#.env Variables undefined

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

floral pewter
#

Hi, im trying to set up betterauth but when I run
npx @better-auth/cli generate

I get the following error:

2025-08-05T12:05:44.299Z WARN [Better Auth]: Social provider discord is missing clientId or clientSecret
- preparing schema...node:internal/process/promises:394
    triggerUncaughtException(err, true /* fromPromise */);
    ^

AggregateError [ECONNREFUSED]:
    at internalConnectMultiple (node:net:1134:18)
    at afterConnectMultiple (node:net:1715:7) {
  code: 'ECONNREFUSED',
  fatal: true,
  [errors]: [
    Error: connect ECONNREFUSED ::1:3306
        at createConnectionError (node:net:1678:14)
        at afterConnectMultiple (node:net:1708:16) {
      errno: -4078,
      code: 'ECONNREFUSED',
      syscall: 'connect',
      address: '::1',
      port: 3306
    },
    Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:3306
        at createConnectionError (node:net:1678:14)
        at afterConnectMultiple (node:net:1708:16) {
      errno: -4078,
      code: 'ECONNREFUSED',
      syscall: 'connect',
      address: '127.0.0.1',
      port: 3306
    }
  ]
}

Node.js v24.5.0

Now I believe I have narrowed it down to the environment variables being undefined so I wanted to make sure im not doing anything wrong?

I've created a .env.local file in the root of the nextjs project

<project-name>
-/src
-- /app
- .env.local

Then in my
/<project-name>/lib/auth.ts
I reference the variables in the following way

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#
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floral pewter
# 
import { betterAuth } from "better-auth";
import { createPool } from "mysql2/promise";

export const auth = betterAuth({
    database: createPool({
        host: process.env.MYSQL_HOST || "localhost",
        user: process.env.MYSQL_USER || "root",
        password: process.env.MYSQL_PASSWORD || "",
        database: process.env.MYSQL_DATABASE || "railway",
        port: process.env.MYSQL_PORT ? Number(process.env.MYSQL_PORT) : 3306,
        waitForConnections: true,
        connectionLimit: 10,
        queueLimit: 0,
    }),
    emailAndPassword: {
        enabled: false,
    },
    socialProviders: {
        discord: {
            clientId: process.env.DISCORD_CLIENT_ID as string,
            clientSecret: process.env.DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET as string,
        },
    },
});

Am I doing something wrong? are there any additional steps I need to take in order for the process.env.<variablename> to work?

#

I also made a server action in
/lib/actions.ts

which is called in a route

/app/api/debug/env/route.ts

"use server"

// Utility function to log environment variables for debugging (server-side only)
export async function logEnvironmentVariables() {
    // Double-check we're on server side
    if (typeof window !== 'undefined') {
        console.log("Environment variables logging skipped - running on client side");
        return;
    }
    
    console.log("=== Environment Variables Debug (Server-Side) ===");
    const envVars = {
        MYSQL_HOST: process.env.MYSQL_HOST,
        MYSQL_USER: process.env.MYSQL_USER,
        MYSQL_PASSWORD: process.env.MYSQL_PASSWORD,
        MYSQL_DATABASE: process.env.MYSQL_DATABASE,
        MYSQL_PORT: process.env.MYSQL_PORT,
        DISCORD_CLIENT_ID: process.env.DISCORD_CLIENT_ID,
        DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET: process.env.DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET,
        NODE_ENV: process.env.NODE_ENV,
    };
    
    Object.entries(envVars).forEach(([key, value]) => {
        console.log(`${key}: ${value || "[UNDEFINED]"}`);
    });
    console.log("================================================");
};

and i get the following result:

=== Environment Variables Debug (Server-Side) ===
MYSQL_HOST: [UNDEFINED]
MYSQL_USER: [UNDEFINED]
MYSQL_PASSWORD: [UNDEFINED]
MYSQL_DATABASE: [UNDEFINED]
MYSQL_PORT: [UNDEFINED]
DISCORD_CLIENT_ID: [UNDEFINED]
DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET: [UNDEFINED]
NODE_ENV: development
================================================
urban mural
#

looking at their docs, Im guessing the betterauth cli when it runs is only looking for .env and not .env.local

#

so you could try renaming .env.local temporarily, just while you run npx @better-auth/cli generate

#

or you could run it via something that injects the env vars, or you could just pass in the required vars via the command when you run it

#

BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=xxx BETTER_AUTH_URL=yyy npx @better-auth/cli generate

#

hm digging a bit more and it looks like better auth is at least finding your /lib/auth.ts file

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and then run the command as varlock run -- npx @better-auth/cli generate

floral pewter
#

which runs while nextjs is running

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everything is undefined

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and even renaming to .env

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doesnt work

urban mural
#

what version of next?

floral pewter
#

15.4.5

urban mural
#

whats in your .env.development file

#

also, what happens if you get rid of --turbopack

floral pewter
# 
MYSQL_HOST=stringwithdots
MYSQL_USER=astring
MYSQL_PASSWORD=string
MYSQL_PORT=number
MYSQL_DATABASE=string

DISCORD_CLIENT_ID=number
DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET=stringwithcharacters.-
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=stringandnumbers
BETTER_AUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000
#

with no quotes

#

same thing

 ✓ Compiled /_not-found in 2.2s (718 modules)
=== Environment Variables Debug (Server-Side) ===
MYSQL_HOST: [UNDEFINED]
MYSQL_USER: [UNDEFINED]
MYSQL_PASSWORD: [UNDEFINED]
MYSQL_DATABASE: [UNDEFINED]
MYSQL_PORT: [UNDEFINED]
DISCORD_CLIENT_ID: [UNDEFINED]
DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET: [UNDEFINED]
NODE_ENV: development
#

I just tried a NEXT_PUBLIC_ variable too

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and didnt work

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im stumped

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ive never had this issue

urban mural
#

ok so I just did fresh install

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and added 3 env files - .env, .env.development, .env.local

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when I run my dev command, I see all 3 listed

image.png
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since they should all be getting loaded

floral pewter
#

ok ive just done that

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and it worked lol

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my syntax highlighting is only highlighter .env

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not .env.local .env.development

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maybe somethjing is wrong with those files

urban mural
#

you can just manually set the file association

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its because most file types use a suffix

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but .env is weird

floral pewter
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ok .env.development by itself doesnt work

#

ok

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there must be something wrong in the file
because when I copy paste the .env.development and change the names to .env and .env.local it didnt work
but when I made new files and copy pasted the content it works xD
Must've been some invisible char in the file or something

#

what the frig

urban mural
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maybe some invisible chars or something

floral pewter
#

ye

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something like that

urban mural
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plus validations, and leak detection

floral pewter
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ok and schema generation worked nice

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mustve been that

urban mural
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(^ I am the creator)

floral pewter
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yes I saw xD

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ill take a look but its just a small project so prob wont use it atleast now

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cool website tho

urban mural
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even so, its super easy to set up, and simple to use 🙂

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anyway, glad it's working!

floral pewter
#

alright thanks for the help

urban mural
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it was likely weird invisible chars

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I think in my editor, they get highlighted and displayed. dig around in settings to see if you can find something like that