Common Issues
deployment
Environment Variables Not Working in Production
Your app works perfectly on your local machine or in the AI tool's preview, but in production it fails. The cause is almost always missing or misconfigured environment variables — API keys, database URLs, and secrets that the app needs to function.
Common Causes
- Environment variables not set in the hosting platform (Vercel, Netlify, Railway, Render)
- Variable names are different between .env file and hosting platform
- The .env file was committed to git with wrong values for production
- Environment variables not available at build time (some frameworks require this)
- The app reads from process.env but the hosting platform uses a different mechanism
How to Fix It
- List all variables in your .env file and verify each one is set in your hosting platform
- Check that variable names match exactly (they're case-sensitive)
- Some frameworks require env vars prefixed with NEXT_PUBLIC_ or VITE_ to be available in the browser
- After adding env vars, redeploy — most platforms require a redeploy for changes to take effect
- Check deployment logs for messages about missing configuration
Real developers can help you.
Tejas Chokhawala
Full-stack engineer with 5 years experience building production web apps using React, Next.js and TypeScript.
Focused on performance, clean architecture and shipping fast.
Experienced with Supabase/Postgres backends, Stripe billing, and building AI-assisted developer tools.
Kingsley Omage
Fullstack software engineer passionate about AI Agents, blockchain, LLMs.
Luca Liberati
I work on monoliths and microservices, backends and frontends, manage K8s clusters and love to design apps architecture
Matt Butler
Software Engineer @ AWS
Mehdi Ben Haddou
- Founder of Chessigma (1M+ users) & many small projects
- ex Founding Engineer @Uplane (YC F25)
- ex Software Engineer @Amazon and @Booking.com
Omar Faruk
As a Product Engineer at Klasio, I contributed to end-to-end product development, focusing on scalability, performance, and user experience.
My work spanned building and refining core features, developing dynamic website templates, integrating secure and reliable payment gateways, and optimizing the overall system architecture.
I played a key role in creating a scalable and maintainable platform to support educators and learners globally.
I'm enthusiastic about embracing new challenges and making meaningful contributions.
Jared Hasson
Full time lead founding dev at a cyber security saas startup, with 10 yoe and a bachelor's in CS. Building & debugging software products is what I've spent my time on for forever
Jen Jacobsen
I’m a Full-Stack Developer with over 10 years of experience building modern web and mobile applications. I enjoy working across the full product lifecycle — turning ideas into real, well-built products that are intuitive for users and scalable for businesses.
I particularly enjoy building mobile apps, modern web platforms, and solving complex technical problems in a way that keeps systems clean, reliable, and easy to maintain.
Bastien Labelle
Full stack dev w/ 20+ years of experience
Richard McSorley
Full-Stack Software Engineer with 8+ years building high-performance applications for enterprise clients. Shipped production systems at Walmart (4,000+ stores), Cigna (20M+ users), and Arkansas Blue Cross. 5 patents in retail/supply chain tech. Currently focused on AI integrations, automation tools, and TypeScript-first architectures.
Describe what's wrong in plain English. No technical knowledge needed.
Get HelpFrequently Asked Questions
The app works on my computer but not after deploy. Is it env vars?
Very likely. This is the #1 cause of 'works locally, breaks in production'. Check that all environment variables from your .env file are set in your hosting platform.
I set the env vars but it still doesn't work. What else could it be?
Make sure you redeployed after adding them. Also check that the variable names match exactly (case-sensitive) and that any framework-required prefixes are included.