Environment Variables

PortBay stores per-project environment variables in the registry and passes them to the project process when Process Compose launches it.

Registry Shape

{
  "env": {
    "NODE_ENV": "development",
    "API_BASE_URL": "https://api.test"
  }
}

Safe Defaults

• Store non-sensitive values in the registry.
• Keep secrets out of committed .portbay.json files.
• Use .portbay.json secrets entries to name values that an importer must provide.
• Prefer explicit ports and URLs over environment-dependent framework defaults.

Portable Project Files

Exported .portbay.json files support:

Field	Purpose
envTemplate	Non-sensitive values safe to commit.
secrets	Names of required secret variables, never their values.
postInstall	Commands future import flows can offer to run.

Example:

{
  "version": 1,
  "name": "Marketing Site",
  "type": "next",
  "hostname": "marketing-site.test",
  "port": 3010,
  "https": true,
  "autoStart": false,
  "startCommand": "pnpm dev",
  "envTemplate": {
    "NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL": "https://marketing-site.test"
  },
  "secrets": ["STRIPE_SECRET_KEY"]
}