Bolt deployment

Environment Variables Not Loading - Undefined in Build

Environment variables are undefined in your deployed application even though they're set in the platform. API keys, database URLs, and other config values come back as undefined.

Variables work fine locally but disappear after deployment.

Error Messages You Might See

process.env.API_KEY is undefined Fetch failed - API_URL is null TypeError: Cannot read property 'split' of undefined
process.env.API_KEY is undefinedFetch failed - API_URL is nullTypeError: Cannot read property 'split' of undefined

Common Causes

  1. Using process.env.VAR instead of NEXT_PUBLIC_VAR for client-side access
  2. Environment variables set after build completes
  3. Wrong environment selected in deployment platform (staging vs production)
  4. Variable name mismatch between code and platform settings
  5. Quotes or special characters in env var value causing parsing issues

How to Fix It

For client-side vars: prefix with NEXT_PUBLIC_ (e.g., NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL)

For server-side only: use plain process.env.PRIVATE_VAR (won't leak to browser)

Set env vars BEFORE triggering redeploy in your platform

Test locally: create .env.local with same vars and run npm run build

Real developers can help you.

Vlad Temian Vlad Temian 15+ years shipping production infrastructure for startups. Former CTO at qed.builders (acquired by The Sandbox). Cursor ambassador and agentic tooling builder. I've scaled systems, automated deployments, and built observability tools for AI coding workflows. I specialize in taking vibe-coded apps from broken prototype to production-ready: fixing Supabase auth/RLS, Stripe integrations, deployment pipelines, and cleaning up AI-generated spaghetti. I build tools in this space (agentprobe, claudebin, micode) and understand both sides: how AI generates code and why it breaks. https://blog.vtemian.com/ prajwalfullstack prajwalfullstack Hi Im a full stack developer, a vibe coded MVP to Market ready product, I'm here to help Prakash Prajapati Prakash Prajapati I’m a Senior Python Developer specializing in building secure, scalable, and highly available systems. I work primarily with Python, Django, FastAPI, Docker, PostgreSQL, and modern AI tooling such as PydanticAI, focusing on clean architecture, strong design principles, and reliable DevOps practices. I enjoy solving complex engineering problems and designing systems that are maintainable, resilient, and built to scale. Milan Surelia Milan Surelia Milan Surelia is a Mobile App Developer with 5+ years of experience crafting scalable, cross-platform apps at 7Span and Meticha. At 7Span, he engineers feature-rich Flutter apps with smooth performance and modern UI. As the Co-Founder of Meticha, he builds open-source tools and developer-focused products that solve real-world problems. Expertise: šŸ’” Developing cross-platform apps using Flutter, Dart, and Jetpack Compose for Android, iOS, and Web. šŸ–‹ļø Sharing insights through technical writing, blogging, and open-source contributions. šŸ¤ Collaborating closely with designers, PMs, and developers to build seamless mobile experiences. Notable Achievements: šŸŽÆ Revamped the Vepaar app into Vepaar Store & CRM with a 2x performance boost and smoother UX. šŸš€ Launched Compose101 — a Jetpack Compose starter kit to speed up Android development. 🌟 Open source contributions on Github & StackOverflow for Flutter & Dart šŸŽ–ļø Worked on improving app performance and user experience with smart solutions. Milan is always happy to connect, work on new ideas, and explore the latest in technology. Krishna Sai Kuncha Krishna Sai Kuncha Experienced Professional Full stack Developer with 8+ years of experience across react, python, js, ts, golang and react-native. Developed inhouse websearch tooling for AI before websearch was solved : ) Yovel Cohen Yovel Cohen I got a lot of experience in building Long-horizon AI Agents in production, Backend apps that scale to millions of users and frontend knowledge as well. legrab legrab I'll fill this later Stanislav Prigodich Stanislav Prigodich 15+ years building iOS and web apps at startups and enterprise companies. I want to use that experience to help builders ship real products - when something breaks, I'm here to fix it. Jacek Rozanski Jacek Rozanski Senior PHP/Symfony developer and DevOps engineer with 20+ years of professional experience, running opcode.pl (web development agency, est. 2004). Day job: I'm the sole backend developer at merketing company where I own and maintain 11 PHP/Symfony microservices on AWS (ECS Fargate, RDS, S3, CloudFront), handle the full CI/CD pipeline (Bitbucket Pipelines, Docker), and manage monitoring with Sentry and CloudWatch. These services handle high request volumes in production every month. What I bring to AI-built apps: - I audit and fix security issues (OWASP methodology), performance bottlenecks, and architectural problems in codebases generated by Cursor, Claude Code, Lovable, Bolt, and v0 - I refactor AI-generated prototypes into production-grade applications with proper error handling, testing, and clean architecture (SOLID, DDD, hexagonal architecture) - I set up the infrastructure AI tools don't touch: AWS hosting, CI/CD pipelines, automated deployments, database optimization, monitoring, and alerting - I integrate external services: payment providers, email systems, partner APIs, SSO/auth Tech stack: PHP 8.x, Symfony, React, Next.js, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Docker, AWS (ECS, RDS, S3, SQS/SNS, CloudFront), Terraform, Supabase. I also use AI tools daily (Claude Code, Cursor) in my own workflow, so I understand both the strengths and the gaps in AI-generated code. Based in Poland (CET timezone). Available for async work and calls during EU/US business hours. Matthew Jordan Matthew Jordan I've been working at a large software company named Kainos for 2 years, and mainly specialise in Platform Engineering. I regularly enjoy working on software products outside of work, and I'm a huge fan of game development using Unity. I personally enjoy Python & C# in my spare time, but I also specialise in multiple different platform-related technologies from my day job.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between .env and .env.local?

.env is version controlled, .env.local is git-ignored. Use .env.local for secrets locally

How do I set env vars in Vercel?

Settings > Environment Variables. Make sure you set them before deploying

Should secrets use NEXT_PUBLIC_?

NO! Use NEXT_PUBLIC_ only for public values. Secrets stay as plain process.env.VAR and are only available on server

Related Bolt Issues

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