Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory. Use .env.example as a starting point.

Required Variables

# Application
NODE_ENV="development"
NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000
PORT=3000

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

# Authentication
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET="generate_with_openssl_rand_base64_32"
BETTER_AUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000

# Email (Gmail SMTP)
NODEMAILER_EMAIL="your_email@gmail.com"
NODEMAILER_PASSWORD="your_gmail_app_password"

# Stock Market API
NEXT_PUBLIC_FINNHUB_API_KEY="your_finnhub_api_key"

Optional Variables

# AI Features
GEMINI_API_KEY="your_gemini_api_key"

# Event Processing
INNGEST_EVENT_KEY="your_inngest_key"

Getting API Keys

Finnhub API

Sign up at finnhub.io
Get your free API key from the dashboard
Set it as NEXT_PUBLIC_FINNHUB_API_KEY

Gmail App Password

Enable 2-Factor Authentication on your Gmail account
Go to Google App Passwords
Generate a new app password for “Mail”
Use this password as NODEMAILER_PASSWORD

Better Auth Secret

Generate a secure secret:

openssl rand -base64 32

Set the output as BETTER_AUTH_SECRET.

Environment-Specific Behavior

Development
Production

When NODE_ENV=development:

Email verification is disabled (auto sign-in after signup)
Verification and reset URLs are logged to console
Uses NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL as the base URL

When NODE_ENV=production:

Email verification is required
Emails are sent via Nodemailer (Gmail SMTP)
Uses BETTER_AUTH_URL as the base URL

Set BETTER_AUTH_URL to your actual production domain (e.g., https://stocks-signalist.vercel.app). Incorrect values will cause broken email links.

MongoDB URI

The MONGODB_URI must include the database name in the connection string. Without it, data defaults to the test database.

# Correct
mongodb+srv://user:pass@cluster.mongodb.net/SignalisticsDB?retryWrites=true&w=majority

# Wrong (defaults to 'test' database)
mongodb+srv://user:pass@cluster.mongodb.net/?retryWrites=true&w=majority

Getting Started

Authentication

Deployment

Required Variables

Optional Variables

Getting API Keys

Environment-Specific Behavior

MongoDB URI

​Required Variables

​Optional Variables

​Getting API Keys

​Environment-Specific Behavior

​MongoDB URI

Required Variables

Optional Variables

Getting API Keys

Environment-Specific Behavior

MongoDB URI