Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root of the project. The variables marked Required must be set before the app will start. All others are optional depending on which features you enable.

Variable	Required	Description
DATABASE_URL	Required	PostgreSQL connection string. For production on DigitalOcean Managed DB, append &connection_limit=5 to cap the Prisma pool per instance. e.g. postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb?connection_limit=5
NEXTAUTH_URL	Required	Canonical URL of your deployment. Must match the domain exactly. e.g. https://yourstore.com
NEXTAUTH_SECRET	Required	A random secret string used to sign session tokens. Generate one with: openssl rand -base64 32 e.g. your-random-secret
APP_ENCRYPTION_KEY	Required	64-character hex key used to encrypt payment and shipping provider credentials stored in the database. Generate with: node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('hex'))"
ADMIN_EMAILS	Required	Comma-separated list of email addresses that are automatically assigned the ADMIN role when they sign up or sign in for the first time. e.g. [email protected],[email protected]
NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL	Required	Public-facing site URL, baked into the client bundle at build time. Used for canonical links, sitemap generation, and OG images. e.g. https://yourstore.com
SITE_URL	Optional	Server-side site URL. Used to derive NEXTAUTH_URL when that variable is not set explicitly. Typically the same value as NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL. e.g. https://yourstore.com
SITE_NAME	Optional	Display name for the site, used in email templates and the admin panel. e.g. My Store
SENDGRID_API_KEY	Optional	SendGrid API key for transactional emails (order confirmations, password resets, welcome emails).
SENDGRID_FROM_EMAIL	Optional	The verified sender email address in your SendGrid account. e.g. [email protected]
DO_SPACES_ENDPOINT	Optional	DigitalOcean Spaces endpoint URL. e.g. https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com
NEXT_PUBLIC_DO_SPACES_CDN	Optional	CDN endpoint for serving media files publicly. Used in Next.js image remotePatterns. e.g. https://your-bucket.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com
DO_SPACES_REGION	Optional	DigitalOcean Spaces region. e.g. sfo3
DO_SPACES_BUCKET	Optional	Name of your Spaces bucket.
DO_SPACES_FOLDER	Optional	Root folder within the bucket for this deployment's uploaded files. Use different values for dev vs production. e.g. production
DO_SPACES_KEY	Optional	Spaces access key ID. Generate under API → Spaces Keys in your DO account.
DO_SPACES_SECRET	Optional	Spaces secret access key. Shown only once at creation time.
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID	Optional	Google OAuth client ID for Google sign-in. Create credentials at console.cloud.google.com.
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET	Optional	Google OAuth client secret. Never expose this on the client.

Payment & Shipping Credentials

Payment processor keys (Stripe, Authorize.net, Clover, Square) and shipping provider keys (EasyPost, Shippo, ShipStation) are not configured through environment variables. They are entered directly in the admin panel under Settings → Payment Settings and Settings → Shipping Settings, then stored encrypted in the database using APP_ENCRYPTION_KEY. This means you can change providers without redeploying.

Payment & Shipping Credentials

Security Notes

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