# Configuring Deployment URL

When [connecting to your backend](/client/react/overview.md#connecting-to-a-backend) it's important to correctly configure the deployment URL.

### Create a Convex project[​](#create-a-convex-project "Direct link to Create a Convex project")

The first time you run

```
npx convex dev
```

in your project directory you will create a new Convex project.

Your new project includes two deployments: *production* and *development*. The *development* deployment's URL will be saved in `.env.local` or `.env` file, depending on the frontend framework or bundler you're using.

You can find the URLs of all deployments in a project by visiting the [deployment settings](/dashboard/deployments/deployment-settings.md) on your Convex [dashboard](https://dashboard.convex.dev).

### Configure the client[​](#configure-the-client "Direct link to Configure the client")

Construct a Convex React client by passing in the URL of the Convex deployment. There should generally be a single Convex client in a frontend application.

src/index.ts

```
import { ConvexProvider, ConvexReactClient } from "convex/react";



const deploymentURL = import.meta.env.VITE_CONVEX_URL;



const convex = new ConvexReactClient(deploymentURL);
```

While this URL can be hardcoded, it's convenient to use an environment variable to determine which deployment the client should connect to.

Use an environment variable name accessible from your client code according to the frontend framework or bundler you're using.

### Choosing environment variable names[​](#choosing-environment-variable-names "Direct link to Choosing environment variable names")

To avoid unintentionally exposing secret environment variables in frontend code, many bundlers require environment variables referenced in frontend code to use a specific prefix.

[Vite](https://vitejs.dev/guide/env-and-mode.html) requires environment variables used in frontend code start with `VITE_`, so `VITE_CONVEX_URL` is a good name.

[Create React App](https://create-react-app.dev/docs/adding-custom-environment-variables/) requires environment variables used in frontend code to begin with `REACT_APP_`, so the code above uses `REACT_APP_CONVEX_URL`.

[Next.js](https://nextjs.org/docs/basic-features/environment-variables#exposing-environment-variables-to-the-browser) requires them to begin with `NEXT_PUBLIC_`, so `NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL` is a good name.

Bundlers provide different ways to access these variables too: while [Vite uses `import.meta.env.VARIABLE_NAME`](https://vitejs.dev/guide/env-and-mode.html), many other tools like Next.js use the Node.js-like [`process.env.VARIABLE_NAME`](https://nextjs.org/docs/basic-features/environment-variables)

```
import { ConvexProvider, ConvexReactClient } from "convex/react";



const convex = new ConvexReactClient(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL);
```

[`.env` files](https://www.npmjs.com/package/dotenv) are a common way to wire up different environment variable values in development and production environments. `npx convex dev` will save the deployment URL to the corresponding `.env` file, while trying to infer which bundler your project uses.

.env.local

```
NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL=https://guiltless-dog-960.convex.cloud



# examples of other environment variables that might be passed to the frontend

NEXT_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DSN=https://123abc@o123.ingest.sentry.io/1234

NEXT_PUBLIC_LAUNCHDARKLY_SDK_CLIENT_SIDE_ID=01234567890abcdef
```

Your backend functions can use [environment variables](/production/environment-variables.md) configured on your dashboard. They do not source values from `.env` files.