🧩 Environment Configuration Guide

This document explains the purpose and usage of each environment file in the project.

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📁 Environment Files Overview

File	Purpose
.env	Used for local development (connecting to local Postgres instance).
.env.docker	Used when running the application inside Docker containers.
.example.env	Template file for reference — should mirror .env but without sensitive data.

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⚙️ .env (Local Development)

# ===========================
# App Configuration
# ===========================
PORT=3535
API_HOST=0.0.0.0
NODE_ENV=development
API_VERSION=1
SWAGGER_DOCS=api-docs
JWT_SECRET=key_name
SESSION_SECRET=key_name
LOG_LEVEL=debug
PUBLIC_KEY=isPublic
SENTRY_DSN=https://yourPublicKey@o123456.ingest.sentry.io/1234567

# ===========================
# Database Config (connect to Docker Postgres)
# ===========================
DB_TYPE=postgres
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=5432                   #(host:container = 6666:5432)
DB_USERNAME=postgres
DB_PASSWORD=postgres
DB_NAME=nestjs_boilerplate_db

🧠 Notes

• Used when running NestJS locally (not inside Docker).
• Connects to Postgres via localhost.
• Logs at debug level by default.

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🐳 .env.docker (Docker Environment)

# ===========================
# PostgreSQL Configuration (for Docker internal network)
# ===========================
POSTGRES_PORT=5432                 # INTERNAL container port (DO NOT USE HOST PORT INSIDE Docker)
POSTGRES_USER=postgres
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres
POSTGRES_DB=nestjs_boilerplate_db

# ===========================
# pgAdmin Configuration
# ===========================
PGADMIN_PORT=5051                   # Host port mapped to pgAdmin
PGADMIN_DEFAULT_EMAIL=admin@admin.com
PGADMIN_DEFAULT_PASSWORD=postgres

🧠 Notes

• Used when the app runs inside Docker.
• Connects to the Postgres Docker service, not localhost.
• Uses different port 3536 to avoid conflict with local .env app.

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🧾 .example.env

# Copy contents from .env as a template for new environments.
# Replace sensitive values (like JWT_SECRET, passwords, etc.) with placeholders.

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🧰 Usage Instructions

1. Copy .example.env → .env for local setup.
2. For Docker-based development, use .env.docker automatically via docker-compose.
3. Never commit secrets in .env or .env.docker.
4. Keep .example.env updated whenever environment variables change.

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✅ Tip: Use dotenv-flow or @nestjs/config to automatically load the correct .env file based on NODE_ENV.