Environment Variables

All credentials and configuration options are managed through environment variables. Never hardcode credentials in source code.

Required variables

Variable	Description	Example
MSSQL_SERVER	SQL Server hostname or IP	prod-server.database.windows.net
MSSQL_DATABASE	Database name	ProductionDB
MSSQL_USER	SQL Server username	app_user
MSSQL_PASSWORD	SQL Server password	(secret)

Optional variables

Variable	Default	Description
MSSQL_PORT	1433	SQL Server port
DEVELOPER_MODE	false	true for development (relaxed TLS, detailed errors)
MSSQL_READ_ONLY	false	Blocks write operations
MSSQL_WHITELIST_TABLES	(empty)	Tables allowed for modification in read-only mode
MSSQL_AUTH	sql	Authentication mode: sql, integrated, azure
MSSQL_ENCRYPT	(auto)	TLS encryption control. Only effective with DEVELOPER_MODE=true. false = disable encryption (required for SQL Server 2008/2012). If not set: false in dev, always true in production
MSSQL_CONNECTION_STRING	(empty)	Custom connection string (overrides other variables)

.env template

# Copy and edit
cp .env.example .env

# Example content
MSSQL_SERVER=localhost
MSSQL_DATABASE=MyDB
MSSQL_USER=sa
MSSQL_PASSWORD=YourPassword123
MSSQL_PORT=1433
DEVELOPER_MODE=true
MSSQL_READ_ONLY=false

Loading variables

Linux/macOS:

source .env

Windows PowerShell:

Get-Content .env | ForEach-Object {
  $name, $value = $_ -split '=', 2
  [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable($name, $value)
}

File permissions

# Linux/macOS
chmod 600 .env

# Windows
icacls .env /inheritance:r /grant:r "%USERNAME%:R"