Production setup for email verification feature

[SteadfastKnight]

Overview

Email verification (PR #2) requires production configuration for full functionality.

Required Setup

1. Cron Job for Laravel Scheduler

Add to server crontab:

* * * * * cd /path-to-project && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

This runs the daily cleanup of unverified accounts older than 5 days.

2. SMTP Configuration

Update .env with real mail provider:

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.mailgun.org
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=your-username
MAIL_PASSWORD=your-password
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=noreply@yourdomain.com
MAIL_FROM_NAME=WordKeep

Options: Mailgun, SendGrid, AWS SES, Postmark, etc.

3. Queue Worker

Verification emails are queued. Ensure queue worker is running:

php artisan queue:work --daemon

Or use Supervisor/systemd to keep it running.

Alternative: set QUEUE_CONNECTION=sync to send emails immediately (not recommended for production).

4. Frontend URL

Set correct production frontend URL in .env:

FRONTEND_URL=https://app.yourdomain.com

This is used for verification email links.

Optional

Rate Limiting

Consider adding rate limiting to resend-verification endpoint (currently unlimited).

Monitoring

• Monitor failed_jobs table for failed email sends
• Set up alerts for queue backlog

Checklist

• Cron job configured
• SMTP credentials set
• Queue worker running
• FRONTEND_URL set to production URL
• Test email delivery in production