Environment Variables

Sunday requires several environment variables to run properly.

Required Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory with these required variables:

# MongoDB Connection
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017
DB_NAME=sunday
 
# JWT Authentication
JWT_SECRET=your-super-secret-jwt-key-here
 
# Application URL
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=http://localhost:3000

Environment Variable Reference

Database

Variable	Description	Example
`MONGODB_URI`	MongoDB connection string	`mongodb://localhost:27017` or `mongodb+srv://...`
`DB_NAME`	Database name	`sunday`

Authentication

Variable	Description	Example
`JWT_SECRET`	Secret key for JWT signing	A random 64+ character string

⚠️ Important: Use a strong, random string for JWT_SECRET in production. Generate one with:
openssl rand -hex 32

Email (Optional)

For email verification and password reset features:

Variable	Description	Example
`MAIL_HOST`	SMTP server host	`smtp.gmail.com`
`MAIL_PORT`	SMTP port	`465`
`MAIL_SECURE`	Use SSL/TLS	`true`
`MAIL_USER`	SMTP username	`your-email@gmail.com`
`MAIL_PASS`	SMTP password or app password	`your-app-password`
`MAIL_FROM_NAME`	Sender name	`Sunday`
`MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS`	Sender email	`noreply@sunday.com`

CAPTCHA (Optional)

For spam protection on auth forms:

Variable	Description
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CAP_SITE_KEY`	Cap.js site key
`CAP_SECRET_KEY`	Cap.js secret key

File Storage (Optional)

For file uploads:

Variable	Description
`BLOB_READ_WRITE_TOKEN`	Vercel Blob storage token

Example `.env` File

# ===================
# Database
# ===================
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017
DB_NAME=sunday
 
# ===================
# Authentication
# ===================
JWT_SECRET=a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0k1l2m3n4o5p6q7r8s9t0u1v2w3x4y5z6
 
# ===================
# Application
# ===================
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=http://localhost:3000
 
# ===================
# Email (Optional)
# ===================
MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
MAIL_PORT=465
MAIL_SECURE=true
MAIL_USER=your-email@gmail.com
MAIL_PASS=your-app-password
MAIL_FROM_NAME=Sunday
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=noreply@yourdomain.com

Production Considerations

In production environments:

Never commit .env files - Add .env to .gitignore
Use secure secrets - Generate random values for JWT_SECRET
Use environment managers - Consider using Vercel, Railway, or similar for managing environment variables
Enable HTTPS - Update NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL to use https://

MongoDB Atlas Setup

For production, we recommend MongoDB Atlas:

Create a free cluster at mongodb.com/atlas (opens in a new tab)
Create a database user with a strong password
Add your server's IP to the IP Access List
Get your connection string and update MONGODB_URI:

MONGODB_URI=mongodb+srv://username:password@cluster.mongodb.net/?retryWrites=true&w=majority

Quick Start Overview