diff --git a/.env b/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f48161
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# ─── Database ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# PostgreSQL connection string (required)
+DATABASE_URL=postgresql://shumiland:shumiland@localhost:5432/shumiland
+
+# ─── Payload CMS ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# Secret used to sign JWTs and encrypt data (required, min 32 chars)
+PAYLOAD_SECRET=change-me-to-a-random-32-char-string
+
+# ─── Next.js ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# Public server URL (used by Payload for absolute URLs in admin & API)
+NEXT_PUBLIC_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:3000
+
+# ─── Node ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+NODE_ENV=development
diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a15022
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# ─── Database ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# PostgreSQL connection string (required)
+DATABASE_URL=postgresql://shumiland:shumiland@localhost:5432/shumiland
+
+# ─── Payload CMS ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# Secret used to sign JWTs and encrypt data (required, min 32 chars)
+PAYLOAD_SECRET=change-me-to-a-random-32-char-string
+
+# ─── Next.js ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# Public server URL (used by Payload for absolute URLs in admin & API)
+NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL=http://localhost:3000
+
+# ─── Node ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+NODE_ENV=development
+
+REVALIDATE_SECRET=
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b8fb62d..53121fb 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -6,9 +6,6 @@ CLAUDE.md
 .swarm/
 ruvector.db
 
-# Secrets
-.env
-.env.*
 
 # Database files
 *.db