Environment Variables

YeetCode uses type-safe environment variable validation via @t3-oss/env-core with Zod schemas. Variables are validated at runtime — if a required variable is missing or invalid, the app fails fast with a clear error message.

Convex Backend Variables

These must be set in your Convex deployment's environment variables (Convex Dashboard → Settings → Environment Variables).

Variable	Required	Description
`CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Yes	Svix signing secret from Clerk's webhook settings
`CLERK_JWT_ISSUER_DOMAIN`	Yes	Clerk JWT issuer domain (e.g., `https://your-app.clerk.accounts.dev`)

Validation

Environment variables are validated in apps/convex/env.ts:

import { createEnv } from "@t3-oss/env-core";
import { z } from "zod";

export const env = createEnv({
  server: {
    CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET: z.string().min(1),
    CLERK_JWT_ISSUER_DOMAIN: z.string().min(1),
  },
  runtimeEnv: {
    CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET: process.env.CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET,
    CLERK_JWT_ISSUER_DOMAIN: process.env.CLERK_JWT_ISSUER_DOMAIN,
  },
  skipValidation: false,
});

Access validated variables anywhere in the backend:

import { env } from "./env";

const secret = env.CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET; // Type-safe, guaranteed to exist

Convex Auto-Generated Variables

These are managed by Convex automatically and don't need manual configuration:

Variable	Description
`CONVEX_DEPLOYMENT`	Your deployment identifier
`CONVEX_URL`	Your deployment URL

Local `.env.local`

The Convex CLI generates apps/convex/.env.local automatically when you run convex dev and select or create a project. You don't need to create this file manually — it contains your CONVEX_DEPLOYMENT and CONVEX_URL values.

Application secrets (CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET, CLERK_JWT_ISSUER_DOMAIN) are not set in .env.local — they must be configured in the Convex Dashboard (Settings → Environment Variables) since Convex functions run in the cloud.

Turborepo Integration

All .env files are listed as global dependencies in turbo.json:

{
  "globalDependencies": ["**/.env"]
}

This means any environment variable change invalidates Turborepo's build cache, ensuring fresh builds when configuration changes.

Security

.env and .env*.local files are in .gitignore — they are never committed
Environment validation runs with skipValidation: false — the app will not start with missing variables
Webhook secrets are only used server-side in Convex actions