Environment Variables

Reference for all environment variables, where each one belongs, and what it does.

Convoy uses environment variables across three different contexts. Each variable belongs in a specific place — setting it in the wrong place has no effect.

Where Each Variable Goes

Variable	Convex Dashboard	Web Hosting (Vercel, etc.)	Local `.env.local`
`CLERK_JWT_ISSUER_DOMAIN`	Yes	—	—
`RESEND_API_KEY`	Yes	—	—
`EMAIL_FROM`	Yes	—	—
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL`	Yes	—	—
`CONVOY_BACKEND_BUILD_ID`	Yes	—	—
`CONVOY_BACKEND_BUILD_TIME`	Yes	—	—
`CONVOY_BACKEND_GIT_REF`	Yes	—	—
`CONVOY_BACKEND_VERCEL_ENV`	Yes	—	—
`CONVEX_DEPLOY_KEY`	—	Yes (if integrated build)	—
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL`	—	Yes (if separate deploy)	Yes
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY`	—	Yes	Yes
`CLERK_SECRET_KEY`	—	Yes	Yes
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_IN_URL`	—	Yes	Yes
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_UP_URL`	—	Yes	Yes
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_IN_FALLBACK_REDIRECT_URL`	—	Yes	Yes
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_UP_FALLBACK_REDIRECT_URL`	—	Yes	Yes
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_ENV`	—	Yes	Yes
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_BUILD_ID`	—	Yes	Yes
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_BUILD_TIME`	—	Yes	Yes
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_GIT_REF`	—	Yes	Yes
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_VERCEL_ENV`	—	Yes	Yes
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_VERSION_POLL_INTERVAL_MS`	—	Yes	Yes
`NEXT_PUBLIC_VERCEL_ANALYTICS_ENABLED`	—	Yes	Yes
`CONVEX_DEPLOYMENT`	—	—	Yes

Convex Dashboard Variables

Set these in the Convex dashboard under Settings → Environment Variables for your deployment. They run inside Convex functions at runtime.

Variable	Required	Purpose
`CLERK_JWT_ISSUER_DOMAIN`	Yes	Clerk JWT issuer domain for token verification
`RESEND_API_KEY`	No	Resend API key for transactional email
`EMAIL_FROM`	No	Verified sender identity (e.g. `Convoy <noreply@example.com>`)
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL`	No	Base URL for email links. Defaults to `https://app.convoy.build` when unset
`CONVOY_BACKEND_BUILD_ID`	No	Backend build or commit id shown in Settings → Developer. Vercel integrated builds should set this from `VERCEL_GIT_COMMIT_SHA` before `convex deploy`
`CONVOY_BACKEND_BUILD_TIME`	No	Backend deploy timestamp shown in Settings → Developer
`CONVOY_BACKEND_GIT_REF`	No	Backend branch/ref shown in Settings → Developer
`CONVOY_BACKEND_VERCEL_ENV`	No	Vercel environment label shown for the backend in Settings → Developer

Web Hosting Variables

Set these in your web hosting provider (Vercel, Cloudflare, etc.). They are used by the Next.js app at build time and runtime.

Variable	Required	Purpose
`CONVEX_DEPLOY_KEY`	If integrated build	Deploy key for CI/CD Convex deploys (Settings → General → Deploy Keys)
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL`	If separate deploy	Convex deployment URL (e.g. `https://friendly-wolf-872.convex.cloud`)
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY`	Yes	Clerk publishable key for browser auth
`CLERK_SECRET_KEY`	Yes	Clerk server-side secret
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_IN_URL`	Yes	Sign-in route (typically `/auth/sign-in`)
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_UP_URL`	Yes	Sign-up route (typically `/auth/sign-up`)
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_IN_FALLBACK_REDIRECT_URL`	Yes	Post-sign-in redirect (typically `/auth/callback`)
`NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_UP_FALLBACK_REDIRECT_URL`	Yes	Post-sign-up redirect (typically `/auth/callback`)
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_ENV`	No	Environment label (`dev`, `staging`, or `production`). Non-production values show a colored indicator card in the sidebar. Defaults to `production`
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_BUILD_ID`	No	Frontend build or commit id shown in Settings → Developer. Vercel builds derive this from `VERCEL_GIT_COMMIT_SHA` when unset
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_BUILD_TIME`	No	Frontend build timestamp shown in Settings → Developer. The Next.js build fills this automatically when unset
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_GIT_REF`	No	Frontend branch/ref shown in Settings → Developer. Vercel builds derive this from `VERCEL_GIT_COMMIT_REF` when unset
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_VERCEL_ENV`	No	Frontend Vercel environment label shown in Settings → Developer. Vercel builds derive this from `VERCEL_ENV` when unset
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_VERSION_POLL_INTERVAL_MS`	No	Frontend update-check interval in milliseconds. Defaults to `120000` (2 minutes)
`NEXT_PUBLIC_VERCEL_ANALYTICS_ENABLED`	No	Enables Vercel Web Analytics only when set to `true`. Defaults to off so self-hosted and open-source installs do not send analytics events to Vercel unless explicitly opted in

When using the integrated Convex build command, the NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL is injected automatically and does not need to be set separately. See Deploy to Vercel for the full command, including backend version metadata setup.

Convex Deploy Variables

These are used on the command line or in CI when deploying Convex functions. They are not set in the Convex dashboard or in your web hosting provider.

Variable	Purpose
`CONVEX_DEPLOYMENT`	Target deployment with prefix: `prod:` for production, `dev:` for development (e.g. `prod:friendly-wolf-872`)
`CONVEX_DEPLOY_KEY`	Deploy key from the Convex dashboard (Settings → General → Deploy Keys). Includes auth — useful for CI/CD

Use one or the other. See Deploy the Convex Backend for usage examples.

Local Development

For local development, apps/web/.env.local only needs:

NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_ENV=dev
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_VERSION_POLL_INTERVAL_MS=120000
NEXT_PUBLIC_VERCEL_ANALYTICS_ENABLED=false

CONVEX_DEPLOYMENT=dev:your-dev-deployment-123
NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL=https://your-dev-deployment-123.convex.cloud

NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_test_...
CLERK_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_...

NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_IN_URL=/auth/sign-in
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_UP_URL=/auth/sign-up
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_IN_FALLBACK_REDIRECT_URL=/auth/callback
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_UP_FALLBACK_REDIRECT_URL=/auth/callback

The dev: prefix indicates a development deployment. Production deployments use prod: instead.

Convex server-side variables (CLERK_JWT_ISSUER_DOMAIN, RESEND_API_KEY, EMAIL_FROM, NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL) go in the Convex dashboard for your dev deployment — they are not needed in .env.local.

Guidance

Keep secrets out of the repo
Make Convex NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL match the real user-facing URL when you need email links to target a non-default host
Verify that the Convex deployment URL matches the environment users are actually signing into
Convex dashboard env vars and Next.js env vars serve different runtimes — configure both