After scaffolding, you need to set up external services. You can do this manually, via coldstart setup, or conversationally with Claude Code and MCP servers.

Recommended order: Database first, then auth secrets, then billing, then email, then hosting. Each step depends on the previous one — billing needs auth, email needs a verified domain, and hosting needs all env vars set.

Interactive setup

Terminal

coldstart setup

Walks you through each service based on your project's .coldstart.json. Every step is optional and shows its status at the end.

Local development

Generated projects use portless for stable HTTPS *.localhost URLs during development:

Terminal

pnpm dev          # starts portless proxy + all apps

App	URL
Web	`https://web.<name>.localhost`
API	`https://api.<name>.localhost`
Mobile	Runs natively on device/simulator (no portless)

Portless auto-starts on first pnpm dev run and provides valid HTTPS certificates for localhost.

If you prefer plain HTTP with classic ports, use PORTLESS=0 pnpm dev or pnpm dev:no-tls. Web runs on http://localhost:3000, API on http://localhost:3001.

Service by service

Database (Neon)

Claude Code

> Create a Neon database for my project

Claude uses the Neon MCP to create a project, gets the connection string, and writes it to apps/api/.env.

Create a project at console.neon.tech
Copy the connection string
Add to apps/api/.env:

apps/api/.env

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@ep-xxx.neon.tech/dbname?sslmode=require

Run migrations:

Terminal

pnpm -F @my-app/db db:generate
pnpm -F @my-app/db db:migrate

Auth secrets

Generate a secret (min 32 characters) and configure the API URL:

apps/api/.env

BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=your-random-secret-at-least-32-characters
BETTER_AUTH_URL=https://api.my-app.localhost
CORS_ORIGIN=https://web.my-app.localhost

These URLs use portless (pnpm dev). If using plain HTTP (pnpm dev:no-tls), use http://localhost:3001 and http://localhost:3000 instead.

For OAuth providers, create apps on each provider's console and add the credentials.

Billing

Create products and prices in Stripe Dashboard
Configure webhook: Developers > Webhooks > Add endpoint
- URL: https://your-api.com/webhooks/stripe
- Events: customer.subscription.*, checkout.session.completed
Add to apps/api/.env:

apps/api/.env

STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_...
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_...

Add to apps/web/.env:

apps/web/.env

NEXT_PUBLIC_STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_live_...

Create products on dashboard.polar.sh
Configure webhook URL: https://your-api.com/webhooks/polar
Add to apps/api/.env:

apps/api/.env

POLAR_ACCESS_TOKEN=...
POLAR_WEBHOOK_SECRET=...

For mobile billing, configure RevenueCat: create products matching your App Store/Play Store offerings, add API keys to your mobile .env.

Email (Resend)

Claude Code

> Set up Resend for my project

Claude uses the Resend MCP to configure a sending domain and add the API key.

Create an account at resend.com
Add and verify your domain
Add API key to apps/api/.env:

apps/api/.env

RESEND_API_KEY=re_...

Email templates are in packages/email/src/ — preview them with pnpm -F @my-app/email preview (runs on port 3333).

Web hosting (Vercel)

Claude Code

> Deploy my web app to Vercel

Terminal

pnpm dlx vercel

Or connect your Git repo in the Vercel dashboard — auto-deploys on push.

API hosting (Docker)

The generated Dockerfile is a multi-stage build optimized for production:

Terminal

docker build -t my-api -f apps/api/Dockerfile .
docker run -p 3001:3001 my-api

Or use the docker-compose.yml for local development with PostgreSQL:

Terminal

docker compose up -d   # starts Postgres on port 5432

Mobile builds (EAS)

Terminal

cd apps/mobile
pnpm dlx eas-cli init --non-interactive

Then use the release scripts:

bash scripts/release-local.sh — full pipeline: version bump, EAS build, submit, TestFlight
bash scripts/release.sh — CI-friendly version bump

The Expo MCP server is configured for Claude Code to manage builds and submissions.

Environment checklist

Before going live, verify all required environment variables are set. Missing any will cause runtime errors.

Always required:

Variable	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	Neon PostgreSQL connection string
`BETTER_AUTH_SECRET`	Random string, min 32 characters
`BETTER_AUTH_URL`	Public URL of your API (e.g. `https://api.myapp.com`)
`CORS_ORIGIN`	Public URL of your web app (e.g. `https://myapp.com`)

If using email (Resend):

Variable	Description
`RESEND_API_KEY`	Resend API key (`re_...`)

If using OAuth:

Variable	Description
`GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID` / `GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET`	Google OAuth credentials
`GITHUB_CLIENT_ID` / `GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET`	GitHub OAuth credentials
`APPLE_CLIENT_ID` / `APPLE_CLIENT_SECRET`	Apple OAuth credentials

If using Stripe:

Variable	Description
`STRIPE_SECRET_KEY`	Stripe secret key (`sk_live_...`)
`STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Stripe webhook signing secret (`whsec_...`)

If using Polar:

Variable	Description
`POLAR_ACCESS_TOKEN`	Polar API access token
`POLAR_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Polar webhook HMAC secret

If mobile billing:

Variable	Description
`REVENUECAT_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	RevenueCat webhook Bearer token

Variable	Description
`NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL`	Public URL of your API
`NEXT_PUBLIC_STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY`	Stripe publishable key (if Stripe)
`NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_KEY`	PostHog project API key
`NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_HOST`	PostHog host URL

Variable	Description
`EXPO_PUBLIC_API_URL`	Public URL of your API
`EXPO_PUBLIC_REVENUECAT_API_KEY`	RevenueCat public API key (if billing)
`EXPO_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_KEY`	PostHog project API key
`EXPO_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_HOST`	PostHog host URL

CI/CD

Two GitHub Actions workflows are generated:

Workflow	Trigger	What it does
`ci.yml`	Push/PR to main	Lint, check-types, test, build
`deploy.yml`	Push to main	Vercel deployment placeholder
`desktop.yml`	Version tags	Tauri multi-platform builds (if desktop)

.github/workflows/ci.yml

name: CI
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  ci:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 24
          cache: pnpm
      - run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
      - run: pnpm lint
      - run: pnpm check-types
      - run: pnpm test
      - run: pnpm build

The deploy.yml workflow is a placeholder — connect your Vercel project via Git integration for automatic deployments, or customize the workflow with pnpm dlx vercel --prod --token $VERCEL_TOKEN.

Production checklist

Before launching, go through this checklist:

Switch to live API keys

Replace all test / sk_test_ / sandbox keys with production keys:

Stripe: sk_live_..., pk_live_..., new whsec_... for production webhook
Polar: production access token and webhook secret
RevenueCat: production API key (not sandbox)
Resend: production API key with verified domain

Update webhook URLs

Point all webhook endpoints to your production API:

Stripe: https://api.yourdomain.com/webhooks/stripe
Polar: https://api.yourdomain.com/webhooks/polar
RevenueCat: https://api.yourdomain.com/webhooks/revenuecat

Configure CORS and auth URLs

Update environment variables to use production domains:

apps/api/.env (production)

BETTER_AUTH_URL=https://api.yourdomain.com
CORS_ORIGIN=https://yourdomain.com

Set up custom domain on Vercel

Add your custom domain in the Vercel dashboard (Settings > Domains). Update NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL in your web app's Vercel environment variables.

Verify monitoring

PostHog is already configured in generated projects. Verify that:

NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_KEY and NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_HOST are set in production
Events are flowing in app.posthog.com
Consider setting up error tracking alerts

Run the full build

Before your first production deployment, verify everything builds cleanly:

Terminal

pnpm lint && pnpm check-types && pnpm test && pnpm build

Claude Code guide

Do all of this conversationally with MCP servers.

Project structure

Where config files and env vars live.

Deployment & infrastructure

Interactive setup

Local development

Service by service

Database (Neon)

Auth secrets

Billing

Email (Resend)

Web hosting (Vercel)

API hosting (Docker)

Mobile builds (EAS)

Environment checklist

CI/CD

Production checklist

Switch to live API keys

Update webhook URLs

Configure CORS and auth URLs

Set up custom domain on Vercel

Verify monitoring

Run the full build

Claude Code guide

Project structure

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