diff --git a/api/README.md b/api/README.md
index 38b06e2..88e7aa8 100644
--- a/api/README.md
+++ b/api/README.md
@@ -2,8 +2,42 @@
 
 This API enables the OVDashboard UI to run.
 
+
 ## Quick Start
 
-Preferably, use the `docker` image at `TODO` to run API and UI simultaneously. Refer to the [main config](TODO) for how to do that.
+Preferably, use the `docker` image at `TODO` to run this API and its UI simultaneously. Refer to the [main README](../README.md) for how to do that.
 
-## Running the API 
\ No newline at end of file
+
+## Running the API without a container
+
+Install the `ovdashboard_api` python package, you can:
+
+- use `uvicorn` or another ASGI runner to start the app object `ovdashboard_api:app` <br />
+Example: `uvicorn 'ovdashboard_api:app'`
+- run the provided `ovdashboard-api` script &ndash; this is basically a shorthand for `uvicorn`
+- use `gunicorn` or another application server with ASGI workers (can be provided by `uvicorn`) <br />
+Example: `gunicorn 'ovdashboard_api:app' --worker-class uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker` 
+
+
+## Configuration
+
+The OVDashboard API is fully configured by environment variables or an `.env` file in the current working directory. Refer to the [main README](../README.md) for the list of variables.
+
+
+## Dependencies
+
+Refer to your distribution's manual for how to install these dependencies.
+
+- Python 3.9 with pip <br />
+If `python3 --version` shows "Python 3.9" or later, and `python3 -m pip` does execute, you're good to go
+- git (recommended)
+- libmagic
+
+
+## Installation
+
+If `git` is installed, install `ovdashboard_api` directly using this command:
+
+    python3 -m pip install 'git+https://TODO#egg=ovdashboard_api&subdirectory=api'
+
+If installing `git` is not an option, just [download and extract this repository's archive](TODO), then use the local path instead of the `git+https` URL for `pip install`. 
diff --git a/api/ovdashboard_api/__main__.py b/api/ovdashboard_api/__main__.py
index 0cb503d..68ad6bf 100644
--- a/api/ovdashboard_api/__main__.py
+++ b/api/ovdashboard_api/__main__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 from uvicorn import run as uvicorn_run
 
+from .settings import SETTINGS
+
 
 def main() -> None:
     """
@@ -10,7 +12,7 @@ def main() -> None:
         app="ovdashboard_api:app",
         host="0.0.0.0",
         port=8000,
-        reload=True,
+        reload=not SETTINGS.production_mode,
     )