From 3aa3c10ea4eed0c7fdbd57390541086b6afc857a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Stefan de Vogelaere <email@stefandevogelaere.be>
Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2026 13:53:34 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] docs: add hint about AUTOMAKER_API_KEY env var to API key
 banner

When the dev server restarts, developers need to re-enter the API key
in the browser. While the key is persisted to ./data/.api-key, this
file may be missing in clean dev scenarios.

This adds a helpful tip to the API key banner informing developers
they can set AUTOMAKER_API_KEY environment variable for a persistent
API key during development, avoiding the need to re-enter it after
server restarts.
---
 apps/server/src/lib/auth.ts | 2 ++
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)

diff --git a/apps/server/src/lib/auth.ts b/apps/server/src/lib/auth.ts
index 0a4b5389..4626ed25 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/lib/auth.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/lib/auth.ts
@@ -142,6 +142,8 @@ if (process.env.AUTOMAKER_HIDE_API_KEY !== 'true') {
 ║    ${API_KEY}
 ║                                                                       ║
 ║  In Electron mode, authentication is handled automatically.          ║
+║                                                                       ║
+║  💡 Tip: Set AUTOMAKER_API_KEY env var to use a fixed key for dev    ║
 ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
 `);
 } else {