Full-Stack - lesson 5 | HackIndia Skills

Full-Stack - lesson 5 | HackIndia Skills | HackIndia

Example

Example env files

This is enough for many full-stack hackathon apps. The frontend calls your own API. The backend may call a database or third-party service.

.env.local
API_SECRET_KEY=replace_with_real_secret
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/weekend_app
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=http://localhost:3000

.env.example
API_SECRET_KEY=your_secret_key_here
DATABASE_URL=your_database_url_here
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=http://localhost:3000

.gitignore
.env
.env.local

Example

Read values safely

Fail early if a required backend value is missing. A clear error is better than a broken demo during judging.

// lib/env.js
export function requiredEnv(name) {
  const value = process.env[name];

  if (!value) {
    throw new Error(`Missing environment variable: ${name}`);
  }

  return value;
}

// Example usage in a server route only
const apiSecretKey = requiredEnv('API_SECRET_KEY');

Tip

Use AI carefully

Ask ChatGPT or Gemini to draft your .env.example and README setup steps from your project files. Then check every variable name against the code.

Also check that it did not suggest committing real keys. If it shows a secret-looking value, replace it with a placeholder before you paste.

Prompt:
Read these file names and code snippets. List the environment variables this app needs. Create a safe .env.example and README setup section. Do not include real secrets.

Set environment configuration

One rule

What belongs here

Set the files

Example env files

Public means public

Read values safely

Use AI carefully

Do this now

Quick check