Heroku/Railway/Render Deployment Configuration

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Required Environment Variables

1. Flask Configuration

# Essential for Flask security
SECRET_KEY=your-long-random-secret-key-here-minimum-32-characters

# Environment mode
FLASK_ENV=production
DEBUG=False

2. Server Configuration

# Host and port (Heroku sets PORT automatically)
HOST=0.0.0.0
PORT=5000  # Heroku will override this

# Application entry point
FLASK_APP=flask_app/app.py

3. Application Paths

# Base directory (usually /app on Heroku)
BASE_DIR=/app

Platform-Specific Setup

Heroku Setup

1. Create Heroku app (if using Heroku CLI): bash heroku create sub-team-imaging-report-model

2. Set environment variables: bash heroku config:set SECRET_KEY="$(python -c 'import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))')" heroku config:set FLASK_ENV=production heroku config:set DEBUG=False

3. Deploy: bash git push heroku main

Railway Setup

1. Connect GitHub repository at railway.app
2. Set environment variables in Railway dashboard:
3. SECRET_KEY: Generate a secure random string
4. FLASK_ENV: production
5. DEBUG: False

Render Setup

1. Connect GitHub repository at render.com
2. Build Command: pip install -r requirements.txt
3. Start Command: cd flask_app && python app.py
4. Environment Variables:
5. SECRET_KEY: Generate a secure random string
6. FLASK_ENV: production
7. DEBUG: False

Security Notes

SECRET_KEY Generation

Generate a secure secret key using Python:

import secrets
print(secrets.token_hex(32))
# Copy the output and use as SECRET_KEY

Or use online generator (ensure it's from a trusted source): - 64 characters minimum - Mix of letters, numbers, and symbols - Never commit to version control

Production Security Checklist

• ✅ Strong SECRET_KEY set
• ✅ DEBUG=False in production
• ✅ FLASK_ENV=production
• ✅ HTTPS enforced (platform handles this)
• ✅ Secure cookies enabled

Optional Configuration

Performance Settings

# Web server workers (for Gunicorn)
WEB_CONCURRENCY=2
MAX_WORKERS=4

# PDF generation timeout
PDF_TIMEOUT=30
MAX_PDF_SIZE=50MB

Monitoring and Logging

# Log level
LOG_LEVEL=INFO

# Enable request logging
REQUEST_LOGGING=True

Platform Comparison

Quick Deploy Commands

Generate SECRET_KEY

python -c "import secrets; print('SECRET_KEY=' + secrets.token_hex(32))"

Railway Deploy

# No commands needed - automatic on git push

Render Deploy

# No commands needed - automatic on git push

Heroku Deploy (if using CLI)

heroku config:set SECRET_KEY="$(python -c 'import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))')"
git push heroku main

Environment Variables Summary

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Application won't start: Check SECRET_KEY is set
2. Static files not loading: Ensure DEBUG=False in production
3. PDF generation fails: Check file permissions and timeout settings
4. Session issues: Verify SECRET_KEY is properly set

Debug Commands

# Check environment variables (Railway/Render dashboards)
# Check logs for startup messages
# Verify all required files are in repository