Environment Variables

Copy .env.example to .env.local and fill in the values relevant to your setup. Only BETTER_AUTH_SECRET is required to boot in development.

cp .env.example .env.local

Database

Variable	Required	Default	Description
DATABASE_URL	Production only	file:rss.db	libSQL/SQLite connection string. Local dev defaults to rss.db in the project root. For Turso: libsql://your-db.turso.io
DATABASE_AUTH_TOKEN	Only with Turso	None	Auth token for remote Turso databases. Not needed for local SQLite.

Note

In demo mode (VITE_DEMO_MODE=true), the app ignores DATABASE_URL entirely and uses an isolated rss-demo.db file.

Auth

Variable	Required	Default	Description
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET	Yes	None	Long random string used to sign sessions. Generate with openssl rand -base64 32
APP_URL	Recommended	http://localhost:3000	The full public URL of your app. Used for email links and OAuth callbacks.
VITE_AUTH_URL	Recommended	http://localhost:3000	Client-side auth base URL. Usually the same as APP_URL.

AI

Set exactly one of the three keys below. SparkFeed checks in priority order: OPENAI_API_KEY → AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY → OPENROUTER_API_KEY.

Variable	Description
OPENAI_API_KEY	OpenAI API key (sk-...). Get one →
AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY	Vercel AI SDK Gateway key. Best for Vercel-deployed apps.
OPENROUTER_API_KEY	OpenRouter key (sk-or-...). Access to 200+ models.
AI_MODEL	Optional. Override the default model ID for the active provider.

See AI Providers for model lists and recommendations.

Email

Set one email option. SparkFeed checks RESEND_API_KEY first, falls back to SMTP.

Variable	Description
EMAIL_FROM	Sender address shown in outbound emails. e.g. SparkFeed <[email protected]>
RESEND_API_KEY	Resend API key (re_...). Get one →. Requires a verified sending domain.
SMTP_HOST	SMTP server hostname
SMTP_PORT	SMTP port (typically 587 for TLS, 465 for SSL)
SMTP_USER	SMTP username
SMTP_PASS	SMTP password
SMTP_SECURE	true for SSL/TLS, false for STARTTLS
SMTP_IGNORE_TLS	true to skip TLS verification (dev only, never in production)

Email in production

Email is required for account verification and password resets. Without it, users cannot verify their email or recover their account.

Demo mode

Variable	Default	Description
VITE_DEMO_MODE	false	Set to true to boot with pre-seeded feeds and no auth. Uses an isolated database. See Demo Mode for details.

Minimal .env.local for development

BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=your-long-random-secret-here

That’s the absolute minimum. The database defaults to file:rss.db locally, and AI / email features are simply disabled until you add their keys.

Full example

See .env.example in the project root for an annotated copy of every variable.