Environment Contract

• Keep a documented example env file with key names and dummy or empty values, never live secrets
• Validate required variables at startup and fail fast when one is missing
• Do not invent extra variable names; reuse the project’s existing names
• Load secrets from the environment or an untracked local file, not from git
• When you add a required variable, update the example file in the same change
• Do not commit a filled .env “just for the team”