Added better logging and websocket, more readme details

backend/lib/utils/environment.dart

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+// load any env vars inside root of project's .env file, then looks for JWT_TOKEN_SECRET
+import 'dart:io';
+import 'dart:math';
+
+import 'package:logging/logging.dart';
+
+final log = Logger('Environment');
+
+bool _isDevEnv = false;
+
+void checkEnvironment(bool isDevEnv) {
+  _isDevEnv = isDevEnv;
+  getJWTSecret();
+}
+
+String? getJWTSecret() {
+  final envs = {...Platform.environment};
+  if (_isDevEnv) {
+    log.fine('Trying to load .env file...');
+    try {
+      final result = Process.runSync('git', ['rev-parse', '--show-toplevel']);
+      if (result.exitCode != 0) {
+        log.warning('Failed to get git root directory: ${result.stderr}');
+        throw Exception('Failed to get git root directory');
+      }
+      final rootDir = (result.stdout as String).trim();
+      final envFile = File('$rootDir/.env');
+      if (envFile.existsSync()) {
+        for (final line in envFile.readAsLinesSync()) {
+          if (line.trim().isEmpty || line.startsWith('#')) continue;
+          final parts = line.split('=');
+          if (parts.length != 2) continue;
+          final key = parts[0].trim();
+          final value = parts[1].trim();
+          envs[key] = value;
+        }
+      }
+    } catch (e) {
+      log.warning('Failed to load .env file: $e');
+    }
+  }
+
+  // check for secret
+  final secret = envs['JWT_TOKEN_SECRET'];
+  if (secret == null || secret.isEmpty) {
+    if (_isDevEnv) {
+      log.warning('JWT secret not configured. Define JWT_TOKEN_SECRET in environment.');
+      final secret = List.generate(
+          24, (_) => String.fromCharCode((65 + Random().nextInt(26)) + (Random().nextInt(2) == 0 ? 0 : 32))).join();
+      log.warning('Generated random JWT secret for development: $secret');
+      return secret;
+    } else {
+      log.severe('Stopping prod server because JWT secret is not defined.');
+      throw Exception('JWT secret not configured. Define JWT_TOKEN_SECRET in environment.');
+    }
+  } else {
+    return secret;
+  }
+}