Master Guides

Configuration

Three small files control your whole app.

Everything configurable lives in predictable places: ports in master.config.js, secrets in .env, and database settings per environment.

master.config.js#

Drives the dev/build/start orchestration.

master.config.js

export default {
  frontend: true,        // is there a Next.js frontend?
  backendPort: 3001,
  frontendPort: 3000,
  backendDir: 'backend',
  frontendDir: 'frontend',
};

Environment variables#

Copy .env.example to .env per environment:

.env

# Where the frontend reaches the backend (used by Next.js fetches)
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:3001

# Where the backend allows CORS from (the frontend origin)
FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:3000

Database settings#

Per-environment, in backend/config/environments/env.<env>.json, keyed by the context name. See Connecting a Database.

env.development.json

{ "AppContext": { "type": "better-sqlite3", "connection": "db/" } }

Backend server settings#

The backend can also read server settings (port, hostname, timeout) from its own environment files — see MasterController Configuration.

Next.js Frontend →

How the UI talks to the API.

Deployment →

Production configuration.