diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ec824f4aa..ec21f5e01 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,4 +12,6 @@ venv
 ehthumbs.db
 Thumbs.db
 env/
-frontend/node_modules/
\ No newline at end of file
+frontend/node_modules/
+
+.env
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/flaskr/__init__.py b/backend/flaskr/__init__.py
index eef4a19d8..d991c6bd5 100644
--- a/backend/flaskr/__init__.py
+++ b/backend/flaskr/__init__.py
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
-import os
 from flask import Flask, request, abort, jsonify
-from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
 from flask_cors import CORS
 import random
 
-from models import setup_db, Question, Category
+from models import setup_db, Question, Category, db
 
 QUESTIONS_PER_PAGE = 10
 
@@ -21,6 +19,8 @@ def create_app(test_config=None):
     """
     @TODO: Set up CORS. Allow '*' for origins. Delete the sample route after completing the TODOs
     """
+    with app.app_context():
+        db.create_all()
 
     """
     @TODO: Use the after_request decorator to set Access-Control-Allow
diff --git a/backend/models.py b/backend/models.py
index 3c5f56ed1..7647a6fbf 100644
--- a/backend/models.py
+++ b/backend/models.py
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-import os
-from sqlalchemy import Column, String, Integer, create_engine
+from sqlalchemy import Column, String, Integer
 from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
-import json
-
 database_name = 'trivia'
-database_path = 'postgresql://{}/{}'.format('localhost:5432', database_name)
+database_user = 'postgres'
+database_password = 'password'
+database_host = 'localhost:5432'
+database_path = f'postgresql://{database_user}:{database_password}@{database_host}/{database_name}'
 
 db = SQLAlchemy()
 
@@ -13,24 +13,21 @@
     binds a flask application and a SQLAlchemy service
 """
 def setup_db(app, database_path=database_path):
-    app.config["SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI"] = database_path
-    app.config["SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS"] = False
-    db.app = app
+    app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = database_path
+    app.config['SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS'] = False
     db.init_app(app)
-    db.create_all()
 
 """
 Question
-
 """
 class Question(db.Model):
     __tablename__ = 'questions'
 
     id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
-    question = Column(String)
-    answer = Column(String)
-    category = Column(String)
-    difficulty = Column(Integer)
+    question = Column(String, nullable=False)
+    answer = Column(String, nullable=False)
+    category = Column(String, nullable=False)
+    difficulty = Column(Integer, nullable=False)
 
     def __init__(self, question, answer, category, difficulty):
         self.question = question
@@ -56,17 +53,16 @@ def format(self):
             'answer': self.answer,
             'category': self.category,
             'difficulty': self.difficulty
-            }
+        }
 
 """
 Category
-
 """
 class Category(db.Model):
     __tablename__ = 'categories'
 
     id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
-    type = Column(String)
+    type = Column(String, nullable=False)
 
     def __init__(self, type):
         self.type = type
@@ -75,4 +71,4 @@ def format(self):
         return {
             'id': self.id,
             'type': self.type
-            }
+        }
diff --git a/backend/requirements.txt b/backend/requirements.txt
index fdf8b85aa..232f3fcc5 100644
--- a/backend/requirements.txt
+++ b/backend/requirements.txt
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
-aniso8601==6.0.0
-Click==7.0
-Flask==1.0.3
-Flask-Cors==3.0.7
-Flask-RESTful==0.3.7
-Flask-SQLAlchemy==2.4.0
-itsdangerous==1.1.0
-Jinja2==2.10.1
-MarkupSafe==1.1.1
-psycopg2-binary==2.8.2
-pytz==2019.1
-six==1.12.0
-SQLAlchemy==1.3.4
-Werkzeug==0.15.5
+aniso8601>=9.0.1
+Click>=8.0.0
+Flask>=2.0.0
+Flask-Cors>=3.0.10
+Flask-RESTful>=0.3.9
+Flask-SQLAlchemy>=2.5.1
+itsdangerous>=2.0.0
+Jinja2>=3.0.0
+MarkupSafe>=2.0.0
+psycopg2-binary>=2.9.0
+pytz>=2021.1
+six>=1.16.0
+SQLAlchemy>=1.4.0
+Werkzeug>=2.0.0
diff --git a/frontend/README.md b/frontend/README.md
index a3aa782d1..5795bb34c 100644
--- a/frontend/README.md
+++ b/frontend/README.md
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 
 ### Installing Dependencies
 
+Recommended node version: 16x
+
 1. **Installing Node and NPM**
    This project depends on Nodejs and Node Package Manager (NPM). Before continuing, you must download and install Node (the download includes NPM) from [https://nodejs.com/en/download](https://nodejs.org/en/download/).