Docs: add env setup before db commands (#133)

* docs: add env setup before db commands in README.md

* docs: add placeholder session cookie values to .env.example

* docs: add env setup notes

* docs: update README.md

Author: lraveri

.env.example

@@ -19,5 +19,5 @@ LOG_LEVEL=info
 
 # Security
 COOKIE_SECRET=
-COOKIE_NAME=
+COOKIE_NAME=session_id
 RATE_LIMIT_MAX=4 # 4 is for tests, increase if you need more

README.md

@@ -18,7 +18,14 @@ Install the dependencies:
 npm install
 ```
 
+### Environment variables
+
+Create a `.env` file based on `.env.example` and update values as needed.
+
+Make sure `COOKIE_SECRET` is set to a secret with at least 32 characters.
+
 ### Database
+
 You can run a MySQL instance with Docker:
 ```bash
 docker compose up