Configuration

Auktiva is configured through environment variables in a .env file. This page documents all available options.

Environment File

Create a .env file in the project root by copying the example:


cp .env.example .env

Required Variables

Database


# SQLite (local file)
DATABASE_URL="file:./data/auktiva.db"
 
# OR Turso (cloud database)
DATABASE_URL="libsql://your-database.turso.io"
DATABASE_AUTH_TOKEN="your-turso-auth-token"

See Database Configuration for detailed setup instructions.

Authentication


# Secret key for encrypting sessions (generate with: openssl rand -base64 32)
AUTH_SECRET="your-secret-key-here"
 
# Base URL of your application
AUTH_URL="http://localhost:3000"

Always generate a unique AUTH_SECRET for production. Never use the example value.

Storage Configuration

Local Storage (Default)


STORAGE_PROVIDER="local"
STORAGE_LOCAL_PATH="./uploads"

S3-Compatible Storage


STORAGE_PROVIDER="s3"
S3_BUCKET="your-bucket-name"
S3_REGION="us-east-1"
S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your-access-key"
S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your-secret-key"
 
# Optional: Custom endpoint for S3-compatible services (MinIO, Cloudflare R2, etc.)
S3_ENDPOINT="https://your-endpoint.com"
 
# Optional: Custom public URL for serving files
S3_PUBLIC_URL="https://cdn.yourdomain.com"

See Storage Configuration for detailed setup instructions.

Email Configuration (Optional)

Auktiva can send email notifications using Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo offers a free tier with 300 emails/day.


# Brevo API key (get from https://app.brevo.com/settings/keys/api)
BREVO_API_KEY="your-brevo-api-key"
 
# Sender email and name
MAIL_FROM="noreply@yourdomain.com"
MAIL_FROM_NAME="Auktiva"
 
# App URL for links in emails
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL="https://yourdomain.com"
 
# Secret for securing the email retry cron endpoint
CRON_SECRET="generate-with-openssl-rand-base64-32"

Email Types

When configured, Auktiva sends:

Welcome emails - On user registration
Auction invites - When users are invited to auctions
New item notifications - When items are added (user can disable)
Outbid notifications - When someone outbids a user (user can disable)

Email Retry System

Failed emails are logged to the database and automatically retried via a cron job at /api/cron/retry-emails. On Vercel, this runs every 15 minutes. The system retries up to 5 times before abandoning.

Email is optional. If BREVO_API_KEY is not set, no emails will be sent and the app will function normally.

Feature Flags


# Allow users to create open (public) auctions
ALLOW_OPEN_AUCTIONS="true"

All Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	Yes	-	Database connection string
`DATABASE_AUTH_TOKEN`	Turso only	-	Turso authentication token
`AUTH_SECRET`	Yes	-	Session encryption secret
`AUTH_URL`	Yes	-	Application base URL
`STORAGE_PROVIDER`	No	`local`	Storage provider (`local` or `s3`)
`STORAGE_LOCAL_PATH`	Local only	`./uploads`	Path for local file storage
`S3_BUCKET`	S3 only	-	S3 bucket name
`S3_REGION`	S3 only	-	S3 region
`S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID`	S3 only	-	S3 access key
`S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`	S3 only	-	S3 secret key
`S3_ENDPOINT`	No	-	Custom S3 endpoint
`S3_PUBLIC_URL`	No	-	Custom public URL for files
`BREVO_API_KEY`	No	-	Brevo API key for emails
`MAIL_FROM`	No	`noreply@auktiva.org`	Sender email address
`MAIL_FROM_NAME`	No	`Auktiva.org`	Sender display name
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL`	No	-	App URL for email links
`CRON_SECRET`	No	-	Secret for cron endpoint auth
`ALLOW_OPEN_AUCTIONS`	No	`false`	Enable open auction creation

Example Configurations

Development (SQLite + Local Storage)


DATABASE_URL="file:./data/dev.db"
AUTH_SECRET="dev-secret-change-in-production"
AUTH_URL="http://localhost:3000"
STORAGE_PROVIDER="local"
STORAGE_LOCAL_PATH="./uploads"
ALLOW_OPEN_AUCTIONS="true"

Production (Turso + S3)


DATABASE_URL="libsql://myapp-myorg.turso.io"
DATABASE_AUTH_TOKEN="eyJhbGciOiJFZERTQSIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9..."
AUTH_SECRET="generated-with-openssl-rand-base64-32"
AUTH_URL="https://auctions.mydomain.com"
STORAGE_PROVIDER="s3"
S3_BUCKET="myapp-uploads"
S3_REGION="us-east-1"
S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID="AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE"
S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY"
ALLOW_OPEN_AUCTIONS="false"

Generating Secrets

Generate a secure AUTH_SECRET:


openssl rand -base64 32

Or using Node.js:


node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('base64'))"