# Developer environment notes

This page explains the project's local `.env` behavior and how to handle environment files and secrets when developing OmniRoute.

## .env postinstall behavior

The project may generate a local `.env` file during `npm install` / `postinstall` for developer convenience. This file is intended only for local development and testing and must never be committed to version control.

Key points:

- The repository's `.gitignore` already ignores `.env*` files (see the `.gitignore` entry). Do not remove or alter that rule unless you deliberately intend to commit a specific example file and have a documented process for it.
- If a real secret is accidentally committed to the repo, rotate/revoke the credential immediately and remove it from the repository history (for example, using `git filter-repo` or an equivalent remediation workflow). Contact the security/contact owner if you need help.
- For CI and production, use the CI secrets or a secrets manager (GitHub Actions Secrets, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault, etc.) rather than committing secrets to files.

## Recommended local workflow

- Keep `.env` in your local workspace only. Use `.env.example` (already tracked) to document required variables and acceptable example values.
- When running tests locally that require secret-like values, prefer synthetic placeholders or runtime-generated ephemeral keys rather than real credentials.
- Add a short comment in tests that use placeholders so reviewers understand the fixture is synthetic.

## Scanner notes

- Some compiled or binary assets (e.g., embedded base64 WASM blobs) can contain ASCII substrings that look like credentials and may trigger text-based secret scanners. If these assets are legitimate, either mark them in the scanner's allowlist or exclude the directories in the scanner config.

## If you find a leak

1. Rotate/revoke the key immediately.
2. Remove the secret from the history and force-push a cleaned branch if necessary.
3. Notify maintainers and follow your org's incident response checklist.