Environment Variables

RocketFuel applications use environment variables for configuration. This guide covers all available variables and how to set them up.

Getting Started

After creating a project, copy the example environment file:

cp .env.example .env

Core Variables

Database

Variable	Required	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	Yes	PostgreSQL connection string

Example:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/myapp"

Authentication Variables

Required when Clerk is enabled:

Variable	Required	Description
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY`	Yes	Publishable key from Clerk dashboard (client-safe)
`CLERK_SECRET_KEY`	Yes	Secret key from Clerk dashboard
`CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Yes	Webhook signing secret for user sync
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_IN_URL`	Yes	Path to sign-in page
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_UP_URL`	Yes	Path to sign-up page

Example:

NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY="pk_test_..."
CLERK_SECRET_KEY="sk_test_..."
CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET="whsec_..."
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_IN_URL="/sign-in"
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_UP_URL="/sign-up"

Stripe Variables

Required when Stripe is enabled:

Variable	Required	Description
`STRIPE_SECRET_KEY`	Yes	Secret key from Stripe dashboard
`STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Yes	Webhook signing secret
`NEXT_PUBLIC_STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY`	Yes	Publishable key (client-safe)

Queue Variables

Required when BullMQ is enabled:

Variable	Required	Description
`REDIS_URL`	Yes	Redis connection string

Example:

REDIS_URL="redis://localhost:6379"

Email Variables

Required when Resend is enabled:

Variable	Required	Description
`RESEND_API_KEY`	Yes	API key from Resend dashboard

Environment-Specific Configuration

Development

Use local services and test credentials:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:password@localhost:5432/myapp_dev"
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY="pk_test_..."
CLERK_SECRET_KEY="sk_test_..."

Production

Use production services and secure credentials:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:password@prod-db.example.com:5432/myapp"
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY="pk_live_..."
CLERK_SECRET_KEY="sk_live_..."