Environment Variables Setup

This document describes how to set up and manage environment variables for local development.

Important: No Fallbacks

Never use fallback values for environment variables. If a required env var is missing, the app must fail loudly at startup. This prevents silent misconfiguration across environments (dev/prod).

typescript

// WRONG - never do this
const API_URL = import.meta.env.VITE_API_URL || 'https://some-default-url.com';

// CORRECT
if (!import.meta.env.VITE_API_URL) {
  throw new Error('VITE_API_URL environment variable is required');
}
const API_URL = import.meta.env.VITE_API_URL;

Required Variables

Web App (`web/`)

Variable	Description
`VITE_FIREBASE_API_KEY`	Firebase API key
`VITE_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN`	Firebase auth domain
`VITE_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID`	Firebase project ID
`VITE_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET`	Firebase storage bucket
`VITE_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID`	Firebase messaging sender ID
`VITE_FIREBASE_APP_ID`	Firebase app ID
`VITE_FIREBASE_MEASUREMENT_ID`	Firebase measurement ID
`VITE_FIREBASE_VAPID_KEY`	Firebase VAPID key for push notifications
`VITE_API_URL`	Cloud Run API URL (e.g., `https://api-xwzj77tlfa-uc.a.run.app`)

Setting Environment Variables

All variables are set in .env at the project root.
Use .env.local for local overrides.
Never commit .env files to version control.

Best Practices

No fallbacks. Ever.
No hardcoded environment-specific URLs in source code.
Store secrets securely (never in the repo).
Document any new variables in this file.

For information about deployment environments (dev/prod), see ENVIRONMENTS.md. For deployment instructions, see DEPLOYMENT.md.

Environment Variables Setup ​

Important: No Fallbacks ​

Required Variables ​

Web App (web/) ​

Setting Environment Variables ​