From 6b43b882d7d21a3c3a03be832fa1b2d857236e6b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jeffrey Graham <jeff.graham.ai@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2026 04:31:11 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] fix(indexer): require SOROBAN_RPC_URL without silent testnet
 fallback

---
 indexer/README.md         |  5 +++--
 indexer/src/index.test.ts | 39 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 indexer/src/index.ts      | 11 ++++++++---
 3 files changed, 48 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/indexer/README.md b/indexer/README.md
index 832b2d2..4e50979 100644
--- a/indexer/README.md
+++ b/indexer/README.md
@@ -8,8 +8,9 @@ An optional indexer that polls Soroban RPC and persists contract deployments, in
 cd indexer
 npm install
 
-# Set the database connection string
+# Set the required database connection string and Soroban RPC endpoint
 export DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/prism"
+export SOROBAN_RPC_URL="https://soroban-testnet.stellar.org"
 
 # Generate the Prisma client and run migrations
 npm run prisma:generate
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ docker compose up
 | Environment Variable | Default                              | Description                          |
 | -------------------- | ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------ |
 | `DATABASE_URL`       | *(required)*                         | PostgreSQL connection string         |
-| `SOROBAN_RPC_URL`    | `https://soroban-testnet.stellar.org` | Soroban RPC endpoint to poll        |
+| `SOROBAN_RPC_URL`    | *(required)*                         | Soroban RPC endpoint to poll        |
 | `POLL_INTERVAL_MS`   | `5000`                               | Milliseconds between poll cycles     |
 | `HEALTH_PORT`        | `8080`                               | Port for the `GET /healthz` endpoint |
 | `HEALTH_MAX_LEDGER_LAG` | `60`                              | Ledgers behind the network before `/healthz` returns 503 |
diff --git a/indexer/src/index.test.ts b/indexer/src/index.test.ts
index e8293eb..4d917ab 100644
--- a/indexer/src/index.test.ts
+++ b/indexer/src/index.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
-import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
-import { backoffDelay, commitPage, healthReport, seedLastLedger } from "./index.js";
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+vi.hoisted(() => {
+  process.env.SOROBAN_RPC_URL ??= "https://soroban-testnet.stellar.org";
+});
+
+import { backoffDelay, commitPage, healthReport, requireEnv, seedLastLedger } from "./index.js";
 
 describe("backoffDelay", () => {
   it("doubles the delay for each consecutive failure", () => {
@@ -127,3 +132,33 @@ describe("commitPage", () => {
     expect(committed.cursor).toEqual({ lastLedger: 100, paginationCursor: null });
   });
 });
+
+
+describe("requireEnv", () => {
+  it("returns the configured environment variable when set", () => {
+    expect(
+      requireEnv("SOROBAN_RPC_URL", undefined, {
+        SOROBAN_RPC_URL: "https://soroban-testnet.stellar.org",
+      })
+    ).toBe("https://soroban-testnet.stellar.org");
+  });
+
+  it("logs the fatal error and exits with code 1 when SOROBAN_RPC_URL is unset or blank", () => {
+    const errorSpy = vi.spyOn(console, "error").mockImplementation(() => {});
+    const exitSpy = vi.spyOn(process, "exit").mockImplementation(((code?: number) => {
+      throw new Error(`process.exit(${code})`);
+    }) as never);
+
+    try {
+      for (const env of [{}, { SOROBAN_RPC_URL: "   " }]) {
+        expect(() => requireEnv("SOROBAN_RPC_URL", undefined, env)).toThrow("process.exit(1)");
+        expect(errorSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+          "[indexer] fatal: environment variable SOROBAN_RPC_URL is required but not set"
+        );
+      }
+    } finally {
+      errorSpy.mockRestore();
+      exitSpy.mockRestore();
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/indexer/src/index.ts b/indexer/src/index.ts
index fb07c50..752469d 100644
--- a/indexer/src/index.ts
+++ b/indexer/src/index.ts
@@ -14,8 +14,13 @@ import {
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Environment variable validation (#20)
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-function requireEnv(name: string, fallback?: string): string {
-  const val = process.env[name] ?? fallback;
+export function requireEnv(
+  name: string,
+  fallback?: string,
+  env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env
+): string {
+  const raw = env[name]?.trim();
+  const val = raw ? raw : fallback;
   if (val === undefined) {
     console.error(`[indexer] fatal: environment variable ${name} is required but not set`);
     process.exit(1);
@@ -36,7 +41,7 @@ function requirePositiveInt(name: string, fallback: number): number {
   return n;
 }
 
-const RPC_URL = requireEnv("SOROBAN_RPC_URL", "https://soroban-testnet.stellar.org");
+const RPC_URL = requireEnv("SOROBAN_RPC_URL");
 const POLL_INTERVAL_MS = requirePositiveInt("POLL_INTERVAL_MS", 5000);
 const HEALTH_PORT = requirePositiveInt("HEALTH_PORT", 8080);
 const MAX_LEDGER_LAG = requirePositiveInt("HEALTH_MAX_LEDGER_LAG", 60);