Cloud Accounts Setup

TL;DR

You need 5 services: Neon (database), Stripe (payments), Resend (email), PostHog (analytics), Axiom (logging). All have generous free tiers!

Orion Kit uses cloud services for database, payments, and monitoring. Authentication is handled by our custom JWT system (no external dependencies!).

Service	What It Does	Used Where	Free Tier	Setup Time
Neon	Postgres database	API + Database schema	0.5GB	2 min
Stripe	Subscription payments	Billing page	No fees	5 min
Resend	Transactional emails	Welcome emails	3k emails	2 min
Axiom	Structured logging	API error tracking	500MB/month	2 min
PostHog	Product analytics	User behavior	1M events/mo	2 min
Vercel	Hosting	Production deploy	Unlimited	1 min

🔐 Authentication (Custom JWT)

Orion Kit uses a custom JWT-based authentication system - no external auth provider needed!

Setup

Add to your API app (.env.local):

AUTH_JWT_SECRET=your-super-secret-key-min-32-characters-long
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=http://localhost:3001
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:3002
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://...

That’s it! No external accounts needed.

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🗄️ Neon (2 minutes)

Serverless Postgres database with autoscaling and generous free tier.

Quick Setup

1. Create Account: neon.tech → Sign up with GitHub
2. Create Project: Click “Create Project” → Copy Pooled Connection URL
3. Add to .env files:

   # packages/database/.env
   # apps/api/.env.local
   # apps/studio/.env.local
   DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@host.neon.tech/neondb?sslmode=require

4. Initialize: pnpm db:push
5. Verify: pnpm db:studio → Opens https://local.drizzle.studio

Important

Always use “Pooled connection” for serverless compatibility!

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💳 Stripe (5 minutes)

Handles subscription payments, billing, and customer management.

Quick Setup

1. Create Account: stripe.com → Sign up → Enable Test Mode

2. Create Products: Products → Add Product → Pro ($19/month) + Enterprise ($49/month) → Copy Price IDs

3. Get API Keys: Developers → API Keys → Copy publishable + secret keys

4. Add to .env files:

   # apps/api/.env.local
   STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_...
   STRIPE_PRICE_ID_PRO=price_...
   STRIPE_PRICE_ID_ENTERPRISE=price_...
   
   # apps/app/.env.local
   NEXT_PUBLIC_STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_test_...

5. Setup Webhooks: stripe listen --forward-to localhost:3002/webhooks/stripe → Copy webhook secret

6. Test: Visit /dashboard/billing → Use test card 4242 4242 4242 4242

Test Mode

Stripe test mode = no fees! Use test cards for development.

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📧 Resend (2 minutes)

Transactional emails with beautiful React Email templates.

Quick Setup

1. Create Account: resend.com → Sign up
2. Get API Key: Dashboard → API Keys → Create API Key → Copy key
3. Add to .env:

   # apps/api/.env.local
   RESEND_API_KEY=re_...
   FROM_EMAIL=onboarding@resend.dev

4. Test: Register new user → Check email for welcome message

Free Tier

3,000 emails/month free! Perfect for development and small apps.

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📈 Axiom (2 minutes)

Serverless logging platform for structured logs, errors, and performance metrics.

Quick Setup

1. Create Account: axiom.co → Sign up
2. Create Dataset: Dashboard → Datasets → Create Dataset → Name: orion-logs
3. Get API Token: Settings → API Tokens → Create Token → Ingest Only → Copy token
4. Add to .env:

   # apps/api/.env.local
   AXIOM_TOKEN=xaat-...
   AXIOM_DATASET=orion-logs

5. Test: Make API request → Visit axiom.co → Check logs

Free Tier

500MB/month free! Great for development and monitoring.

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📊 PostHog (2 minutes)

Open-source product analytics platform for tracking user events and page views.

Quick Setup

1. Create Account: posthog.com → Sign up
2. Get API Keys: Dashboard → Project Settings → Copy API Key + Host URL
3. Add to .env files:

   # apps/web/.env.local + apps/app/.env.local
   NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_KEY=phc_...
   NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_HOST=https://us.i.posthog.com

4. Test: Visit app → Navigate pages → Check posthog.com → Web Analytics

Free Tier

1M events/month free! Perfect for tracking user behavior.

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⚡ Trigger.dev (Optional)

Background jobs and scheduled tasks without managing infrastructure.

Quick Setup

1. Create Account: trigger.dev → Sign up → Create project
2. Get API Key: Project dashboard → Environments → Copy Development API Key
3. Add to .env:

   # packages/jobs/.env
   TRIGGER_API_KEY=tr_dev_...
   TRIGGER_API_URL=https://api.trigger.dev

4. Test: cd packages/jobs && pnpm trigger:dev → Check dashboard

Optional

Background jobs are optional! Skip if you don’t need them yet.

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▲ Vercel (1 minute)

Deployment platform for Next.js apps with serverless hosting and automatic deployments.

How It’s Used

• Three apps deployed: web (marketing), app (dashboard), api (backend)
• Automatic deployments: Push to main branch = production deploy
• Environment variables: Set in Vercel dashboard for each app

See the Deployment Guide for complete instructions.

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🎉 You’re Done!

Total setup time: ~15 minutes for all services

Next steps:

• Deploy to production
• Customize your app
• Add features

Troubleshooting? Check service docs: Neon · Stripe · Resend