Environment configuration

ElCoco reads its runtime configuration from a .env file in the project root. Laravel ships with a .env.example template that you copy and populate before your first run.

Initial setup

Copy the example file

cp .env.example .env

Generate an application key

php artisan key:generate

This writes a random 32-character base64 string to APP_KEY. Laravel uses it to encrypt sessions, cookies, and other payloads. The app will not boot without it.

Edit the file

Open .env in your editor and fill in the values for your environment. The sections below describe every variable.

Run migrations

php artisan migrate

Never commit your .env file to version control. It contains secrets. The repository’s .gitignore already excludes it.

App settings

APP_NAME

string

default:"Laravel"

Human-readable application name. Referenced in mail subjects and the frontend via VITE_APP_NAME. Set this to "ElCoco DMI" or your preferred display name.

APP_ENV

string

default:"local"

Current environment. Accepted values: local, staging, production. Controls error verbosity and certain framework behaviours.

APP_KEY

string

required

Encryption key generated by php artisan key:generate. Must be a base64:-prefixed 32-byte string. Required — the app will not start without this.

APP_DEBUG

boolean

default:"true"

When true, Laravel renders detailed exception pages. Set to false in production to prevent leaking stack traces.

APP_URL

string

default:"http://localhost"

The canonical URL of the application. Used when generating absolute URLs (e.g. PDF storage links, mail links). Must include the scheme (http:// or https://).

APP_LOCALE

string

default:"en"

Default locale for translations and date formatting.

APP_FALLBACK_LOCALE

string

default:"en"

Locale used when a translation key is missing in APP_LOCALE.

APP_FAKER_LOCALE

string

default:"en_US"

Locale used by Faker when generating fake data in factories and seeders.

APP_MAINTENANCE_DRIVER

string

default:"file"

Storage driver for maintenance-mode state. file writes a flag to disk; database stores it in the cache table. Uncomment APP_MAINTENANCE_STORE if you switch to database.

BCRYPT_ROUNDS

integer

default:"12"

Cost factor for bcrypt password hashing. Higher values are slower to compute, which is more secure but increases CPU usage on login. 12 is a reasonable production value.

Logging

LOG_CHANNEL

string

default:"stack"

Primary log channel. stack aggregates multiple channels defined in config/logging.php.

LOG_STACK

string

default:"single"

Channels included in the stack channel. Comma-separate multiple values (e.g. single,slack).

LOG_DEPRECATIONS_CHANNEL

string

default:"null"

Channel that receives PHP and Laravel deprecation notices. Set to null to silence them.

LOG_LEVEL

string

default:"debug"

Minimum severity to write. Values follow RFC 5424: debug, info, notice, warning, error, critical, alert, emergency. Use error in production.

Database

ElCoco defaults to SQLite for local development. Switch to MySQL for staging and production.

SQLite (default)
MySQL

DB_CONNECTION=sqlite
# DB_HOST, DB_PORT, DB_DATABASE, DB_USERNAME, DB_PASSWORD are not required

Laravel will create the database at database/database.sqlite automatically on first migration.

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=elcoco
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=secret

DB_CONNECTION

string

default:"sqlite"

Database driver. Supported: sqlite, mysql, mariadb, pgsql, sqlsrv.

DB_HOST

string

default:"127.0.0.1"

Database server hostname or IP address. Not required for SQLite.

DB_PORT

integer

default:"3306"

Database port. Default is 3306 for MySQL/MariaDB.

DB_DATABASE

string

default:"laravel"

Name of the database to connect to.

DB_USERNAME

string

Database user. Not required for SQLite.

DB_PASSWORD

string

Database password. Not required for SQLite.

Cache and session

CACHE_STORE

string

default:"database"

Cache backend. ElCoco defaults to database, which stores cached values in the cache table. Other options: file, redis, memcached, array.

CACHE_PREFIX

string

Optional prefix applied to all cache keys. Useful when multiple apps share one Redis or Memcached instance.

SESSION_DRIVER

string

default:"database"

Session backend. database persists sessions in the sessions table. Other options: file, cookie, redis, array.

SESSION_LIFETIME

integer

default:"120"

Minutes before an idle session expires.

SESSION_ENCRYPT

boolean

default:"false"

When true, session data is encrypted at rest using APP_KEY.

SESSION_PATH

string

default:"/"

Cookie path scope. / makes the session cookie available site-wide.

SESSION_DOMAIN

string

default:"null"

Cookie domain. null defaults to the current hostname. Set to .yourdomain.com to share a session across subdomains.

Queue

QUEUE_CONNECTION

string

default:"database"

Queue driver. ElCoco defaults to database (jobs are stored in the jobs table). Other options: sync (process inline, no worker needed), redis, sqs.

BROADCAST_CONNECTION

string

default:"log"

Real-time broadcast driver. log writes events to the log file instead of broadcasting. Change to pusher or reverb if you add WebSocket features.

Mail

ElCoco sends meeting confirmation emails with PDF attachments via QuoteReplyMail. See Email configuration for the full mail flow.

MAIL_MAILER

string

default:"log"

Mail transport to use. log writes emails to the Laravel log (useful for local dev). Set to smtp for real delivery.

MAIL_SCHEME

string

TLS scheme for SMTP. Accepted values: tls, ssl, or leave blank. When using port 465, set this to ssl.

MAIL_HOST

string

default:"127.0.0.1"

SMTP server hostname (e.g. smtp.mailgun.org, smtp.gmail.com).

MAIL_PORT

integer

default:"2525"

SMTP port. Common values: 587 (STARTTLS), 465 (SSL), 25 (unencrypted).

MAIL_USERNAME

string

SMTP authentication username.

MAIL_PASSWORD

string

SMTP authentication password.

MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS

string

default:"[email protected]"

The From: address on all outgoing mail. Required for production — use a verified sender address.

MAIL_FROM_NAME

string

default:"${APP_NAME}"

The From: display name. Defaults to the value of APP_NAME.

Filesystem

FILESYSTEM_DISK

string

default:"local"

Default storage disk. ElCoco also uses the public disk explicitly (via Storage::disk('public')) to store generated PDFs at storage/app/public/quotes/.

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID

string

AWS access key ID. Required only if you switch the public disk to S3.

AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

string

AWS secret access key.

AWS_DEFAULT_REGION

string

default:"us-east-1"

AWS region for S3 and other services.

AWS_BUCKET

string

S3 bucket name for file storage.

AWS_USE_PATH_STYLE_ENDPOINT

boolean

default:"false"

Enable path-style S3 endpoint. Required for S3-compatible services like MinIO.

Redis and Memcached

These variables are only needed if you switch the cache, session, or queue driver to redis or memcached.

REDIS_CLIENT

string

default:"phpredis"

PHP Redis extension to use. phpredis requires the ext-redis PHP extension; predis uses the pure-PHP predis/predis package.

REDIS_HOST

string

default:"127.0.0.1"

Redis server hostname.

REDIS_PASSWORD

string

default:"null"

Redis authentication password. null disables authentication.

REDIS_PORT

integer

default:"6379"

Redis server port.

MEMCACHED_HOST

string

default:"127.0.0.1"

Memcached server hostname.

Sanctum

Laravel Sanctum provides API token authentication for the /api/v1/* protected endpoints.

ElCoco’s SPA uses Sanctum’s cookie-based session authentication (via GET /sanctum/csrf-cookie), so API tokens are only needed for external integrations.

VITE_APP_NAME

string

default:"${APP_NAME}"

Exposes the application name to the Vite frontend build. Interpolated from APP_NAME at build time.

Example production `.env`

APP_NAME="ElCoco DMI"
APP_ENV=production
APP_KEY=base64:YOUR_GENERATED_KEY_HERE
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=https://cotizaciones.dmi.com

LOG_CHANNEL=stack
LOG_LEVEL=error

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=elcoco_prod
DB_USERNAME=elcoco
DB_PASSWORD=strong_password_here

SESSION_DRIVER=database
SESSION_LIFETIME=120

CACHE_STORE=database
QUEUE_CONNECTION=database

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.mailgun.org
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME[email protected]
MAIL_PASSWORD=mailgun_password
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS[email protected]
MAIL_FROM_NAME="DMI Cotizaciones"

FILESYSTEM_DISK=local

Overview

Core Features

Configuration

Database

Initial setup

App settings

Logging

Database

Cache and session

Queue

Mail

Filesystem

Redis and Memcached

Sanctum

Example production `.env`

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Core Features

Configuration

Database

​Initial setup

​App settings

​Logging

​Database

​Cache and session

​Queue

​Mail

​Filesystem

​Redis and Memcached

​Sanctum

​Example production .env

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Initial setup

App settings

Logging

Database

Cache and session

Queue

Mail

Filesystem

Redis and Memcached

Sanctum

Example production `.env`