Miller Start uses environment variables to configure the apps. This makes it easy to deploy to different environments and to run locally.
Configuring the frontend
Most of these are self explanatory. The names I use for stripe prices are generic on purpose for Miller Start. You would probably use different names for your own app.
Configuring the backend
NestJs modules usually use a method for configuration e.g. ConfigModule.forRoot({variable, variable}). Miller Start already configures most of these settings for the context of Miller Start. Any remaining variables are exposed as environment variables.
Most of the names should be self explanatory. I'll comment on some of the more unusual ones here!
APP_POSTGRES**** variables
These are used to configure the connection to the Postgres database LOCALLY. Dokku sets a variable called DATABASE_URL which is used to configure the connection to the database in production.
AUTO_INSTALL_API_MODELS
This is a boolean value that determines whether the backend should automatically run client:generate on startup. This is useful for development some times, but it is slow. It should be set to false in production.
e.g. if you're working on a feature and have the BE set to --watch and aut_install_api_models=true. The api client for FE will be built automatically if you change the BE.
APP_MODULE_ENTITY_PATH and CORE_MODULE_ENTITY_PATH
These are the path that typeorm will scan for *.entity.ts/js files. These will be used to generate the database schema in migrations. Core module is the location of installed nest-backend-libs package which contains many database models.
DOCKER_REDIS_PORT
This is only used for local docker configuration.
EMAIL_SYNC_SEND_ENABLED
Slight miss-naming here. This will control if both sync or async emails are actually sent. It reduces spam if you're testing locally and don't want to send emails to real people.
ENABLE_SUPER_POWERS
There are some apis that are destructive. At the moment they are only used for database cleanup during testing. Even though these features have full RBAC controls applied, this flag also removes the entire code path from production by default.
Arguably these features should be moved to a separate app that never gets deployed, but that would add complexity to Miller Start.
GENERATE_SWAGGER
Swagger is the old name for OpenAPI. This flag will control if the swagger docs are generated on startup. It is important for development but because the generated file is not used on production you can set this to false there if you like.
INVITATION_URLS_BASE_URL
This is used in the invitations emails to send customers to a frontend app.
Stripe payment variables
STRIPE_ACCESS_TOKEN and STRIPE_WEBHOOK_VERIFICATION_KEY are server-only Stripe
credentials. STRIPE_REDIRECTS_BASE_URL is the only origin that payment redirects
may use; checkout requests accept relative paths and cannot redirect a customer to
an arbitrary site.
STRIPE_PRODUCT_CATALOG_JSON is the server-authoritative product catalog. Keep the
Stripe price IDs and payment mode here rather than accepting them from the browser:
{
"starter": {
"priceId": "price_123",
"mode": "subscription",
"internalSku": "starter",
"displayName": "Starter"
}
}
Checkout requests send only the product key. The backend validates ownership,
resolves the price, and records an idempotent attempt before calling Stripe. The
legacy STRIPE_PRICE_* variables are supported as a temporary fallback when the
catalog JSON is empty; new products should use the catalog instead.
MIGRATIONS_PATH
This is the path that typeorm will scan for migration files. These will be used to update the real database schema.
SMTP_EMAIL_*** variables
These are used to configure the SMTP server that is used to send emails. Most email providers will have a SMTP server that you can use.
SUPER_USER_EMAILS
Add a comma-separated list of trusted owner emails. Matching Better Auth identities receive
the admin role at creation and backend startup; that role maps to Miller's global NestJS
permissions. Locally this belongs in the ignored apps/backend/.env. Production uses
app_super_user_emails in the ignored Dokku terraform.tfvars.