auth/docs/getting-started/ENV_VARIABLES_REFERENCE.md

Environment Variables Reference

Quick Reference: .env File Format

For AWS Database (Production)

# =====================================================
# AWS Configuration (REQUIRED for SSM access)
# =====================================================
AWS_REGION=ap-south-1
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_aws_access_key_here
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_aws_secret_key_here
USE_AWS_SSM=true

# =====================================================
# JWT Configuration (REQUIRED)
# =====================================================
JWT_ACCESS_SECRET=your_jwt_access_secret_here
JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=your_jwt_refresh_secret_here

# =====================================================
# Application Configuration
# =====================================================
NODE_ENV=production
PORT=3000
CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://your-app-domain.com

For Local Development

# =====================================================
# Local Database (Local Development Only)
# =====================================================
USE_AWS_SSM=false
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:password@localhost:5432/farmmarket

# =====================================================
# JWT Configuration (REQUIRED)
# =====================================================
JWT_ACCESS_SECRET=your_jwt_access_secret_here
JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=your_jwt_refresh_secret_here

# =====================================================
# Application Configuration
# =====================================================
NODE_ENV=development
PORT=3000

Variable Descriptions

AWS Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Description
AWS_REGION	Yes (for AWS)	ap-south-1	AWS region for SSM Parameter Store
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID	Yes (for AWS)	-	AWS access key for SSM access
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	Yes (for AWS)	-	AWS secret key for SSM access
USE_AWS_SSM	Yes (for AWS)	false	Set to true to use AWS SSM for DB credentials
DB_USE_READONLY	No	false	Set to true to use read-only user
DB_HOST	No	db.livingai.app	Database host (auto-detected)
DB_PORT	No	5432	Database port
DB_NAME	No	livingai_test_db	Database name

Database Credentials

⚠️ IMPORTANT: Database credentials (DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, DATABASE_URL with credentials) should NEVER be in .env files when using AWS SSM.

Credentials are fetched from AWS SSM Parameter Store:

• Read-Write: /test/livingai/db/app
• Read-Only: /test/livingai/db/app/readonly

JWT Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Description
JWT_ACCESS_SECRET	Yes	-	Secret for signing access tokens
JWT_REFRESH_SECRET	Yes	-	Secret for signing refresh tokens
JWT_ACCESS_TTL	No	15m	Access token expiration time
JWT_REFRESH_TTL	No	7d	Refresh token expiration time

Application Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Description
NODE_ENV	No	development	Environment: development, production, test
PORT	No	3000	Server port
CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS	Yes (prod)	-	Comma-separated list of allowed origins

Redis Configuration (Optional)

Variable	Required	Default	Description
REDIS_URL	No	-	Full Redis connection URL (e.g., redis://localhost:6379)
REDIS_HOST	No	localhost	Redis host
REDIS_PORT	No	6379	Redis port
REDIS_PASSWORD	No	-	Redis password (optional)

Note: Redis is optional. If not configured, rate limiting uses in-memory storage.

Local Development Only

Variable	Required	Description
DATABASE_URL	Yes (if not using SSM)	PostgreSQL connection string for local database

Security Notes

1. Never commit .env files - Add to .gitignore
2. Use AWS SSM in production - No database credentials in files
3. Rotate credentials regularly - Update SSM parameters periodically
4. Use environment-specific values - Different values for dev/test/prod

Example: Complete Production .env

# AWS Configuration
AWS_REGION=ap-south-1
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
USE_AWS_SSM=true
DB_USE_READONLY=false

# JWT Configuration
JWT_ACCESS_SECRET=your-super-secret-access-key-change-this-in-production
JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=your-super-secret-refresh-key-change-this-in-production
JWT_ACCESS_TTL=15m
JWT_REFRESH_TTL=7d

# Redis Configuration (Optional)
REDIS_URL=redis://your-redis-host:6379
# OR
# REDIS_HOST=your-redis-host
# REDIS_PORT=6379
# REDIS_PASSWORD=your-redis-password

# Application Configuration
NODE_ENV=production
PORT=3000
CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://app.example.com,https://api.example.com

Example: Local Development .env

# Local Database
USE_AWS_SSM=false
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:password123@localhost:5433/farmmarket

# JWT Configuration
JWT_ACCESS_SECRET=dev-secret-key
JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=dev-refresh-secret-key

# Redis Configuration (Optional - use local Docker Redis)
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379
# OR start Redis with docker-compose and use:
# REDIS_HOST=localhost
# REDIS_PORT=6379

# Application Configuration
NODE_ENV=development
PORT=3000

Verification

To verify your environment variables are set correctly:

# Check required variables are set
node -e "require('dotenv').config(); console.log('AWS_REGION:', process.env.AWS_REGION); console.log('USE_AWS_SSM:', process.env.USE_AWS_SSM);"