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Environment Variables Reference

Complete reference for all environment variables used in AuditSwarm.

Required Variables​

Database​

DATABASE_URL​

Required: Yes Format: Connection string Example: sqlserver://server:port/database?user=xxx&password=xxx

Database connection string for Prisma ORM.

NEXTAUTH_URL​

Required: Yes (production) Format: URL Example: https://your-domain.com

Base URL for NextAuth.js authentication callbacks.

NEXTAUTH_SECRET​

Required: Yes Format: Random string (32+ characters) Example: Generate with openssl rand -base64 32

Secret for signing JWT tokens and session cookies.

ENCRYPTION_KEY​

Required: Yes Format: Random string (32+ characters) Example: Generate with openssl rand -base64 32

Key for encrypting sensitive data at rest.

OAuth Configuration​

Google OAuth​

GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID​

Required: If using Google OAuth Format: Google OAuth client ID Example: 123456789-abc123.apps.googleusercontent.com

GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET​

Required: If using Google OAuth Format: Google OAuth client secret

GitHub OAuth​

GITHUB_CLIENT_ID​

Required: If using GitHub OAuth Format: GitHub OAuth app client ID

GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET​

Required: If using GitHub OAuth Format: GitHub OAuth app client secret

MCP Server Configuration​

MCP_PORT​

Required: No Default: 3001 Format: Port number

Port for MCP HTTP server.

MCP_LOCAL_USER_EMAIL​

Required: STDIO transport only Format: Email address Example: admin@example.com

Email for local STDIO authentication (Claude Desktop).

MCP_DEBUG​

Required: No Default: false Format: true | false

Enable verbose MCP server logging.

Cloud Storage (Optional)​

GCP_PROJECT_ID​

Required: If using GCP Storage Format: GCP project ID

GCP_STORAGE_BUCKET​

Required: If using GCP Storage Format: Bucket name Example: auditswarms-storage

AZURE_STORAGE_CONNECTION_STRING​

Required: If using Azure Storage Format: Azure connection string

Development​

NODE_ENV​

Required: No Default: development Values: development | production | test

Node environment.

LOG_LEVEL​

Required: No Default: info Values: error | warn | info | debug

Winston logger level.

Example .env File​

# Database
DATABASE_URL="sqlserver://localhost:1433/auditswarms?user=sa&password=YourPassword"

# NextAuth
NEXTAUTH_URL="http://localhost:3000"
NEXTAUTH_SECRET="your-secret-here-generate-with-openssl"

# Encryption
ENCRYPTION_KEY="your-encryption-key-generate-with-openssl"

# Google OAuth (optional)
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID="123456789-abc123.apps.googleusercontent.com"
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET="GOCSPX-xxxxxxxxxxxx"

# GitHub OAuth (optional)
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID="Iv1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

# MCP Server
MCP_PORT="3001"
MCP_DEBUG="true"

# GCP Storage (optional)
GCP_PROJECT_ID="auditswarm-prod"
GCP_STORAGE_BUCKET="auditswarms-storage"

# Development
NODE_ENV="development"
LOG_LEVEL="debug"

Security Best Practices​

✅ Do:​

  • Generate secrets with openssl rand -base64 32
  • Use GCP Secret Manager in production
  • Rotate secrets regularly (every 90 days)
  • Use different secrets for dev/staging/prod

❌ Don't:​

  • Commit .env files to version control
  • Use default/example secrets in production
  • Share secrets in Slack/email
  • Reuse secrets across environments