Environment Variables

Environment variables are used to configure your Forest back-end securely, keeping sensitive information separate from your codebase.

Required variables

FOREST_ENV_SECRET

Your unique environment secret provided by Forest.

FOREST_ENV_SECRET=1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef

FOREST_ENV_SECRET=1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef

Purpose:

Authenticates your back-end with Forest
Links your back-end to your Forest project
Required for all architectures (Cloud, Self-Hosted, On-Premise)

Where to find it:

Go to app.forestadmin.com
Select your project
Go to Settings → Environments
Copy the environment secret

Never commit FOREST_ENV_SECRET to version control. Always use environment variables or secret management tools.

FOREST_AUTH_SECRET

Secret key used to sign authentication tokens (Self-Hosted and On-Premise only).

FOREST_AUTH_SECRET=your-secure-random-string-at-least-32-characters-long

FOREST_AUTH_SECRET=your-secure-random-string-at-least-32-characters-long

Purpose:

Signs JWT tokens for user authentication
Required for Self-Hosted and On-Premise architectures
Not needed for Cloud architecture

Generate a secure secret:

# Generate a random 32-character string
node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('hex'))"

# Or use OpenSSL
openssl rand -hex 32

NODE_ENV (Node.js only)

Environment mode for Node.js applications.

NODE_ENV=production  # Options: development, production, test

Purpose:

production: Optimized performance, minimal logging
development: Detailed logging, development mode
test: Testing mode

const agent = createAgent({
  envSecret: process.env.FOREST_ENV_SECRET,
  authSecret: process.env.FOREST_AUTH_SECRET,
  isProduction: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production'
});

# config/initializers/forest_admin_rails.rb
ForestAdminRails.configure do |config|
  config.env_secret = ENV['FOREST_ENV_SECRET']
  config.auth_secret = ENV['FOREST_AUTH_SECRET']
end

Security reminder: These environment variables contain sensitive secrets that authenticate your back-end with Forest. Never commit them to version control, share them publicly, or reuse them across different environments (development, staging, production). Always use separate secrets for each environment and store them securely using environment variables or secret management tools.

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Required variables

FOREST_ENV_SECRET

FOREST_AUTH_SECRET

NODE_ENV (Node.js only)

​Required variables

​FOREST_ENV_SECRET

​FOREST_AUTH_SECRET

​NODE_ENV (Node.js only)

Required variables

FOREST_ENV_SECRET

FOREST_AUTH_SECRET

NODE_ENV (Node.js only)