Environment Variables Reference

Complete reference for every environment variable used by BloggFast.

Last updated: April 12, 2026

Note

Copy .env.example to .env as your starting point. Never commit .env to version control. All variables are validated on startup via @t3-oss/env-nextjs — missing required variables will cause a descriptive build/startup error.

Database variables

Variable	Purpose	Required	Notes
`DATABASE_URL`	Neon Postgres pooled connection string (via pgBouncer)	Yes	Used for runtime queries. Must include `channel_binding=require&sslmode=require` for Neon
`DATABASE_URL_UNPOOLED`	Direct (non-pooled) connection string for Prisma migrations	Yes	Required for `prisma migrate dev` and `db:seed`. Use the endpoint without `-pooler` in the hostname
`PGHOST`	Postgres host (pooled) — for Neon dashboard use	No	Optional convenience variable provided by Neon
`PGHOST_UNPOOLED`	Postgres host (direct) — for Neon dashboard use	No	Optional convenience variable provided by Neon
`PGUSER`	Postgres username	No	Optional — already included in the connection strings
`PGDATABASE`	Postgres database name	No	Typically `neondb`
`PGPASSWORD`	Postgres password	No	Optional — already included in the connection strings

.env

# Pooled connection (use for runtime queries)
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@ep-xxx-pooler.region.aws.neon.tech/neondb?channel_binding=require&sslmode=require

# Direct connection (use for Prisma migrations and seeding)
DATABASE_URL_UNPOOLED=postgresql://user:pass@ep-xxx.region.aws.neon.tech/neondb?sslmode=require

Neon Auth variables

Variable	Purpose	Required
`NEON_AUTH_BASE_URL`	Neon Auth endpoint URL — provided by Neon when you enable Auth on your project	Yes
`NEON_AUTH_COOKIE_SECRET`	Secret key used to sign session cookies — must be at least 32 characters	Yes

.env

# From your Neon project → Auth tab
NEON_AUTH_BASE_URL="https://ep-xxx.neonauth.region.aws.neon.tech/neondb/auth"
NEON_AUTH_COOKIE_SECRET="a-long-random-secret-string-of-at-least-32-characters"

Tip

Find these values in your Neon project dashboard under the Auth tab after enabling Neon Auth. The base URL format is specific to your Neon project endpoint.

Sanity CMS variables

Variable	Purpose	Required	Example
`NEXT_PUBLIC_SANITY_PROJECT_ID`	Your Sanity project ID (public — exposed to browser)	Yes	`pup1pp2q`
`NEXT_PUBLIC_SANITY_DATASET`	Sanity dataset name (public — exposed to browser)	Yes	`production`
`SANITY_API_TOKEN`	Server-side Sanity API token with Editor permissions	Yes	`sk...`
`SANITY_TOKEN_ARTICLE_UPLOADER`	Separate Sanity token used when the AI generator publishes articles to Sanity	No	`sk...`
`SANITY_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Secret for validating Sanity webhook payloads (cache revalidation)	No	Any random string

.env

NEXT_PUBLIC_SANITY_PROJECT_ID=your_project_id
NEXT_PUBLIC_SANITY_DATASET=production
SANITY_API_TOKEN=sk...
SANITY_TOKEN_ARTICLE_UPLOADER=sk...  # Optional: separate write token for AI article uploads

Vercel AI Gateway variable

Variable	Purpose	Required	Notes
`AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY`	Vercel AI Gateway key used for all article text and cover image generation	Yes	Create from your Vercel project → AI Gateway tab → Create Key. Key starts with `vck_`

.env

AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY=vck_...

Note

BloggFast routes every AI call through the Vercel AI Gateway, so one key unlocks Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI models. Defaults are claude-sonnet-4.6 for text and flux-2-pro for cover images. Active models are stored in the AiSettings record and can be changed from /admin/settings. Vercel grants $5 of free gateway credits on signup.

Resend email variables

Variable	Purpose	Required	Example
`RESEND_API_KEY`	Resend API key for sending emails	Yes	`re_...`
`RESEND_FROM_EMAIL`	Sender address for outgoing emails (must be a verified domain in Resend)	Yes	`hello@yourdomain.com`
`RESEND_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Webhook signing secret for verifying Resend event deliveries (bounced, complained, etc.)	No	`whsec_...`
`RESEND_AUDIENCE_ID`	Resend Audience ID for contact list sync — if set, subscribers are added to this Resend Audience	No	UUID from Resend Audiences dashboard

.env

RESEND_API_KEY=re_...
RESEND_FROM_EMAIL=hello@yourdomain.com
RESEND_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_...    # Optional
RESEND_AUDIENCE_ID=               # Optional

Note

During development, you can use onboarding@resend.dev as the from address without domain verification, but it only sends to the account email. For production, verify your own domain in the Resend dashboard under Domains.

Cloudflare R2 variables

BloggFast uses Cloudflare R2 (via the AWS S3 SDK) to store article cover images, AI-generated images, and per-user skill files.

Variable	Purpose	Required
`CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID`	Your Cloudflare account ID (R2 Overview → Account details)	Yes
`R2_BUCKET_NAME`	The R2 bucket created for this project	Yes
`R2_ENDPOINT`	S3 API endpoint, e.g. `https://{account}.r2.cloudflarestorage.com`	Yes
`R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID`	Access key from an R2 account API token with Admin Read & Write	Yes
`R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`	Secret key paired with the access key above	Yes
`R2_PUBLIC_BASE_URL`	Public URL served via your custom domain — leave empty until you attach one	No
`R2_PUBLIC_DEVELOPMENT_URL`	Public Development URL generated when you enable it in the bucket settings	Yes
`NEXT_PUBLIC_MAX_UPLOAD_MB`	Upload size cap (MB) applied client-side; e.g. `100`	Yes

.env

CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID=your_cloudflare_account_id
R2_BUCKET_NAME=bloggfast-storage
R2_ENDPOINT=https://your_account_id.r2.cloudflarestorage.com
R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_r2_access_key_id
R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_r2_secret_access_key
R2_PUBLIC_BASE_URL=
R2_PUBLIC_DEVELOPMENT_URL=https://pub-xxx.r2.dev
NEXT_PUBLIC_MAX_UPLOAD_MB=100

Site variables

Variable	Purpose	Required	Example
`NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL`	Full public URL of your site — used for generating absolute URLs (OG images, sitemaps)	Yes	`https://myblog.com`
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL`	App base URL — used for internal routing and API endpoint construction	Yes	`https://myblog.com` or your Vercel domain

.env

# Development
NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL="http://localhost:3000"
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL="http://localhost:3000"

# Production (set in Vercel dashboard)
NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL="https://myblog.com"
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL="https://myblog.com"