Environment Variables

Complete reference for Supascale environment variables.

Supascale is configured through environment variables stored in .env.local. This reference covers all available options.

Required Variables

These must be set for Supascale to function:

Authentication

Variable	Description	Example
`NEXTAUTH_URL`	Base URL of your Supascale installation	`https://supascale.example.com`
`NEXTAUTH_SECRET`	Secret key for session encryption	`openssl rand -base64 32`

Database Encryption

Variable	Description	Example
`DB_ENCRYPTION_KEY`	64-character hex key for encrypting stored credentials	`openssl rand -hex 32`

Directory Configuration

Variable	Default	Description
`PROJECTS_BASE_DIR`	User home directory	Where Supabase projects are stored
`BACKUPS_BASE_DIR`	`~/.supascale_backups`	Where backups are stored
`SUPASCALE_DATA_DIR`	`./data`	SQLite database location

Application Settings

Variable	Default	Description
`PORT`	`3000`	Application port
`NODE_ENV`	`development`	Environment mode (`production` or `development`)

Admin Account (Install Only)

Set during installation, then removed:

Variable	Description
`ADMIN_USERNAME`	Initial admin username
`ADMIN_PASSWORD`	Initial admin password (immediately hashed)

Remove ADMIN_PASSWORD from environment after installation. Passwords are hashed in the database.

Email Configuration

For email notifications (optional):

Variable	Default	Description
`SMTP_HOST`	-	SMTP server hostname
`SMTP_PORT`	`587`	SMTP port
`SMTP_USER`	-	SMTP username
`SMTP_PASSWORD`	-	SMTP password
`SMTP_FROM`	-	From email address
`NOTIFICATION_EMAIL`	-	Admin notification email

Example SMTP Configuration

# Gmail
SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USER=your-email@gmail.com
SMTP_PASSWORD=your-app-password
SMTP_FROM=your-email@gmail.com

# SendGrid
SMTP_HOST=smtp.sendgrid.net
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USER=apikey
SMTP_PASSWORD=your-api-key
SMTP_FROM=noreply@yourdomain.com

License Configuration

Variable	Description
`LICENSE_EMAIL`	Email associated with your license
`UPDATE_TOKEN`	Token for automatic updates

Get these from your license dashboard.

Development Options

For development only:

Variable	Default	Description
`SKIP_LICENSE_CHECK`	`false`	Skip license validation (dev only)

Never use SKIP_LICENSE_CHECK in production. This is for development testing only.

Generating Secrets

NEXTAUTH_SECRET

openssl rand -base64 32

Output: K7gNU3sdo+OL0wNhqoVWhr3g6s1xYv72ol/pe/Unols=

DB_ENCRYPTION_KEY

openssl rand -hex 32

Output: a1b2c3d4e5f6... (64 characters)

Complete Example

# /opt/supascale-web/.env.local

# === Required ===
NEXTAUTH_URL=https://supascale.example.com
NEXTAUTH_SECRET=your-generated-secret
DB_ENCRYPTION_KEY=your-64-char-hex-key

# === Directories ===
PROJECTS_BASE_DIR=/var/supascale/projects
BACKUPS_BASE_DIR=/var/supascale/backups

# === Application ===
PORT=3000
NODE_ENV=production

# === License ===
LICENSE_EMAIL=you@example.com
UPDATE_TOKEN=your-update-token

# === Email (Optional) ===
SMTP_HOST=smtp.sendgrid.net
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USER=apikey
SMTP_PASSWORD=your-sendgrid-key
SMTP_FROM=noreply@example.com
NOTIFICATION_EMAIL=admin@example.com

Applying Changes

After modifying environment variables:

# Restart Supascale
pm2 restart supascale-web

# Verify it's running
pm2 status

Security Best Practices

Never commit .env.local to version control
Use strong secrets generated with cryptographic tools
Rotate secrets periodically by generating new ones
Limit file permissions: chmod 600 .env.local
Back up your configuration securely