Environment Variables

TL;DR: Copy .env.example to .env.local, set the 3 required variables, done.

Quick Setup

cp .env.example .env.local

Minimum required:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/straktur"
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET="your-32-char-secret-here"
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL="http://localhost:3000"

Complete Reference

Core (Required)

Variable	Type	Required	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	string	Yes	PostgreSQL connection URL
`BETTER_AUTH_SECRET`	string	Yes	Auth secret (min 32 chars)
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL`	string	Yes	App URL for redirects
`NODE_ENV`	enum	No	`development` \| `test` \| `production`

Seed Data (Development)

Variable	Type	Required	Default	Description
`ALLOW_DB_SEED`	boolean	No	`false`	Enable db:seed command
`ALLOW_DB_RESET`	boolean	No	`false`	Enable db:reset command
`SEED_USER_EMAIL`	string	No	`[email protected]`	Demo user email
`SEED_USER_PASSWORD`	string	No	`password123`	Demo user password
`SEED_USER_NAME`	string	No	`Admin User`	Demo user name
`SEED_ORG_NAME`	string	No	`Acme Inc`	Demo organization name
`SEED_ORG_SLUG`	string	No	`acme`	Demo organization slug

Email

Variable	Type	Required	Default	Description
`EMAIL_PROVIDER`	enum	No	`console`	`console` \| `smtp` \| `resend`
`EMAIL_FROM`	string	No	`noreply@localhost`	Sender address
`EMAIL_REPLY_TO`	string	No	-	Reply-to address

SMTP options (when EMAIL_PROVIDER=smtp):

Variable	Type	Required	Description
`SMTP_HOST`	string	Yes	SMTP server host
`SMTP_PORT`	string	Yes	SMTP port (587, 465, 25)
`SMTP_USER`	string	Yes	SMTP username
`SMTP_PASS`	string	Yes	SMTP password
`SMTP_SECURE`	boolean	No	Use TLS (true for 465)

Resend options (when EMAIL_PROVIDER=resend):

Variable	Type	Required	Description
`RESEND_API_KEY`	string	Yes	Resend API key

File Storage

Variable	Type	Required	Default	Description
`STORAGE_PROVIDER`	enum	No	`s3`	`s3` \| `supabase`
`STORAGE_INTENT_SECRET`	string	No	-	Secret for signed upload URLs

S3/R2/MinIO options (when STORAGE_PROVIDER=s3):

Variable	Type	Required	Description
`S3_BUCKET`	string	Yes	Bucket name
`S3_REGION`	string	Yes	Region (e.g., `us-east-1`)
`S3_ENDPOINT`	string	No	Custom endpoint (for R2/MinIO)
`S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID`	string	Yes	Access key
`S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`	string	Yes	Secret key

Supabase Storage options (when STORAGE_PROVIDER=supabase):

Variable	Type	Required	Description
`SUPABASE_URL`	string	Yes	Supabase project URL
`SUPABASE_SERVICE_KEY`	string	Yes	Service role key
`SUPABASE_STORAGE_BUCKET`	string	Yes	Storage bucket name

Example Configurations

Development (minimal)

# .env.local
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/straktur"
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET="development-secret-min-32-characters-long"
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL="http://localhost:3000"

# Enable seeding
ALLOW_DB_SEED="true"

Development (with email preview)

# .env.local
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/straktur"
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET="development-secret-min-32-characters-long"
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL="http://localhost:3000"

# Console email (prints to terminal)
EMAIL_PROVIDER="console"

Production

# .env (production)
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:[email protected]:5432/straktur"
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET="<generated-secret>"
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL="https://app.example.com"
NODE_ENV="production"

# Email via Resend
EMAIL_PROVIDER="resend"
EMAIL_FROM="[email protected]"
RESEND_API_KEY="re_xxx"

# Storage via S3
STORAGE_PROVIDER="s3"
S3_BUCKET="straktur-files"
S3_REGION="us-east-1"
S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID="AKIA..."
S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="..."

Adding New Variables

Environment variables are validated using T3 Env.

File: src/lib/env.ts

// src/lib/env.ts
import { createEnv } from "@t3-oss/env-nextjs"
import { z } from "zod"

export const env = createEnv({
  server: {
    // Add your server variable here
    MY_NEW_VAR: z.string().min(1),
  },
  client: {
    // Add your client variable here (must start with NEXT_PUBLIC_)
    NEXT_PUBLIC_MY_VAR: z.string().optional(),
  },
  runtimeEnv: {
    MY_NEW_VAR: process.env.MY_NEW_VAR,
    NEXT_PUBLIC_MY_VAR: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_MY_VAR,
  },
})

Usage:

import { env } from "@/lib/env"

// Type-safe access
const value = env.MY_NEW_VAR

Common Mistakes

❌ Wrong: Using process.env directly

const url = process.env.DATABASE_URL // No type safety!

✅ Correct: Using env from lib

import { env } from "@/lib/env"
const url = env.DATABASE_URL // Type-safe + validated

Installation - Initial setup
Email Setup - Configure email providers
Storage Setup - Configure file storage

Environment Variables

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