Guide - Environment Setup

This guide walks through every service that booki-api depends on and explains how to obtain the required credentials.

Quick Start

cp .env.example .env
# Then fill in the sections below

Variables already pre-configured in .env.example (no action needed for local dev):

1. Redis

Redis is used for caching and session management.

REDIS_HOST=your-redis-host.redis.cloud
REDIS_PORT=12345
REDIS_PASSWORD=your-redis-password
REDIS_TLS=true

Set REDIS_TLS=true for Redis Cloud and production. Set to false for local Redis.

Option A — Redis Cloud (recommended for beginners):

1. Sign up at redis.com/try-free — free 30 MB tier.
2. Create a database and copy host, port, and password into .env.

Option B — Local Redis:

# macOS
brew install redis && brew services start redis

# Linux
sudo apt-get install redis-server && sudo systemctl start redis

# Windows — download from https://github.com/microsoftarchive/redis/releases

Local .env values:

REDIS_HOST=localhost
REDIS_PORT=6379
REDIS_PASSWORD=
REDIS_TLS=false

For detailed Redis commands and cache patterns, see Redis Guide.

2. Maya

Maya is the payment gateway used for booking payments and subscription billing.

MAYA_PUBLIC_KEY=pk-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MAYA_SECRET_KEY=sk-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MAYA_API_URL=https://pg-sandbox.paymaya.com
MAYA_PAYMENT_EXPIRY=1440

1. Obtain Maya sandbox credentials from the project supervisor or the Maya developer portal.
2. Set MAYA_API_URL=https://pg-sandbox.paymaya.com for development.
3. Switch to https://pg.paymaya.com for production.
4. MAYA_PAYMENT_EXPIRY is in minutes (default 1440 = 24 hours).

Use sandbox keys (pk-Z0OS... / sk-aXQd... pattern) for development. Switch to live keys only in production.

3. Google OAuth

Required for Google Sign-In.

GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=1084594124395-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.apps.googleusercontent.com
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=GOCSPX-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

1. Open console.cloud.google.com.
2. Create or select a project.
3. Go to APIs & Services → Library, search Google+ API, and enable it.
4. Go to APIs & Services → Credentials → Create Credentials → OAuth 2.0 Client ID.
5. Application type: Web application.
6. Authorized redirect URIs:
   • http://localhost:3000/auth/google/callback (development)
   • https://your-domain.com/auth/google/callback (production)
7. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret.

4. Gmail SMTP

Used for transactional emails — booking confirmations, password resets, and notifications.

GMAIL_USER=your-email@gmail.com
GMAIL_APP_PASSWORD=xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx
GMAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
GMAIL_PORT=587
GMAIL_SECURE=false
ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@yourdomain.com

You need a Gmail App Password (not your regular Google password). App Passwords require 2-Step Verification to be enabled on the account.

For step-by-step instructions, see Gmail Setup Guide.

5. MongoDB

MONGO_URI=mongodb+srv://username:password@cluster.mongodb.net/
MONGO_DB=codiDev

1. Create a free cluster at mongodb.com/cloud/atlas.
2. Create a database user and whitelist your IP.
3. Click Connect → Drivers and copy the connection string.
4. Replace username, password, and cluster in MONGO_URI.
5. Set MONGO_DB to your database name.

Full .env Reference

The canonical variable reference lives in the Installation doc. The sections above explain how to obtain credentials for each service.