diff --git a/.env b/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f750db9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# Docker Registry Configuration
+# For Docker Hub: docker.io/username or just username
+# For GitHub Container Registry: ghcr.io/username
+DOCKER_REGISTRY=gitea-http.taildb3494.ts.net/will
+
+# Docker Image Tag
+TAG=latest
+
+# CouchDB Configuration
+COUCHDB_URL=http://couchdb:5984
+COUCHDB_DB_NAME=adopt-a-street
+COUCHDB_USER=admin
+COUCHDB_PASSWORD=admin
+COUCHDB_SECRET=change-this-secret-string
+
+# JWT Configuration
+JWT_SECRET=change-this-jwt-secret-key
+
+# Node Environment
+NODE_ENV=production
+PORT=5000
+FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:3000
+
+# Cloudinary Configuration (optional - for image uploads)
+CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=
+CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=
+CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=
+
+# Stripe Configuration (optional - for payments)
+STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=
+STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=
+
+# OpenAI Configuration (optional - for AI features)
+OPENAI_API_KEY=
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9339b87..945201e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1 @@
-deploy/k8s/secrets.yaml
+# No files ignored - this is an internal-only repository
diff --git a/deploy/k8s/secrets.yaml b/deploy/k8s/secrets.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..028b943
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy/k8s/secrets.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+data:
+  CLOUDINARY_API_KEY: ""
+  CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET: ""
+  CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME: ""
+  COUCHDB_PASSWORD: c2VjcmV0X3Bhc3N3b3Jk
+  COUCHDB_SECRET: c2VjcmV0X2Nvb2tpZQ==
+  COUCHDB_USER: YWRtaW4=
+  JWT_SECRET: bkxOZWtJSUhiR0M3RHQ3eWMwMExWT2xNS2ZHWThNS0lHMjV4aHdEUXp5b3MzMExBZk1vZVpTeHd3dmZxdGtaUw==
+  OPENAI_API_KEY: ""
+  STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY: ""
+  STRIPE_SECRET_KEY: ""
+kind: Secret
+metadata:
+  name: adopt-a-street-secrets