# Set up environment config and secrets across dev, staging, and production

A clean plan for environment variables, secrets handling, and Docker config so each environment works and nothing sensitive leaks.

- Topic: Software Development
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Coding, Write, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/set-up-environment-config-and-secrets-across-dev-staging-and

## Prompt

```text
Help me set up configuration and secrets management for my application across environments.

**App and stack:** [LANGUAGE, framework, services - e.g. "Node API, Postgres, Redis, React frontend"]
**Environments:** [e.g. local, preview, staging, production]
**Where it runs:** [Docker Compose, Kubernetes, a PaaS, serverless, VMs]
**Current setup:** [e.g. ".env files shared on Slack", "hard-coded keys", "some vars in CI"]
**External integrations:** [payment, email, auth, storage, analytics]
**Secret storage available:** [cloud secret manager, vault, CI secrets, PaaS env settings]

Give me:
1. A configuration inventory table: Variable | Purpose | Secret? | Differs by environment? | Default for local | Where it is stored in each environment.
2. Naming conventions and a `.env.example` file with comments and placeholder values only.
3. Loading and validation: how the app reads config, fails fast at startup on missing or malformed values, and keeps a typed config object.
4. Secrets handling: where each secret lives, who can access it (least privilege), rotation steps, and how to keep secrets out of Git, Docker images, build logs, and frontend bundles (anything in a client bundle is public).
5. Docker: base compose file plus per-environment overrides, build args vs. runtime env, and multi-stage builds that don't bake in secrets.
6. CI/CD: injecting config per environment, and preventing preview builds from using production credentials.
7. A cleanup plan if secrets were already committed: rotate first, then purge history, then add secret scanning.

Never print real secret values in your answer; use placeholders.
```

## What to fill in

- e.g. local, preview, staging, production
- Docker Compose, Kubernetes, a PaaS, serverless, VMs
- payment, email, auth, storage, analytics
- cloud secret manager, vault, CI secrets, PaaS env settings

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.