Environment Variables Reference

Each Sisukas component uses a .env file for configuration. Copy from .env.example when setting up.

Frontend (`frontend/course-browser/.env`)#

Variable	Purpose	Example
`VITE_GCS_BUCKET`	Google Cloud Storage bucket URL for course data	`https://storage.googleapis.com/sisukas-core`
`VITE_API_URL`	Backend API base URL (optional, defaults to same origin)	`http://localhost:3000`

Variable	Purpose	Required	Example
`ADMIN_USERNAME`	Username for admin dashboard	✓	`admin`
`ADMIN_PASSWORD`	Password for admin dashboard	✓	(set to secure value)
`SUPABASE_URL`	Your Supabase project URL	✓	`https://abc123.supabase.co`
`SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY`	Supabase public key (for client-side auth)	✓	`eyJhbGc...`
`SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY`	Supabase service role (for server-side admin tasks)	✓	`eyJhbGc...`
`DATABASE_URL`	Direct database connection (if using Prisma)	Optional	`postgresql://...`

Variable	Purpose	Required	Example
`SUPABASE_URL`	Your Supabase project URL	✓	`https://abc123.supabase.co`
`SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY`	Supabase public key	✓	`eyJhbGc...`
`DATABASE_URL`	Direct database connection	Optional	`postgresql://...`

Variable	Purpose	Required	Example
(None required for REST API)	SISU Wrapper doesn’t need `.env` for basic operation	—	—

These are configured as GitHub Secrets (not in .env):

Secret	Purpose
`AALTO_USER_KEY`	API key for Aalto’s course data API (required for data pipeline)
`GCS_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_KEY`	JSON key for Google Cloud Storage authentication

See Data Pipeline for details.

   cp backend/.env.example backend/.env

   nano backend/.env

For local development: Most variables have sensible defaults. The minimum you need:
- ADMIN_USERNAME and ADMIN_PASSWORD (required)
- Supabase credentials (required for backend to work)
For production: All variables should be explicit and secure. Never commit .env files to git.

Add to .gitignore:

.env
.env.local
.env.*.local

.env files contain secrets. Always keep them private.