The README has been updated. local.conf and local.conf.EXAMPLE are not the correct names.
The file you would edit is local.json.
It does not exist by default. This is intentional so that git does not clobber local changes. Simply copy the file called local.json.EXAMPLE to the new file called local.json.
Do not change or rename the file default.json. Changes will be clobbered by the next git pull. Removing it will prevent web controller from starting.