diff --git a/private_gpt/__init__.py b/private_gpt/__init__.py
index d4f1db4..360b53a 100644
--- a/private_gpt/__init__.py
+++ b/private_gpt/__init__.py
@@ -22,3 +22,6 @@ os.environ["GRADIO_ANALYTICS_ENABLED"] = "False"
 # Disable chromaDB telemetry
 # It is already disabled, see PR#1144
 # os.environ["ANONYMIZED_TELEMETRY"] = "False"
+
+# adding tiktoken cache path within repo to be able to run in offline environment.
+os.environ["TIKTOKEN_CACHE_DIR"] = "tiktoken_cache"
diff --git a/tiktoken_cache/.gitignore b/tiktoken_cache/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c96a04f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tiktoken_cache/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+*
+!.gitignore
\ No newline at end of file