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The Restaurante API is configured entirely through environment variables. At startup, @nestjs/config loads your .env file and makes every variable available throughout the application.

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Sample .env file

.env
# Database
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://restaurante:password@localhost:5432/restaurante_db

# Server
PORT=3000

# Authentication
JWT_SECRET=change-me-to-a-long-random-string
JWT_EXPIRATION=24h
Never commit your .env file to version control. It is already listed in .gitignore. Treat JWT_SECRET and DATABASE_URL as secrets — rotate them immediately if they are ever exposed.

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Variable reference

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Database

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DATABASE_URL
string
required
PostgreSQL connection string used by both Drizzle ORM (migrations, seeds) and the runtime connection pool.Format: postgresql://<user>:<password>@<host>:<port>/<database>drizzle.config.ts reads this variable directly and throws an error at startup if it is not set:
const connection = process.env.DATABASE_URL;
if (!connection) {
  throw new Error('DATABASE_URL no está definida.');
}
The DrizzleModule also validates this variable on application bootstrap — the API will not start without it.

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Server

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PORT
number
default:"3000"
The port the NestJS HTTP server listens on.
Defaults to 3000 when not set. On Railway and other PaaS platforms, the platform injects PORT automatically.

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Authentication

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JWT_SECRET
string
required
Secret key used to sign and verify JWT access tokens. Use a long, randomly generated string.If this variable is not set, the application falls back to the insecure default value default-secret. Always set an explicit secret in production.
A weak or default JWT_SECRET allows anyone to forge valid tokens. Generate a strong secret with:
openssl rand -base64 64
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JWT_EXPIRATION
string
default:"24h"
How long a JWT access token remains valid. Accepts any value supported by the jsonwebtoken library.Examples: 15m, 1h, 24h, 7d.
Defaults to 24h when not set.

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How variables are loaded

app.module.ts registers ConfigModule globally: 
ConfigModule.forRoot({
  isGlobal: true,
})
This means every module in the application can inject ConfigService and call configService.get<string>('VARIABLE_NAME') without importing ConfigModule again. The module reads from the .env file in the project root by default.

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Docker Compose

When running with Docker Compose, pass environment variables through your .env file. Docker Compose automatically reads .env from the project root and makes the values available to the containers.
The .dockerignore file excludes .env, .env.local, and .env.*.local from the Docker build context. Environment variables are injected at runtime — they are never baked into the image.

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