Environment Variables (.env)

The .env file is the heart of FeedbackPulse's configuration. It's created automatically during installation, but you can edit it manually anytime.

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📍 File Location

/var/www/feedbackpulse-saas/.env

⚠️ Security: The .env file contains sensitive data (database passwords, API keys). Never commit it to version control or expose it publicly. It should have 640 permissions.

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🔧 After Editing .env

After making changes, clear the config cache:

php artisan config:clear
php artisan config:cache  # Optional: cache for production performance

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📋 Complete Variable Reference

🏠 Application Settings

Variable	Default	Description
APP_NAME	FeedbackPulse	Platform name (shown in emails, titles)
APP_ENV	production	Environment: production, local, staging
APP_KEY	(auto-generated)	Encryption key. Never change after installation!
APP_DEBUG	false	Show detailed errors. Must be false in production!
APP_URL	https://yourdomain.com	Full URL of your platform (with https)
APP_LOCALE	en	Default language
APP_FALLBACK_LOCALE	en	Fallback language
BCRYPT_ROUNDS	12	Password hashing strength (higher = slower but more secure)

⚠️ APP_DEBUG=true will expose sensitive information (database credentials, API keys) in error pages. Never enable in production except for brief debugging sessions.

🗄️ Database

Variable	Default	Description
DB_CONNECTION	mysql	Database driver: mysql, mariadb, sqlite, pgsql
DB_HOST	127.0.0.1	Database server address
DB_PORT	3306	Database port
DB_DATABASE	feedbackpulse	Database name
DB_USERNAME	root	Database username
DB_PASSWORD	(empty)	Database password

📧 Email / SMTP

Variable	Default	Description
MAIL_MAILER	smtp	Mail driver: smtp, ses, postmark, sendmail, log
MAIL_HOST	smtp.mailgun.org	SMTP server host
MAIL_PORT	587	SMTP port (587 for TLS, 465 for SSL)
MAIL_USERNAME	(empty)	SMTP username
MAIL_PASSWORD	(empty)	SMTP password
MAIL_ENCRYPTION	tls	Encryption: tls, ssl, or null
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS	[email protected]	Sender email address
MAIL_FROM_NAME	FeedbackPulse	Sender name

💳 Stripe (Optional)

Variable	Default	Description
STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY	(empty)	Stripe publishable key (starts with pk_)
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY	(empty)	Stripe secret key (starts with sk_)
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET	(empty)	Stripe webhook signing secret (starts with whsec_)

💰 PayPal (Optional)

Variable	Default	Description
PAYPAL_CLIENT_ID	(empty)	PayPal REST API client ID
PAYPAL_CLIENT_SECRET	(empty)	PayPal REST API client secret
PAYPAL_WEBHOOK_ID	(empty)	PayPal webhook ID for verification
PAYPAL_MODE	sandbox	Mode: sandbox (testing) or live (production)

🔑 Social Login (Optional)

Variable	Default	Description
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID	(empty)	Google OAuth client ID
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET	(empty)	Google OAuth client secret
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID	(empty)	GitHub OAuth client ID
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET	(empty)	GitHub OAuth client secret

🤖 AI / OpenAI (Optional)

Variable	Default	Description
OPENAI_API_KEY	(empty)	OpenAI API key for sentiment analysis, auto-tagging, AI replies

🤖 reCAPTCHA (Optional)

Variable	Default	Description
RECAPTCHA_SITE_KEY	(empty)	Google reCAPTCHA v2/v3 site key
RECAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY	(empty)	Google reCAPTCHA secret key

🍪 Session & Cache

Variable	Default	Description
SESSION_DRIVER	file	Session storage: file, database, redis, cookie
SESSION_LIFETIME	120	Session timeout in minutes
SESSION_DOMAIN	(empty)	Cookie domain (set to .yourdomain.com for subdomains)
SESSION_SECURE_COOKIE	true	Require HTTPS for session cookies
CACHE_STORE	file	Cache driver: file, database, redis, memcached

📦 Queue & Jobs

Variable	Default	Description
QUEUE_CONNECTION	sync	Queue driver: sync, database, redis

⏰ Cron (Shared Hosting)

Variable	Default	Description
CRON_TOKEN	(auto-generated)	Secret token for the web-based cron endpoint /cron/run?token=. Auto-generated during installation. Required only if using URL-based cron instead of CLI.

📁 File Storage

Variable	Default	Description
FILESYSTEM_DISK	local	Default storage disk: local, public, s3

🪵 Logging

Variable	Default	Description
LOG_CHANNEL	stack	Log channel: stack, single, daily, syslog
LOG_LEVEL	error	Min log level: debug, info, notice, warning, error, critical

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💡 Example Production .env

APP_NAME="FeedbackPulse"
APP_ENV=production
APP_KEY=base64:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=https://feedback.mycompany.com

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=feedbackpulse
DB_USERNAME=fp_user
DB_PASSWORD=super_secure_password_here

SESSION_DRIVER=file
SESSION_LIFETIME=120
SESSION_DOMAIN=.feedback.mycompany.com
SESSION_SECURE_COOKIE=true
CACHE_STORE=file

QUEUE_CONNECTION=sync

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.mailgun.org
MAIL_PORT=587
[email protected]
MAIL_PASSWORD=mailgun_password_here
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
[email protected]
MAIL_FROM_NAME="FeedbackPulse"

STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_live_xxxxx
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_xxxxx
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_xxxxx

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-xxxxx

LOG_CHANNEL=daily
LOG_LEVEL=error

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⏭️ Next Steps

• Database Configuration
• Email / SMTP Setup
• Payment Gateways