6. Environment Variables

Overview

Titan supports environment variables through a standard .env file located at the project root.

Environment variables are loaded by the native runtime and made available inside actions via t.env

This allows you to configure secrets, API keys, and environment-specific values without hardcoding them into your application.

Creating a .env file

Create a file named .env in the root of your Titan project:

JWT_SECRET=soham
DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/app
NODE_ENV=development

Accessing environment variables

Environment variables are accessed using t.env

const secret = t.env.JWT_SECRET

They are available inside actions only.

Example: using env with JWT

export function login(req) {
  const token = t.jwt.sign(
    { userId: 1 },
    t.env.JWT_SECRET,
    { expiresIn: "1h" }
  )

  return {
    status: 200,
    json: { token }
  }
}

This keeps secrets out of source code and allows different values per environment.

Supported environments

You can define different .env values for different environments:

# development
JWT_SECRET=dev-secret

# production
JWT_SECRET=prod-secret

Titan does not impose a specific environment naming convention. You control how variables are defined and used.

Important notes

• Environment variables are strings
• Missing variables resolve to undefined
• Titan does not auto-fallback or inject defaults
• Validation should be handled explicitly in actions

Example validation:

if (!t.env.JWT_SECRET) {
  throw new Error("JWT_SECRET is not configured")
}

Where environment variables are available

Environment variables are read at runtime, not during build.

Best practices

• Store secrets only in .env
• Never hardcode credentials
• Use different secrets per environment
• Rotate secrets periodically

Mental model

This keeps Titan applications secure, flexible, and production-ready.