Environment variables

The generated project reads configuration from a .env file. Copy .env.example to .env after scaffolding and fill in the values for your environment.

Core app

Variable	Purpose	Example
`NODE_ENV`	Runtime environment	`development`, `production`, `test`
`PORT`	Port the app listens on	`3000`
`AUTHOR`	Application author or maintainer	`your-name`
`BACKEND_URL`	Base URL of the backend	`http://localhost:3000`
`BACKEND_API_URL`	API base URL	`${BACKEND_URL}/api/v1`
`FRONTEND_URL`	Allowed frontend origin for CORS	`http://localhost:5173`

Database

Variable	Purpose	Example
`DB_HOST`	Database host	`localhost`
`DB_PORT`	Database port	`5432`
`DB_USERNAME`	Database user	`app`
`DB_PASSWORD`	Database password	`...`
`DB_NAME`	Database name	`nestforge`
`POSTGRES_USER`	Postgres root user	`postgres`
`POSTGRES_PASSWORD`	Postgres root password	`...`
`POSTGRES_DB`	Default Postgres database	`postgres`

The DB_* variables are included in the example file for a future database integration. The starter boots with the in-memory repository and does not require a database.

Redis

Variable	Purpose	Example
`REDIS_HOST`	Redis host	`localhost`
`REDIS_PORT`	Redis port	`6379`

Redis is required for sessions, rate limiting, queues, and WebSocket session resolution.

Email

Variable	Purpose	Example
`MAIL_USER`	SMTP account	`you@gmail.com`
`MAIL_PASS`	SMTP password or app password	`...`
`MAIL_HOST`	SMTP server host	`smtp.gmail.com`
`MAIL_PORT`	SMTP server port	`587`
`MAIL_SECURE`	Use TLS	`true` or `false`

Authentication

Google OAuth

Variable	Purpose	Example
`GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID`	Google OAuth client ID	`...`
`GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET`	Google OAuth client secret	`...`
`GOOGLE_OAUTH_CALLBACK_URL`	Callback URL	`${BACKEND_API_URL}/authentication/oauth/google/callback`

Google OAuth is automatically enabled at boot when all three variables are set to actual values (not the your- placeholder). The provider is also selectable at scaffold time via the CLI.

Session

Variable	Purpose	Example
`SESSION_SECRET`	Secret for signing session cookies	`a-long-random-string`
`SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE`	`Secure` flag	`false` in dev, `true` in prod
`SESSION_COOKIE_SAMESITE`	`SameSite` policy	`lax`, `strict`, or `none`
`SESSION_COOKIE_MAX_AGE`	Cookie max age in milliseconds	`86400000`

Variable expansion

ConfigModule.forRoot is configured with expandVariables: true. You can reference variables with ${VAR_NAME} syntax, such as ${BACKEND_URL}/api/v1.

Required for boot

At minimum, you need Redis available and these variables set:

REDIS_HOST
REDIS_PORT
SESSION_SECRET
FRONTEND_URL

The rest depends on which features you enable: SMTP for mail, OAuth credentials for social login, and a database once you replace the in-memory repository.