Environment variables

Launch Now reads its configuration from environment variables. Locally, they live in a .env file at the root of the project; in production, you set them in your hosting provider (see Deploying).

Start from the example file:

cp .env.example .env

How validation works

Variables are declared and validated in lib/env.ts with @t3-oss/env-nextjs and Zod. The app imports env from @/lib/env instead of reading process.env directly, so every value is typed and checked.

import { createEnv } from "@t3-oss/env-nextjs"
import { z } from "zod"
 
export const env = createEnv({
  server: {
    DATABASE_URL: z.url(),
    BETTER_AUTH_SECRET: z.string().min(32),
    // ...
  },
  client: {
    NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL: z.url(),
  },
  runtimeEnv: {
    DATABASE_URL: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
    // ...
  },
  skipValidation: !!process.env.SKIP_ENV_VALIDATION,
})

• Server variables are only available in server code. Importing one in a client component throws an error.
• Client variables start with NEXT_PUBLIC_ and are inlined into the browser bundle at build time.
• If a required variable is missing or malformed, the app fails with a list of the invalid variables as soon as lib/env.ts is loaded.

Skipping validation

Set SKIP_ENV_VALIDATION to any non-empty value to turn validation off:

SKIP_ENV_VALIDATION=1 pnpm build

This is meant for builds that have no secrets, such as the build job in .github/workflows/ci.yml. Do not set it in production: missing variables would then fail later, at runtime, with less helpful errors.

App

NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL is used for metadata, the sitemap, Open Graph images and links, as the Better Auth client base URL, and as the trusted origin for auth requests. Locally, use http://localhost:3000. In production, use your domain, without a trailing slash.

NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPPORT_EMAIL is not declared in lib/env.ts. It is read by lib/config/site-config.ts as siteConfig.supportEmail; when it is empty, the sidebar link is hidden.

Database

Any Postgres works. With Neon, copy the connection string from your project's dashboard. It is used by the app, by drizzle-kit (drizzle.config.ts), by pnpm db:migrate and by the seed scripts.

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/pulse

Authentication

Generate BETTER_AUTH_SECRET with:

openssl rand -base64 32

BETTER_AUTH_URL is the same as NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL in most setups. Besides configuring Better Auth, it builds the links in emails: invitation links, newsletter confirmation links and notification emails.

OAuth apps

Create one OAuth app per environment and register the Better Auth callback URL:

Replace http://localhost:3000 with your domain in production.

Email

Get an API key from the Resend dashboard. The sender addresses must belong to a domain you verified in Resend.

RESEND_AUDIENCE_ID is not in .env.example. Add it when you want to collect newsletter subscribers; see Newsletter.

When APP_CONTACT_EMAIL or APP_HELP_EMAIL is missing, the legal config shows a TODO placeholder instead, which pnpm legal:check reports. See Legal.

File storage

The storage client in lib/storage.ts uses path-style URLs and a bucket named assets, which it tries to create on first upload. Any S3-compatible provider works. See File storage.

Stripe

• Copy STRIPE_SECRET_KEY from Stripe's API keys page.
• Locally, stripe listen --forward-to localhost:3000/api/webhook/stripe prints the webhook secret. In production, copy it from the webhook endpoint you create in the Stripe dashboard.
• pnpm stripe:products prints both price IDs. They are optional for validation, but a plan without a price ID is skipped when the Stripe plugin lists plans, so users cannot subscribe to it.

See Billing.

Demo account

When both are set, pnpm db:seed:demo can create the account, the sign-in page shows a demo sign-in button, and destructive actions are refused for that account. Leave them empty in a real product. pnpm reset-project tells you to remove them.

Other variables

Full example

# --- App ---------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=http://localhost:3000
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPPORT_EMAIL=help@launch-now.dev
 
# --- Database (Postgres / Neon) ---------------------------------------------
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/pulse
 
# --- Better Auth -------------------------------------------------------------
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=replace-with-a-32-character-random-secret
BETTER_AUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000
 
# --- Email (Resend) ----------------------------------------------------------
RESEND_API_KEY=re_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
EMAIL_FROM="Pulse <hello@example.com>"
APP_CONTACT_EMAIL=contact@example.com
APP_HELP_EMAIL=help@example.com
APP_NOREPLY_EMAIL=noreply@example.com
APP_ONBOARDING_EMAIL=onboarding@example.com
 
# --- OAuth providers ---------------------------------------------------------
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=your-github-client-id
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=your-github-client-secret
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your-google-client-id.apps.googleusercontent.com
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your-google-client-secret
 
# --- S3-compatible storage (avatars, uploads) --------------------------------
AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3=https://s3.example.com
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-access-key-id
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-secret-access-key
AWS_REGION=auto
 
# --- Stripe ------------------------------------------------------------------
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
STRIPE_PRO_PRICE_ID=price_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
STRIPE_ULTRA_PRICE_ID=price_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
# --- Demo account (optional) -------------------------------------------------
DEMO_EMAIL=demo@example.com
DEMO_PASSWORD=demo-password

Adding a variable

To add your own variable:

1. Add it to server (or client, with the NEXT_PUBLIC_ prefix) in lib/env.ts, with a Zod schema.
2. Map it in runtimeEnv.
3. Add it to .env.example with a comment, so other developers know about it.
4. Read it with env.MY_VARIABLE from @/lib/env.

server: {
  // ...
  MY_API_KEY: z.string().min(1),
},
runtimeEnv: {
  // ...
  MY_API_KEY: process.env.MY_API_KEY,
},