Updates to environment and initialization logic

[0xi4o]

No description provided.

[gemini-code-assist]

Summary of Changes

Hello @0xi4o, I'm Gemini Code Assist¹! I'm currently reviewing this pull request and will post my feedback shortly. In the meantime, here's a summary to help you and other reviewers quickly get up to speed!

This pull request significantly enhances the application's security posture by enforcing the presence and proper configuration of essential environment variables at server startup. It eliminates insecure default values for critical components like JWT tokens, session secrets, and token hashing, replacing them with strict requirements. This change includes clear guidance for users to generate their own secure secrets, ensuring that the application operates with robust security configurations from the outset and preventing accidental deployment with weak or missing security parameters.

Highlights

• Environment Variable Enforcement: Several critical environment variables related to JWT authentication, session management, and token hashing are now explicitly required for the server to start.
• Enhanced Security: Default fallback values for these sensitive secrets have been removed from the codebase, compelling users to provide unique, securely generated values, thereby reducing potential security vulnerabilities.
• Startup Validation: A new utility function, validateRequiredEnvVarsOrThrow, has been introduced and integrated into the server's initialization process to ensure all mandatory environment variables are correctly set before the application fully launches.
• Improved Configuration Guidance: The .env.example files across the project have been updated with clear comments, indicating which variables are required and providing instructions on how to generate secure values for them.

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[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request strengthens the application's security by enforcing that critical environment variables for authentication and encryption are set at server startup. It removes insecure default values and adds a validation step that provides clear error messages if a required variable is missing. The changes are well-implemented across the configuration files and source code. I've included one suggestion to refactor a small piece of duplicated code for better maintainability.

[yau-wd]

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