event-stream')
+    return Response(stream(talk_to_robot(PINECONE_INDEX, query, history, log = log)), mimetype='text/event-stream')
 
 
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------