Environment Variables

This document lists all environment variables used by FastGateway components.

Backend Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description	Example
DATABASE_URL	Yes	PostgreSQL connection string	postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/fastgateway
JWT_SECRET	Yes	Secret key for JWT token signing (min 32 characters)	your-super-secret-jwt-key-min-32-chars
ENCRYPTION_KEY	Yes	Key for encrypting sensitive data (32 characters)	your-32-character-encryption-key
API_PORT	No	Port for the API server (default: 8080)	8080
CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS	No	Comma-separated list of allowed CORS origins	http://localhost:3000,https://app.example.com
ADMIN_USERNAME	Yes	Initial admin username	admin
ADMIN_PASSWORD	Yes	Initial admin password	securepassword123
ADMIN_EMAIL	Yes	Initial admin email	admin@example.com

Kubernetes Configuration

Variable	Required	Description	Example
KUBE_CONFIG_PATH	No	Path to kubeconfig file (for local development)	~/.kube/config
KUBE_CONTEXT	No	Kubernetes context to use	my-cluster
KUBE_IN_CLUSTER	No	Set to true when running inside Kubernetes	true
KUBE_TOKEN	No	Service account token for Kubernetes API	eyJhbGciOi...
KUBE_API_SERVER	No	Kubernetes API server URL	https://kubernetes.default.svc

Frontend Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description	Example
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL	Yes	Backend API URL	http://localhost:8080

Example .env File

Backend (.env)

# Database Configuration
DATABASE_URL=postgres://fastgateway:password@localhost:5432/fastgateway?sslmode=disable

# Security
JWT_SECRET=your-super-secret-jwt-key-must-be-at-least-32-characters-long
ENCRYPTION_KEY=your-32-character-encryption-key

# Server Configuration
API_PORT=8080
CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=http://localhost:3000

# Initial Admin User
ADMIN_USERNAME=admin
ADMIN_PASSWORD=changeme123
ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com

# Kubernetes Configuration (for local development)
KUBE_CONFIG_PATH=~/.kube/config
KUBE_CONTEXT=kind-fastgateway

# Kubernetes Configuration (for in-cluster deployment)
# KUBE_IN_CLUSTER=true

Frontend (.env.local)

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:8080

Docker Compose Example

version: '3.8'
services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:15
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: fastgateway
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
      POSTGRES_DB: fastgateway
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  backend:
    image: fastgateway/backend:latest
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: postgres://fastgateway:password@postgres:5432/fastgateway?sslmode=disable
      JWT_SECRET: your-super-secret-jwt-key-must-be-at-least-32-characters-long
      ENCRYPTION_KEY: your-32-character-encryption-key
      API_PORT: "8080"
      CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS: http://localhost:3000
      ADMIN_USERNAME: admin
      ADMIN_PASSWORD: changeme123
      ADMIN_EMAIL: admin@example.com
      KUBE_CONFIG_PATH: /root/.kube/config
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - ~/.kube:/root/.kube:ro
    depends_on:
      - postgres

  frontend:
    image: fastgateway/frontend:latest
    environment:
      NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL: http://localhost:8080
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    depends_on:
      - backend

volumes:
  postgres_data:

Generating Secure Keys

JWT Secret

# Generate a random 64-character JWT secret
openssl rand -base64 48

Encryption Key

# Generate a 32-character encryption key
openssl rand -base64 24

Security Best Practices

1. Never commit .env files to version control
2. Use different secrets for each environment (development, staging, production)
3. Rotate secrets regularly in production environments
4. Use a secrets manager (like Kubernetes Secrets, HashiCorp Vault, or AWS Secrets Manager) in production
5. Restrict file permissions on .env files (chmod 600 .env)