Environment Variables

This page documents all environment variables and SSM parameters used by the platform.

SSM Parameters (AWS Account 735234196709)

These are stored in AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store in the PhD Advantage client account. Lambda functions read them at runtime.

Parameter Path	Type	Used By	Description
/dissertation-editor/pipedrive/api-token	SecureString	pipedriveClient	API token for authenticating with the Pipedrive REST API
/dissertation-editor/livekit/api-key	SecureString	tokenGenerator	LiveKit server API key for signing JWT tokens
/dissertation-editor/livekit/api-secret	SecureString	tokenGenerator	LiveKit server API secret for signing JWT tokens
/dissertation-editor/livekit/url	String	tokenGenerator	LiveKit server WebSocket URL (e.g., wss://3.93.221.174)

Reading SSM Parameters

Lambda functions use the AWS SDK to read parameters at runtime:

const { SSMClient, GetParameterCommand } = require('@aws-sdk/client-ssm');

const ssm = new SSMClient({});

async function getParameter(name) {
  const response = await ssm.send(new GetParameterCommand({
    Name: name,
    WithDecryption: true,
  }));
  return response.Parameter.Value;
}

Updating SSM Parameters

aws ssm put-parameter \
  --name "/dissertation-editor/pipedrive/api-token" \
  --value "your-new-token" \
  --type SecureString \
  --overwrite \
  --profile dissertation-editor

After updating an SSM parameter, Lambda functions pick up the new value on their next cold start. To force an immediate update, redeploy the affected function.

Backend Environment Variables (Lambda)

These are set in serverless.yml under the provider or individual function configuration. They are injected into Lambda at deploy time.

Variable	Value	Description
SUBMISSIONS_TABLE	submissions-dev	DynamoDB table for submission records
CONFIG_TABLE	config-dev	DynamoDB table for rate schedule and configuration
UPLOAD_BUCKET	dissertation-editor-uploads-dev	S3 bucket for dissertation uploads
PROCESS_SUBMISSION_FUNCTION	dissertation-editor-backend-dev-processSubmission	Function name for async invocation
ENABLE_PIPEDRIVE_DEALS	true / false	Feature flag to enable or disable Pipedrive deal creation

Frontend Environment Variables

These are set in .env.local for local development and in the Amplify Console for deployed environments.

Variable	Example Value	Description
NEXT_PUBLIC_TOKEN_ENDPOINT	https://jwfqmc0638.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/token	Full URL for the LiveKit token endpoint
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL	https://jwfqmc0638.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com	Base URL for all backend API calls

Local Development (.env.local)

Create this file in platform/frontend/:

NEXT_PUBLIC_TOKEN_ENDPOINT=https://jwfqmc0638.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/token
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://jwfqmc0638.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com

Amplify Environment Variables

For deployed environments, set these in the Amplify Console:

1. Go to Amplify Console in the PhD Advantage account.
2. Navigate to Hosting > Environment variables.
3. Add or update the variables listed above.
4. Trigger a redeploy for changes to take effect.

Note: NEXT_PUBLIC_ prefixed variables are exposed to the browser at build time. Do not put secrets in NEXT_PUBLIC_ variables.