Environment Variables

All environment variables use the VITE_ prefix so Vite exposes them to the client at build time.

File location

File	Purpose
.env.example	Template (committed to Git)
.env	Local secrets (never commit)

Add .env to .gitignore — it is already excluded by default.

Variables reference

Variable	Required	Description
VITE_FIREBASE_API_KEY	Yes	Firebase web API key
VITE_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN	Yes	{projectId}.firebaseapp.com
VITE_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID	Yes	Firebase project ID
VITE_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET	Yes	{projectId}.appspot.com
VITE_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID	Yes	FCM sender ID
VITE_FIREBASE_APP_ID	Yes	Firebase app ID
VITE_FIREBASE_MEASUREMENT_ID	No	Google Analytics measurement ID

Example .env

VITE_FIREBASE_API_KEY=AIzaSyXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
VITE_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN=my-assets.firebaseapp.com
VITE_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID=my-assets
VITE_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET=my-assets.appspot.com
VITE_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID=123456789012
VITE_FIREBASE_APP_ID=1:123456789012:web:abcdef123456
VITE_FIREBASE_MEASUREMENT_ID=G-XXXXXXXXXX

Loading order

1. On app start, src/firebase.ts reads env vars via import.meta.env
2. If missing, falls back to src/config/defaultFirebase.ts defaults
3. Super Admin saved config in Firestore settings/admin overrides on reload

Production builds

Environment variables are baked in at build time:

# Ensure .env is correct before building
npm run build

For CI/CD, inject env vars in your pipeline before npm run build.

Dev server API

During npm run dev, POST to /api/firebase-backend-config writes .env from the Settings UI. This only works in development mode.

warning

Never expose service account keys or admin SDK credentials in VITE_ variables. The client only needs the public web config.