Environment Setup

Backend (main/.env)

Copy the example file and fill in every value before starting the server.

cp main/.env.example main/.env

Variable	Required	Example	Description
DATABASE_URL	✅	postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/impactmel	Full PostgreSQL connection string
JWT_SECRET	✅	a-long-random-string	Signs all JWT tokens — keep secret, rotate on breach
JWT_EXPIRY		7d	JWT TTL; defaults to 7d
PORT		3001	NestJS listen port
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID	✅ (OAuth)	123.apps.googleusercontent.com	Google OAuth app client ID
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET	✅ (OAuth)	GOCSPX-...	Google OAuth app client secret
GOOGLE_CALLBACK_URL	✅ (OAuth)	https://api.impactmel.com/auth/google/callback	Must match Google Console exactly
FRONTEND_URL	✅	https://app.impactmel.com	Used in CORS policy + OAuth redirect
SMTP_HOST	(email)	smtp.sendgrid.net	For password-reset emails
SMTP_PORT	(email)	587	SMTP port
SMTP_USER	(email)	apikey	SMTP username
SMTP_PASS	(email)	SG.xxx	SMTP password or API key
SMTP_FROM	(email)	noreply@impactmel.com	From address
COOKIE_DOMAIN		.impactmel.com	Shared cookie domain for OAuth
NODE_ENV		production	development | production

Minimum local setup

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/impactmel
JWT_SECRET=dev-secret-change-in-production
PORT=3001
FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:3000

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Frontend (frontend/.env.local)

cp frontend/.env.local.example frontend/.env.local

Variable	Required	Example	Description
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL	✅	http://localhost:3001	NestJS backend base URL
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL		http://localhost:3000	Frontend origin (used in share links)

Minimum local setup

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:3001
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=http://localhost:3000

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PostgreSQL

ImpactMEL requires PostgreSQL ≥ 14. Extensions used:

• uuid-ossp — uuid_generate_v4() for primary keys (auto-installed via migration)

Quick local DB

# macOS with Homebrew
brew install postgresql@16
brew services start postgresql@16
createdb impactmel

# Docker
docker run -d \
  --name impactmel-db \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=impactmel \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres \
  -p 5432:5432 \
  postgres:16

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Google OAuth Setup

1. Go to Google Cloud Console → APIs & Services → Credentials
2. Create an OAuth 2.0 Client ID (Web application)
3. Add authorized redirect URIs:
   • Local: http://localhost:3001/auth/google/callback
   • Production: https://api.impactmel.com/auth/google/callback
4. Copy Client ID and Client Secret into .env

WARNING

GOOGLE_CALLBACK_URL in .env must exactly match one of the URIs in Google Console — no trailing slash differences.

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Production Checklist

• [ ] JWT_SECRET is at least 32 random characters
• [ ] NODE_ENV=production
• [ ] COOKIE_DOMAIN set to your shared root domain (e.g. .impactmel.com)
• [ ] SMTP credentials configured for password-reset flow
• [ ] Google OAuth redirect URIs updated to production URLs
• [ ] PostgreSQL with SSL (?sslmode=require in DATABASE_URL)
• [ ] Run pnpm run migration:run in main/ after each deploy