Production Build

Deploying the application (not the docs — those are covered on the next page).

Build & run

pnpm install
pnpm build      # next build
pnpm start      # serves the production build on port 3000

Before first start in a new environment, apply the schema and (optionally) seed:

pnpm db:push
pnpm db:seed    # optional demo data

Environment variables

Set these in your host's environment (never commit them):

Variable	Required	Notes
DATABASE_URL	✅	Production PostgreSQL connection string.
NEXTAUTH_SECRET	✅	Long random string (openssl rand -base64 32).
NEXTAUTH_URL	✅	Your public URL, e.g. https://attendance.example.edu.
RESEND_API_KEY, RESEND_FROM_EMAIL	optional	Only if email features are used.

See Configuration for the full list.

Hosting notes

• Vercel is the most natural fit for Next.js (the repo includes Vercel/Prisma template env variables). Point it at a managed PostgreSQL provider (Neon, Supabase, RDS, etc.).
• HTTPS is required for QR scanning in the browser, so a production TLS certificate isn't optional — it's needed for the core feature to work off localhost.
• @prisma/client is configured as an external server package in next.config.ts; ensure prisma generate runs during the build (it runs via postinstall).

Pre-launch checklist

• [ ] Strong, unique NEXTAUTH_SECRET set
• [ ] NEXTAUTH_URL matches the real domain
• [ ] Database reachable; schema applied (db:push or migrations)
• [ ] HTTPS enabled and verified
• [ ] Default seed passwords changed (or seed not run in production)
• [ ] A backup/restore procedure in place (see Database Setup)
• [ ] Consider replacing the in-memory login rate limiter for multi-instance deployments (see Limitations)