Environment variables

Environment variables

Environment variables separate configuration from code: database URL, secrets, feature flags.

Managing a service's variables

1. Open the relevant service.
2. Variables tab.
3. Add your key/value pairs.
4. Save. The service restarts automatically to apply the change.

Typical example

# Database connection
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@host:5432/db

# Application secrets
JWT_SECRET=change-me
SESSION_SECRET=change-me-too

# Runtime configuration
NODE_ENV=production
PORT=3000

Any variable whose name contains PASSWORD, SECRET, or TOKEN is automatically masked in the interface, including for other members of your team.

Using a database's internal URL

Each database exposes an internal connection URL, visible in its Database tab. It takes the following form and is only reachable from pods within the same project:

postgresql://user:password@db.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local:5432/app

For access from outside the cluster (your machine, a tool like TablePlus), use the public URL exposed via NodePort (see Databases).