Environment Variables

This page documents all environment variables used by Dharini.

Application Settings

`NODE_ENV`

Type: string Required: Yes Default: development Values: development, staging, production

Environment mode. Affects SSL configuration, logging, and other behaviors.

NODE_ENV=production

`PORT`

Type: number Required: No Default: 4000

Port on which the backend API server runs.

PORT=4000

Database Configuration

`DB_HOST`

Type: string Required: Yes

PostgreSQL database host. For local development, use postgres (Docker service name). For production, use your RDS endpoint.

# Development
DB_HOST=postgres

# Production
DB_HOST=your-database-instance.xxxxxxxxx.region.rds.amazonaws.com

`DB_PORT`

Type: number Required: No Default: 5432

PostgreSQL port.

DB_PORT=5432

`DB_USERNAME`

Type: string Required: Yes

Database username.

DB_USERNAME=postgres

`DB_PASSWORD`

Type: string Required: Yes

Database password.

DB_PASSWORD=your-secure-password

`DB_DATABASE`

Type: string Required: Yes

Database name.

DB_DATABASE=postgres

Redis Configuration

`REDIS_HOST`

Type: string Required: Yes

Redis host for queue management.

# Docker
REDIS_HOST=redis

# External Redis
REDIS_HOST=your-redis-host.com

`REDIS_PORT`

Type: number Required: No Default: 6379

Redis port.

REDIS_PORT=6379

AWS S3 Configuration

`S3_REGION`

Type: string Required: Yes

AWS region for S3 bucket.

S3_REGION=ap-south-1

`S3_BUCKET`

Type: string Required: Yes

S3 bucket name for file storage.

S3_BUCKET=dharini-prod-storage

`S3_ACCESSKEYID`

Type: string Required: Yes

AWS access key ID with S3 permissions.

S3_ACCESSKEYID=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE

`S3_SECRETACCESSKEY`

Type: string Required: Yes

AWS secret access key.

S3_SECRETACCESSKEY=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY

`S3_ENDPOINT`

Type: string Required: No

S3 endpoint URL. Use for S3-compatible storage or specific AWS regions.

S3_ENDPOINT=https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com

`S3_FOLDER`

Type: string Required: No Default: uploads

Folder prefix for uploaded files in S3.

S3_FOLDER=dharini-prod

Security

`JWT_SECRET`

Type: string Required: Yes

Secret key for signing JWT tokens. Must be a strong random string in production.

JWT_SECRET=your-super-secret-jwt-key-min-32-chars

Generate a secure secret:

openssl rand -base64 32

Email Configuration

Choose one email provider based on your needs.

SendGrid

`SENDGRID_API_KEY`

Type: string Required: If using SendGrid

SendGrid API key for sending emails.

SENDGRID_API_KEY=SG.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gmail

`GMAIL_USER`

Type: string Required: If using Gmail

Gmail email address.

GMAIL_USER=your-email@gmail.com

`GMAIL_PASS`

Type: string Required: If using Gmail

Gmail app password (not your regular password).

GMAIL_PASS=your-app-password

`EMAIL_FROM`

Type: string Required: Yes

From email address for outgoing emails.

EMAIL_FROM=noreply@dharini.artpark.ai

Frontend Configuration

`NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL`

Type: string Required: Yes

Public URL for the API. Used by the frontend to make API calls.

# Development
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:4000/api

# Production
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://in.dharini.artpark.ai/api

`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_ENV`

Type: string Required: Yes Values: development, staging, production

Frontend environment identifier.

NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_ENV=production

Optional Configuration

File Upload

`MAX_FILE_ALLOW_UPLOAD`

Type: number Default: 5242880 (5MB)

Maximum file size in bytes.

MAX_FILE_ALLOW_UPLOAD=10485760

`SIGNED_URL_EXPIRY`

Type: number Default: 3600

S3 signed URL expiry time in seconds.

SIGNED_URL_EXPIRY=7200

Job Scheduling

`JOB_SCHEDULER`

Type: boolean Default: false

Enable background job scheduling.

JOB_SCHEDULER=true

`JOB_SCHEDULE_REPEAT_PATTERN`

Type: string (cron expression) Default: 0 0 * * *

Cron pattern for scheduled jobs.

JOB_SCHEDULE_REPEAT_PATTERN=0 0 * * *

Example .env Files

Development

NODE_ENV=development
DB_HOST=postgres
DB_PORT=5432
DB_USERNAME=postgres
DB_PASSWORD=postgres
DB_DATABASE=dharini
REDIS_HOST=redis
REDIS_PORT=6379
JWT_SECRET=dev-secret-change-in-production
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:4000/api
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_ENV=development

Production

NODE_ENV=production
PORT=4000

# Database
DB_HOST=your-database-instance.xxxxxxxxx.region.rds.amazonaws.com
DB_PORT=5432
DB_USERNAME=postgres
DB_PASSWORD=your-strong-secure-password
DB_DATABASE=postgres

# Redis
REDIS_HOST=redis
REDIS_PORT=6379

# S3
S3_REGION=ap-south-1
S3_BUCKET=dharini-prod-storage
S3_ACCESSKEYID=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
S3_SECRETACCESSKEY=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
S3_ENDPOINT=https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com
S3_FOLDER=dharini-prod

# Security
JWT_SECRET=generated-strong-random-secret-32-chars-min

# Email
SENDGRID_API_KEY=SG.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
EMAIL_FROM=noreply@dharini.artpark.ai

# Frontend
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://in.dharini.artpark.ai/api
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_ENV=production

Security Best Practices

Never commit .env files to git
Use strong, unique passwords for all credentials
Rotate secrets regularly (JWT_SECRET, API keys)
Use IAM roles instead of access keys when possible
Restrict S3 bucket access to only necessary IP ranges
Enable encryption for database and S3
Use environment-specific values (don’t reuse production secrets in dev)