[question] `createClient` not able to run without 'NEXT_PUBLIC' environment variables

[mdzialo00]

Hi,
I'm currently integrating Sanity into my Next.js project, and I noticed something I’d like to clarify. When using createClient, I expected to be able to do:

const sanityClient = createClient({ projectId: process.env.SANITY_PROJECT_ID })

However, it only works if I use:
const sanityClient = createClient({ projectId: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SANITY_PROJECT_ID })

This effectively exposes the projectId to the client side. I understand that it's not considered sensitive information, but I’d still prefer to avoid making it publicly accessible if possible. Without the NEXT_PUBLIC prefix, I get the following error:

Is it just because of how this library is designed, and it's working on the client side if it requires NEXT_PUBLIC exposed variables?

[EricWVGG]

I bumped into a similar issue when I was trying to run NextJS with static rendering. Switching from next-sanity to plain old sanity solved things for me.

I believe that next-sanity is expecting to do things like run live updates in dev mode, and integrate with the new live-drafts system in Sanity Studio.