Configuration

Environment variables

Daily GeoGame uses environment variables to configure the application. Create a .env.local file in the root directory of your project:

touch .env.local

Required variables

MONGODB_URI

The MongoDB connection string is the only required environment variable:

MONGODB_URI=mongodb+srv://username:password@cluster.mongodb.net/database?retryWrites=true&w=majority

Never commit your .env.local file to version control. It should be listed in .gitignore.

MongoDB Atlas setup

Daily GeoGame uses MongoDB Atlas for data storage. Follow these steps to set up your database:

Create a MongoDB Atlas account

Create a new cluster

Create a new cluster (the free M0 tier is sufficient for development and small deployments).

Configure network access

Add your IP address to the IP Access List, or allow access from anywhere (0.0.0.0/0) for development.

For production, restrict access to specific IP addresses or use VPC peering.

Create database user

Create a database user with read and write permissions. Save the username and password.

Get connection string

Click “Connect” on your cluster, choose “Connect your application”, and copy the connection string. Replace <password> with your database user password.

Add to .env.local

Paste the connection string into your .env.local file:

MONGODB_URI=mongodb+srv://username:password@cluster.mongodb.net/geogame?retryWrites=true&w=majority

MongoDB connection handling

The application handles MongoDB connections through app/lib/mongodb.ts:

import { MongoClient } from 'mongodb';

const uri = process.env.MONGODB_URI;

let client: MongoClient;
let clientPromise: Promise<MongoClient>;

if (!uri) {
  console.warn("WARN: Missing MONGODB_URI environment variable");
  clientPromise = Promise.reject(new Error("Missing MONGODB_URI"));
} else {
  try {
    client = new MongoClient(uri);
    clientPromise = client.connect();
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Failed to initialize MongoDB client', e);
    clientPromise = Promise.reject(e);
  }
}

export default clientPromise;

If MONGODB_URI is missing, the application will log a warning but won’t crash. However, database-dependent features won’t work.

Next.js configuration

The Next.js configuration is minimal by default (next.config.ts):

import type { NextConfig } from "next";

const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
  /* config options here */
};

export default nextConfig;

You can customize this file to add:

Image optimization domains
Custom headers
Redirects and rewrites
Experimental features

TypeScript configuration

The project uses strict TypeScript settings (tsconfig.json):

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2017",
    "lib": ["dom", "dom.iterable", "esnext"],
    "allowJs": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "strict": true,
    "noEmit": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "module": "esnext",
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "resolveJsonModule": true,
    "isolatedModules": true,
    "jsx": "preserve",
    "incremental": true,
    "plugins": [
      {
        "name": "next"
      }
    ],
    "paths": {
      "@/*": ["./*"]
    }
  },
  "include": ["next-env.d.ts", "**/*.ts", "**/*.tsx", ".next/types/**/*.ts"],
  "exclude": ["node_modules"]
}

Key features:

Strict mode enabled for better type safety
Path alias @/* for cleaner imports
ES2017 target for modern JavaScript features

Development vs production settings

Development

For local development:

.env.local

MONGODB_URI=mongodb+srv://dev-user:password@dev-cluster.mongodb.net/geogame-dev?retryWrites=true&w=majority

Use a separate development database
Allow broader network access (0.0.0.0/0)
Enable detailed error messages

Production

For production deployment:

MONGODB_URI=mongodb+srv://prod-user:password@prod-cluster.mongodb.net/geogame?retryWrites=true&w=majority

Use a dedicated production database
Restrict network access to your deployment platform’s IP ranges
Use strong, unique passwords
Enable MongoDB Atlas monitoring and alerts

Consider using different MongoDB clusters for development and production to avoid accidental data corruption.

Environment variable validation

To ensure your environment is configured correctly:

Start the development server
Check the console for warnings:
- WARN: Missing MONGODB_URI environment variable - Add the variable to .env.local
- Failed to initialize MongoDB client - Check your connection string format

Next steps

After configuration, you can:

Start developing locally with pnpm dev
Proceed to Deployment when ready to go live

Setup

Architecture

API Reference

Contributing

Environment variables

Required variables

MONGODB_URI

MongoDB Atlas setup

MongoDB connection handling

Next.js configuration

TypeScript configuration

Development vs production settings

Development

Production

Environment variable validation

Next steps

​Environment variables

​Required variables

​MONGODB_URI

​MongoDB Atlas setup

​MongoDB connection handling

​Next.js configuration

​TypeScript configuration

​Development vs production settings

​Development

​Production

​Environment variable validation

​Next steps

Environment variables

Required variables

MONGODB_URI

MongoDB Atlas setup

MongoDB connection handling

Next.js configuration

TypeScript configuration

Development vs production settings

Development

Production

Environment variable validation

Next steps