Secure your Bolt.new application with these essential practices. From secrets management to deployment security.
Verify your app follows these best practices automatically.
Bolt.new enables rapid prototyping in the browser, but production apps need security hardening. Follow these practices to ship secure applications.
Bolt projects often have secrets in code for quick testing. Before deploying, move all API keys and credentials to environment variables.
Use your deployment platform's environment variable settings (Vercel, Netlify, etc.)
Check all server-side code for proper authentication and authorization. AI often creates functional but insecure endpoints.
Audit each API route for auth checks and user-scoped data access
Replace development error messages with generic production errors. Don't leak stack traces or internal details.
Create a central error handler that logs details server-side but returns generic messages to clients
Protect public endpoints from abuse with rate limiting. This is often missing in AI-generated code.
Use rate limiting middleware like express-rate-limit or upstash/ratelimit
Never trust data from users. Validate type, length, and format on the server.
Use validation libraries like Zod or Yup for type-safe input validation
Add CSP, HSTS, and other security headers to protect against common web attacks.
Configure headers in your deployment platform or application config
Test API keys may have higher limits or different permissions than intended
Create separate production credentials and use environment variables
Stack traces reveal file paths, package versions, and code structure
Implement production error handling that logs internally but returns generic messages
Allows injection attacks and data corruption
Validate all user input on the server with a schema validation library
Following best practices is the first step. Verify your app is actually secure with a comprehensive security scan.
Scan Your App FreeWhen you deploy from Bolt to platforms like Vercel or Netlify, use their dashboard to add environment variables. Never commit secrets to the exported code.
Focus on reviewing security-critical code: authentication, authorization, database queries, and API endpoints. You don't need to review every line, but these areas need human oversight.
Run a security scan to check for common issues. At minimum, verify: secrets are in environment variables, authentication works correctly, users can only access their own data, and HTTPS is enforced.
Last updated: January 2026