diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4fc3dd0..9e188d3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -422,6 +422,8 @@ FodyWeavers.xsd
 
 .dev/*
 appsettings.json
+appsettings.*.json
+!appsettings.example.json
 CLAUDE.md
 *.db
 *.db-*
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/EchoHub.Server/appsettings.example.json b/src/EchoHub.Server/appsettings.example.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..974ea31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/EchoHub.Server/appsettings.example.json
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+{
+  "ConnectionStrings": {
+    "DefaultConnection": "Data Source=echohub.db"
+  },
+  "Jwt": {
+    "Secret": "CHANGE_ME_minimum_32_characters_long_secret_key",
+    "Issuer": "EchoHub.Server",
+    "Audience": "EchoHub.Client"
+  },
+  "Server": {
+    "Name": "My EchoHub Server",
+    "Description": "A self-hosted EchoHub chat server"
+  },
+  "Logging": {
+    "LogLevel": {
+      "Default": "Information",
+      "Microsoft.AspNetCore": "Warning",
+      "Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore": "Warning"
+    }
+  },
+  "AllowedHosts": "*"
+}