[Bug] Login/Signup fails in production due to missing VITE_BACKEND_URL

[vv-verse]

Description

Authentication is currently broken on the deployed website.

Signup and login requests fail with:

POST https://github-spy.netlify.app/undefined/api/auth/signup
404 (Not Found)

Users only see a generic "Something went wrong" message on the frontend.

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Steps to Reproduce

1. Visit https://github-spy.netlify.app/signup
2. Fill the signup form
3. Submit the form
4. Open DevTools → Console tab

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Root Cause

VITE_BACKEND_URL is not configured in the Netlify deployment environment.

Both auth pages currently use:

const backendUrl = import.meta.env.VITE_BACKEND_URL;

When the variable is missing, the generated request URL becomes:

undefined/api/auth/signup

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Action Required

Configure the following environment variable in the Netlify deployment settings:

VITE_BACKEND_URL=<deployed_backend_url>

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Additional Context

A related PR has been prepared which:

• adds frontend and backend .env.example files
• improves local environment setup guidance
• adds safer fallback handling for missing env variables

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Screenshot

[vv-verse]

Hi maintainers...

I'm a GSSoC'26 contributor and I investigated the production login/signup issue and identified that VITE_BACKEND_URL is missing in the Netlify deployment environment, which causes malformed auth requests like:

/undefined/api/auth/signup

I’ve prepared a fix that:

• adds frontend and backend .env.example files
• improves local setup documentation
• adds safer fallback handling for missing env variables

Could you please assign this issue to me under GSSoC? Thanks!