From 0d49e17cea69f16e56cbdfb6aa091138fde14975 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jack Levy <YOUR_GITEA_NOREPLY_EMAIL_HERE>
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2026 11:25:00 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] docs: warn about special characters in passwords in
 .env.example

Docker Compose interprets $ as variable substitution in unquoted values.
Passwords containing $, &, # etc. must be wrapped in single quotes.

Authored by: Jack Levy
---
 .env.example | 5 ++++-
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index e628332..33037d2 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -17,7 +17,10 @@ ENCRYPTION_SECRET_KEY=
 
 # ─── PostgreSQL ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 POSTGRES_USER=congress
-POSTGRES_PASSWORD=congress
+# If your password contains special characters ($, &, #, etc.), wrap it in single quotes
+# to prevent Docker Compose from interpreting them as variable substitutions.
+# Example: POSTGRES_PASSWORD='p@$$w0rd&safe'
+POSTGRES_PASSWORD=change-me
 POSTGRES_DB=pocketveto
 
 # These are constructed automatically from the above in docker-compose.yml.