diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5f3bb6d..4e1703b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ contributors.yml
 packages.yml
 all_contribs.pickle
 all_contribs_dict.pickle
+token.txt
 .vscode/
 .token
 __pycache__
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index db3c67b..301b5d0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,11 +13,8 @@ For an action to work will need to figure out the token part: https://github.com
 
 To run this you need to [create a TOKEN that can be used to access the GitHub
 API.](https://docs.github.com/en/rest/guides/getting-started-with-the-rest-api?apiVersion=2022-11-28#about-tokens).
-Store the token as a `.pickle` object containing a single string with the
-Token value within it.
-
-TODO: it might make more sense to store the token value as .token in the github
-repo and then I can add that to the gitignore?
+In the root of the project directory, store the token in a file named `token.txt`,
+containing a single string with the token value.
 
 ## How to run each script
 
diff --git a/import-token.py b/import-token.py
deleted file mode 100644
index f6940d4..0000000
--- a/import-token.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-# TODO: This will become automated in a CI workflow
-import pickle
-
-with open("../token.pickle", "rb") as f:
-    API_TOKEN = pickle.load(f)
-
-with open("../token.pickle", "wb") as f:
-    pickle.dump(API_TOKEN, f)
-
-
-with open("../issues.pickle", "rb") as f:
-    API_TOKEN = pickle.load(f)
-
-with open("../issues.pickle", "wb") as f:
-    pickle.dump(issues, f)
-
-final_contribs = all_contribs_dict_up
-with open("all_contribs.pickle", "wb") as f:
-    pickle.dump(all_contribs_dict_up, f)
diff --git a/parse-contributors.py b/parse-contributors.py
index ac5c646..e391d4a 100644
--- a/parse-contributors.py
+++ b/parse-contributors.py
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 import pickle
 
 from pyosmeta.contributors import ProcessContributors
+from pyosmeta.file_io import read_text_file
 
-with open("../token.pickle", "rb") as f:
-    API_TOKEN = pickle.load(f)
+API_TOKEN = read_text_file("token.txt")
 
 json_files = [
     "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pyOpenSci/python-package-guide/main/.all-contributorsrc",
diff --git a/parse_review_issues.py b/parse_review_issues.py
index 0a48005..5fcc5ca 100644
--- a/parse_review_issues.py
+++ b/parse_review_issues.py
@@ -11,12 +11,10 @@
 """
 
 
-import pickle
-
 from pyosmeta import ProcessIssues
+from pyosmeta.file_io import read_text_file
 
-with open("../token.pickle", "rb") as f:
-    API_TOKEN = pickle.load(f)
+API_TOKEN = read_text_file("token.txt")
 
 # TODO: looks like sometimes the gh username is the name then @. so i need to create
 # code that looks for the @ and adds the username to ghusername and the rest to the name
diff --git a/src/pyosmeta/file_io.py b/src/pyosmeta/file_io.py
index b3cd836..718f255 100644
--- a/src/pyosmeta/file_io.py
+++ b/src/pyosmeta/file_io.py
@@ -6,6 +6,23 @@
 # file io
 
 
+def read_text_file(filename: str) -> str:
+    """Read a text file and return the contents as a string.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    filename : str
+        Path to the text file to be read.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    str
+        The contents of the text file.
+    """
+    with open(filename, "r") as f:
+        return f.readline()
+
+
 @dataclass
 class YamlIO:
     """
diff --git a/update_reviewers.py b/update_reviewers.py
index 8d2004f..fcd870c 100644
--- a/update_reviewers.py
+++ b/update_reviewers.py
@@ -21,10 +21,9 @@
 
 from pyosmeta.contrib_review_meta import UpdateReviewMeta
 from pyosmeta.contributors import ProcessContributors
-from pyosmeta.file_io import YamlIO
+from pyosmeta.file_io import YamlIO, read_text_file
 
-with open("../token.pickle", "rb") as f:
-    API_TOKEN = pickle.load(f)
+API_TOKEN = read_text_file("token.txt")
 
 # Load contributors dict from website (just for now)
 with open("all_contribs.pickle", "rb") as f: