diff --git a/00_first-run.R b/00_first-run.R
index 234c88b..fd2ec09 100644
--- a/00_first-run.R
+++ b/00_first-run.R
@@ -30,9 +30,11 @@ if (!file.exists(here::here("data", "tweets_oembed.rds"))) {
   TWEETS_FILE <- TWEETS_FILE %>% keep(file.exists) %>% .[1]
   message("Using tweets from: ", TWEETS_FILE)
 
-  if (requireNamespace("furrr", quietly = TRUE)) {
+  if (ALLOW_PARALLEL && requireNamespace("furrr", quietly = TRUE)) {
     message("Using {furrr} to speed up the process")
     future::plan(future::multisession)
+  } else {
+    message("(Set `ALLOW_PARALLEL = TRUE`` in 00_settings.R and install {furrr} to speed this up.)")
   }
   tweets <- import_tweets(
     TWEETS_FILE,
diff --git a/R/custom/00_settings.R b/R/custom/00_settings.R
index 4572793..6939964 100644
--- a/R/custom/00_settings.R
+++ b/R/custom/00_settings.R
@@ -86,31 +86,31 @@ TWEETS_MANAGE_UPDATES <- TRUE
 # fine. Updates are done incrementally (new tweets only) unless it has been more
 # than 2 hours since last update or within a window around the start of the hour.
 TWEETS_MANAGE_UPDATE_INTERVAL <- 5 * 60
-# Location of your Twitter PAT from {rtweet}. See {rtweet} for help
-# authenicating your app with Twitter. Then view your users .Renviron (you can
-# use `usethis::edit_r_environ()`) to locate the RDS containing your PAT.
-# If you're deploying on shinyapps.io or elsewhere you should copy this RDS file
-# into your project (usually it's `~/.rtweet_token.rds`) and set the variable
-# below to the correct file name. DON'T COMMIT THIS FILE TO VERSION CONTROL!!
-TWEETS_MANAGE_TWITTER_PAT_RDS <- ".rtweet_token.rds"
 
 if (TWEETS_MANAGE_UPDATES) {
-  # Check that TWITTER_PAT is correctly set
+  # Check that TWITTER_PAT is available. See {rtweet} for help authenticating
+  # your app with Twitter. Then view your users .Renviron (you can use
+  # `usethis::edit_r_environ()`) to locate the RDS containing your PAT. If
+  # you're deploying on shinyapps.io or elsewhere you should copy this RDS file
+  # into your project (usually it's `~/.rtweet_token.rds`) and add
+  #
+  # TWITTER_PAT=".rtweet_token.rds"
+  #
+  # to your project .Renviron (run `usethis::edit_r_environ("project")`).
+  # DON'T COMMIT THE RTWEET TOKEN RDS FILE TO VERSION CONTROL!!
   if (Sys.getenv("TWITTER_PAT") == "") {
-    if (file.exists(TWEETS_MANAGE_TWITTER_PAT_RDS)) {
-      Sys.setenv(TWITTER_PAT = TWEETS_MANAGE_TWITTER_PAT_RDS)
-    } else {
-      warning(
-        "I can't find the file containing your Twitter PAT, so live ",
-        "updating with {rtweet} won't be possible. See {rtweet} for help ",
-        "authenticating and set the config TWEETS_MANAGE_TWITTER_PAT_RDS in ",
-        "'R/custom/00_settings.R'."
-      )
-      TWEETS_MANAGE_UPDATES <- FALSE
-    }
+    warning(
+      "I can't find the file containing your Twitter PAT, so live ",
+      "updating with {rtweet} won't be possible. See {rtweet} for help ",
+      "authenticating and set the config TWEETS_MANAGE_TWITTER_PAT_RDS in ",
+      "'R/custom/00_settings.R'."
+    )
+    TWEETS_MANAGE_UPDATES <- FALSE
   }
 }
 
+ALLOW_PARALLEL <- FALSE
+
 # ----- Tweets With Most XX Time Window ----
 # Sets the time window for the "Top RT" and "Top Liked" tweets on the front
 # page. Shows the top tweet from the last `hours + days + minutes`, and the text
diff --git a/R/functions.R b/R/functions.R
index 8361198..6cec276 100644
--- a/R/functions.R
+++ b/R/functions.R
@@ -275,7 +275,9 @@ tweet_cache_oembed <- function(tweets, cache = "data/tweets_oembed.rds") {
 
   is_needed <- map_lgl(tweets$oembed, is.null)
   if (any(is_needed)) {
-    tweets$oembed[is_needed] <- if (requireNamespace("furrr", quietly = TRUE)) {
+    tweets$oembed[is_needed] <- if (
+      ALLOW_PARALLEL && requireNamespace("furrr", quietly = TRUE)
+    ) {
       furrr::future_pmap(tweets[is_needed, ], get_tweet_blockquote, null_on_error = FALSE, .progress = TRUE)
     } else {
       pmap(tweets[is_needed, ], get_tweet_blockquote, null_on_error = FALSE)