Environment configuration: the questions we get asked most

The version of this that works is simpler than the version most people imagine. The questions about environment configuration that come up most often on our calls.

The question is rarely whether something can be built, but what it costs to keep running afterwards. If two people in the business would answer this differently, that gap is the actual problem.

Do we need to care about this?

Secrets belong in the environment, never in the repository. Getting it slightly wrong is survivable. Ignoring it entirely is not. Check it against what you would want a competitor's site to get wrong.

Can it wait until after launch?

Occasionally. More often the post-launch version costs several times the pre-launch one. It is worth being explicit about, because assumptions differ quietly.

How do we know it is working?

Document every variable a new developer needs. Small and consistent beats large and occasional here. If it only works because one person remembers to do something, it does not work yet.

How to tell if yours is fine

Most development decisions are really maintenance decisions wearing a different hat. Three things worth confirming about environment configuration before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Secrets belong in the environment, never in the repository — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

None of this needs a rewrite. Most of it is a morning's work once someone decides to do it.