Custompsych Application Environment Configuration Guide

This document serves as a guide to manage and configure environment settings for the Custompsych application, both for local development and for deployment to Google Cloud App Engine.

Environment Variables

Local Development

• Source: Local environment variables are managed through a .env file at the root of your project.

• Contents of .env:

    KEY_FILE="custompsych-88cecf1d90b5.json"

• Purpose: This file includes the environment configuration. In this case, it's the filename (or path) to the API key file for database operations.

• Code Reference: In the backend/myserver.js file, the environment variables are loaded early in the application lifecycle:

	if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
		require('dotenv').config();
	}

This only happens if we're running the application locally, since cloud-deployed versions need a separate environment variable file.

Production - Google Cloud App Engine

• Source: Production environment variables are declared in the app.yaml file located at the root of the project.

• Code Snippet from app.yaml:

	runtime: nodejs18
	instance_class: F2
	automatic_scaling:
		target_cpu_utilization: 0.65
		min_instances: 1
		max_instances: 10
	env_variables:
		NODE_ENV: 'production'
		KEY_FILE: 'custompsych-88cecf1d90b5.json'

Running the App

Locally:

To run the application locally with the development settings, use the following command:

	npm run dev

The package.json file is configured to preload the dotenv module which reads the .env file (see snippet below):

	"scripts": {
		"start": "node backend/myserver.js",
		"dev": "NODE_ENV=development node -r dotenv/config backend/myserver.js"
	}

On Google Cloud App Engine:

For deployment to Google Cloud App Engine, use:

	gcloud app deploy

The start command in package.json is optimized for production and does not override NODE_ENV, ensuring that the environment variables from app.yaml are used (gcloud will default to running the start command):

	"scripts": {
		"start": "node backend/myserver.js",
		"dev": "NODE_ENV=development node -r dotenv/config backend/myserver.js"
	}

Important Notes

• Secrets: The secret API key (e.g.: custompsych-88cecf1d90b5.json)should only exist locally but should never be committed to version control. Ensure it is listed in .gitignore and .gcloudignore.

• Environment Variable Consistency: If you use the same secrets for local development and cloud deployment, make sure the KEY_FILE variable are consistently named and valued across your local .env file and the app.yaml file for production.

• Separation of Environments: The configuration splits the handling of environment variables between local development (dotenv) and production (App Engine's environment configuration) to avoid cross-environment issues.

MISC

• Testing backend APIs: you can test the apis by running

curl -i http://localhost:3001/api/[infoSheet or whatever the name of the api is]

in terminal