Environment Variables

Configuring your environment correctly is critical for running the Answerflow. You can find the available variables in the .env.example file.

Copy .env.example to .env to get started.

Database & Redis

These are required to store data and handle background job queues.

DATABASE_URL: Connection string for PostgreSQL.
REDIS_URL: Connection string for Redis.

Authentication (Better-Auth)

AUTH_SECRET: A secret value used for encryption and hashing. It must be at least 32 characters and generated with high entropy.

You can generate a secret by clicking

or using below command


openssl rand -base64 32

AUTH_URL: The URL where your Next.js application is hosted.

Storage (S3 / R2 / MinIO)

We use S3-compatible storage for user avatars and community media uploads. For local development, we provide a MinIO container in the Docker compose file.

Just choose your S3 provider

Aws S3

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: Your aws access key
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: Your aws secret key
S3_BUCKET_NAME: The name of the bucket (e.g.,answerflow)
AWS_REGION: Your aws bucket region

Cloudflare R2

S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID: Your storage access key
S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: Your storage secret key
S3_BUCKET_NAME: The name of the bucket (e.g.,answerflow)
S3_ENDPOINT: https://{CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID}.r2.cloudflarestorage.com

MinIO

S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID: Root User in MinIO Container
S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: Root password in MinIO Container
S3_BUCKET_NAME: The name of the bucket (e.g.,answerflow)
S3_ENDPOINT: http://minio:9000
S3_REGION: us-east-1
S3_PATH_STYLE: “true”

NEXT_PUBLIC_CDN_URL: Your Bucket Public Url or CDN Url

The MinIO Trap

If you are using the Docker Compose setup with MinIO, you must set your S3_ENDPOINT to http://minio:9000 (or whatever your MinIO service name is) in your local .env.

Our system will automatically replace minio:9000 with localhost:9000 when generating presigned URLs for the browser. (Note: Next.js Image optimization is disabled when using MinIO).

Email Delivery

Answerflow supports different email providers to send emails like welcome email, password reset email, notification emails etc.

You can choose any one of the following.

Resend

RESEND_API_KEY: Your resend api key
EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS: The sender address (e.g., noreply@answerflow.dev)

SendGrid

SENDGRID_API_KEY: Your sendgrid api key
EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS: The sender address (e.g., noreply@answerflow.dev)

Mailgun

MAILGUN_API_KEY: Your mailgun api key
MAILGUN_DOMAIN: Your mailgun domain
EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS: The sender address (e.g., noreply@answerflow.dev)

SMTP

SMTP_URL: Your smtp server url
EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS: The sender address (e.g., noreply@answerflow.dev)

Queue Adapters

Answerflow has multiple queue adapters for background jobs. You can choose any one of the following.

bullmq

REDIS_URL: Your redis url

Only Redis url is needed for bullmq

qstash

QSTASH_URL: Your qstash url
QSTASH_TOKEN: Your qstash token
QSTASH_CURRENT_SIGNING_KEY: Your qstash current signing key
QSTASH_NEXT_SIGNING_KEY: Your qstash next signing key
QSTASH_WEBHOOK_URL: Custom webhook url (Optional)

Push Notifications

Answerflow uses firebase for push notifications.

These are client side variables for firebase client sdk

NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_API_KEY: Your firebase web client api key
NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN: Your firebase web client auth domain
NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID: Your firebase web client project id
NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET: Your firebase web client storage bucket
NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID: Your firebase web client messaging sender id
NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_APP_ID: Your firebase web client app id
NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_VAPID_KEY: Your firebase web client vapid key

These are server side variables for firebase admin sdk

FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID: Your firebase server project id
FIREBASE_CLIENT_EMAIL: Your firebase server client email
FIREBASE_PRIVATE_KEY: Your firebase server private key