diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ebb335
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# ==================================================
+# MC-Manager — Environment Variables
+# Copy this file to .env.local and fill in values
+# ==================================================
+
+# --- Database ---
+MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/mc-manager
+
+# --- Authentication (JWT) ---
+JWT_ACCESS_SECRET=change-me-access-secret-min-32-chars
+JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=change-me-refresh-secret-min-32-chars
+TWO_FACTOR_SECRET=change-me-2fa-secret-min-32-chars
+
+# --- Email: Microsoft Graph API (primary) ---
+# AZURE_TENANT_ID=
+# AZURE_CLIENT_ID=
+# AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET=
+# GRAPH_SENDER_EMAIL=noreply@yourdomain.com
+
+# --- Email: SMTP (fallback) ---
+SMTP_HOST=smtp.example.com
+SMTP_PORT=587
+SMTP_USER=noreply@example.com
+SMTP_PASS=your-smtp-password
+SMTP_FROM=MC-Manager <noreply@example.com>
+
+# --- Docker ---
+MC_SERVERS_PATH=/opt/mc-servers
+DOCKER_SOCKET=/var/run/docker.sock
+
+# --- App ---
+NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=http://localhost:3000
+NODE_ENV=development
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5ef6a52..7b8da95 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ yarn-error.log*
 
 # env files (can opt-in for committing if needed)
 .env*
+!.env.example
 
 # vercel
 .vercel