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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/JuanSebasSV/healtyhelp/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Every secret and deployment-specific value in HealtyHelp is driven by environment variables loaded via dotenv on the server and Vite’s import.meta.env on the client. Never hard-code these values — and never commit a .env file to version control.
Add .env to your .gitignore before your first commit. Leaking secrets (especially JWT_SECRET or CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET) can compromise every user account and asset in your application.

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Server variables

Create a .env file in the server/ directory (or set these as environment variables on your hosting platform).

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Core — required

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MONGO_URI
string
required
Full MongoDB connection string. For MongoDB Atlas this looks like: mongodb+srv://<user>:<password>@cluster0.xxxxx.mongodb.net/<dbname>?retryWrites=true&w=majority
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JWT_SECRET
string
required
Secret key used to sign and verify JSON Web Tokens. Use at least 32 random characters. Generate one with:
node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(48).toString('hex'))"
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JWT_EXPIRE
string
required
Token expiry duration passed directly to jsonwebtoken. Examples: 7d, 24h, 30d.
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PORT
number
Port the Express server listens on. Defaults to 5000 when not set.
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FRONTEND_URL
string
required
The origin of your frontend application (no trailing slash). Used to configure CORS and OAuth redirect targets.
  • Development: http://localhost:5173
  • Production: https://your-app.netlify.app
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BACKEND_URL
string
required
The public base URL of the server itself (no trailing slash). Used to build the Google OAuth callback URL inside passport.js — the strategy constructs the callback as `${process.env.BACKEND_URL}/api/auth/google/callback`.
  • Development: http://localhost:5000
  • Production: https://api.your-domain.com
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GROQ_API_KEY
string
required
API key for the Groq service that powers the LLaMA-based AI chatbot. Obtain one from the Groq developer console.
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NODE_ENV
string
Runtime environment. Set to production on your server host. Accepted values: development, production.Affects behaviour in several places — most notably the auth rate limiter (see note below) and the error handler (stack traces are hidden in production).
Rate limiting in production. The /api/auth/login route uses an express-rate-limit limiter whose max is determined at startup by NODE_ENV:
NODE_ENVMax requests per 15 min
development200
production20
Always set NODE_ENV=production on your live server to protect against brute-force attacks.

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Google OAuth — needed for Google login

These variables configure the passport-google-oauth20 strategy in server/config/passport.js. The callback URL is constructed automatically from BACKEND_URL — you do not need a separate GOOGLE_CALLBACK_URL variable in your environment.
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GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID
string
OAuth 2.0 client ID from Google Cloud Console.
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GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET
string
OAuth 2.0 client secret from Google Cloud Console.

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Cloudinary — needed for image uploads

Used in server/config/cloudinary.js to upload user avatars and recipe review images.
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CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME
string
Your Cloudinary cloud name, visible on the Cloudinary dashboard.
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CLOUDINARY_API_KEY
string
Cloudinary API key.
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CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET
string
Cloudinary API secret. Treat this like a password — never expose it client-side.

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Email — needed for verification emails

HealtyHelp uses Resend to send transactional email (account verification, password reset, etc.) via server/utils/emailService.js.
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RESEND_API_KEY
string
API key from your Resend account. Requests are authenticated with Authorization: Bearer <RESEND_API_KEY>.
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EMAIL_FROM
string
The sender address that appears in outgoing emails. Example: HealtyHelp <noreply@your-domain.com>This domain must be verified in your Resend account.

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Super-admin bootstrap — needed for initSuperAdmin script

These variables are only consumed by server/scripts/initSuperAdmin.js and are safe to remove from the environment after the script has run once.
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SUPER_ADMIN_NAME
string
Display name for the initial super-admin user.
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SUPER_ADMIN_EMAIL
string
Email address for the initial super-admin user.
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SUPER_ADMIN_PASSWORD
string
Initial password. Change this immediately after the first login.

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Client variable

Create a .env file in the client/ directory (or set it in your static-host’s build settings).
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VITE_API_URL
string
required
Base URL of the backend REST API. All Axios requests in the client are relative to this value.
  • Development: http://localhost:5000/api
  • Production: https://api.your-domain.com/api
Because Vite only exposes variables prefixed with VITE_, this is the only variable available in the browser bundle.

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Complete server .env example

Copy this template into server/.env and fill in your values: 
# ── Core ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
MONGO_URI=mongodb+srv://user:password@cluster0.xxxxx.mongodb.net/healtyhelp?retryWrites=true&w=majority
JWT_SECRET=replace_with_at_least_32_random_characters
JWT_EXPIRE=7d
PORT=5000
NODE_ENV=development

# ── URLs ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:5173
BACKEND_URL=http://localhost:5000

# ── AI Chatbot ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
GROQ_API_KEY=gsk_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

# ── Google OAuth ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=xxxxxxxxxxxx.apps.googleusercontent.com
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=GOCSPX-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

# ── Cloudinary ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloud_name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=000000000000000
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

# ── Email (Resend) ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
RESEND_API_KEY=re_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
EMAIL_FROM=HealtyHelp <noreply@your-domain.com>

# ── Super-admin bootstrap (remove after first run) ───────────────────────────
SUPER_ADMIN_NAME=Super Admin
SUPER_ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@your-domain.com
SUPER_ADMIN_PASSWORD=ChangeMe123!
And in client/.env: 
VITE_API_URL=http://localhost:5000/api

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