dograh/docs/developer/environment-variables.mdx

---
title: "Environment Variables"
description: "Complete reference for all environment variables used by the Dograh backend"
---

Core environment variables are centralized in `api/constants.py`. Variables marked **Required** in the description must be explicitly set — the application will either fail to boot or behave insecurely without them.

## Deployment Modes

Dograh supports two deployment modes, set via `DEPLOYMENT_MODE`:

- **OSS**: The default mode. Designed for self-hosted deployments using [Docker Compose](/deployment/docker) — the fastest way to get Dograh running. Uses local JWT authentication and MinIO for storage.
- **SaaS**: Intended for customised deployments outside of Docker. Authentication and API key management are handled through Dograh Managed Platform Services (MPS), allowing greater flexibility in how the platform is hosted and integrated.

The relevant required variables for each mode are noted in the descriptions below.

---

## Application

| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `ENVIRONMENT` | `local` | Runtime environment. Affects logging and behaviour. One of `local`, `production`, `test` |
| `DEPLOYMENT_MODE` | `oss` | Deployment mode. Use `oss` for self-hosted |
| `AUTH_PROVIDER` | `local` | Authentication provider. `local` (default) uses the built-in email/password flow. Set to `stack` to delegate to Stack Auth for social login — see [Authentication](/deployment/authentication) for the full setup |

---

## Database

| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `DATABASE_URL` | N/A | **Required.** PostgreSQL connection string. e.g. `postgresql+asyncpg://user:pass@host:5432/dbname` |
| `REDIS_URL` | N/A | **Required.** Redis connection string. e.g. `redis://localhost:6379` |

---

## Authentication (OSS)

| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `OSS_JWT_SECRET` | N/A | **Required for OSS deployments.** Secret used to sign JWT tokens. Must be set to a strong random value in production |
| `OSS_JWT_EXPIRY_HOURS` | `720` | JWT token lifetime in hours (default: 30 days) |

<Warning>
Never use the placeholder `OSS_JWT_SECRET` in a production deployment. Generate a strong random secret and store it securely.
</Warning>

---

## Authentication (Stack Auth)

Set these when `AUTH_PROVIDER=stack` to delegate sign-in to [Stack Auth](https://stack-auth.com) for social login. The project id and publishable client key are public and are served to the browser at runtime via `/api/v1/health`; the secret server key stays server-side. See [Authentication](/deployment/authentication) for the full walkthrough.

| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `STACK_AUTH_PROJECT_ID` | `null` | **Required for `stack`.** Stack project ID (public) |
| `STACK_PUBLISHABLE_CLIENT_KEY` | `null` | **Required for `stack`.** Stack publishable client key (public) |
| `STACK_SECRET_SERVER_KEY` | `null` | **Required for `stack`.** Stack secret server key — server-side only, also set on the `ui` service. Keep secret |
| `STACK_AUTH_API_URL` | `null` | **Required for `stack`.** Stack REST API base URL (e.g. `https://api.stack-auth.com`) |

---

## URLs

| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `BACKEND_API_ENDPOINT` | `http://localhost:8000` | Internal URL of the backend API |
| `UI_APP_URL` | `http://localhost:3010` | URL of the frontend application |
| `MPS_API_URL` | `https://services.dograh.com` | Dograh Managed Platform Services URL |
| `DOGRAH_MPS_SECRET_KEY` | `null` | **Required for non-OSS deployments.** Secret key for authenticating with MPS |
| `CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS` | `null` | **Required for non-OSS deployments.** Comma-separated list of origins allowed to make credentialed cross-origin requests (e.g. `https://app.example.com,https://admin.example.com`). Ignored in OSS mode, which serves a permissive same-origin policy without credentials |

---

## Storage

Dograh uses **MinIO by default**, which is bundled with the self-hosted deployment and requires no external setup. Set `ENABLE_AWS_S3=true` to switch to AWS S3 — typically used for cloud or managed deployments where S3 is already part of the infrastructure.

### MinIO (OSS default)

| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `MINIO_ENDPOINT` | `localhost:9000` | MinIO server host and port |
| `MINIO_PUBLIC_ENDPOINT` | `null` | Publicly accessible MinIO URL (for download links) |
| `MINIO_ACCESS_KEY` | N/A | **Required for OSS deployments.** MinIO access key. Must be set to a secure value in production |
| `MINIO_SECRET_KEY` | N/A | **Required for OSS deployments.** MinIO secret key. Must be set to a secure value in production |
| `MINIO_BUCKET` | `voice-audio` | Bucket name for audio files |
| `MINIO_SECURE` | `false` | Use HTTPS for MinIO connections |

### AWS S3 (alternative)

| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `ENABLE_AWS_S3` | `false` | Set to `true` to use AWS S3 instead of MinIO |
| `S3_BUCKET` | `null` | S3 bucket name |
| `S3_REGION` | `us-east-1` | AWS region |
| `S3_ENDPOINT_URL` | `null` | Custom S3 endpoint for S3-compatible servers (e.g. `https://s3.example.com`). Leave unset for AWS. |
| `S3_SIGNATURE_VERSION` | `null` | Signing version. Unset uses botocore's default; set `s3v4` for servers that require SigV4. |
| `S3_ADDRESSING_STYLE` | `null` | `auto` (default), `path`, or `virtual`. Many S3-compatible servers and TLS setups require `path`. |

Credentials come from the standard `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` / `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` environment variables.

#### S3-compatible servers (MinIO, rustfs, Ceph, ...)

The S3 backend can target any S3-compatible server, not just AWS. Prefer it over the MinIO backend when you need **presigned URLs against a private bucket**: the MinIO backend returns plain unsigned object URLs and relies on the bucket being anonymously public-readable, whereas the S3 backend issues real presigned URLs so the bucket can stay private.

To use it, set `ENABLE_AWS_S3=true` and point it at your server with the `S3_*` overrides above. For example, against [rustfs](https://github.com/rustfs/rustfs):

```bash
ENABLE_AWS_S3=true
S3_BUCKET=voice-audio
S3_REGION=us-east-1
S3_ENDPOINT_URL=https://s3.example.com
S3_SIGNATURE_VERSION=s3v4   # rustfs rejects SigV2 with SignatureDoesNotMatch
S3_ADDRESSING_STYLE=path    # rustfs and most non-AWS TLS certs require path-style
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=...
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...
```

<Note>
Presigned URLs point at `S3_ENDPOINT_URL`, so that host must be reachable from the browser. Because browsers fetch transcripts cross-origin, the bucket also needs a CORS rule allowing your app's origin for `GET`/`HEAD` — configure this on the storage server (e.g. via `PutBucketCors`), not in Dograh.
</Note>

---

## WebRTC

| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `TURN_HOST` | `localhost` | TURN server hostname for WebRTC NAT traversal |
| `TURN_PORT` | `3478` | TURN server port |
| `TURN_TLS_PORT` | `5349` | TURN server TLS port |
| `TURN_SECRET` | `null` | **Required for WebRTC.** Shared secret for TURN credential generation |
| `TURN_CREDENTIAL_TTL` | `86400` | TURN credential validity in seconds (default: 24h) |
| `FORCE_TURN_RELAY` | `false` | Diagnostic flag. When `true`, restricts ICE to relay-only candidates on both server (SDP filter) and browser (`iceTransportPolicy: 'relay'`). Use to verify TURN connectivity end-to-end — calls fail cleanly if TURN is misconfigured instead of silently falling back to a direct path. |

---

## Tracing (Langfuse)

| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `LANGFUSE_HOST` | `null` | Langfuse server URL |
| `LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY` | `null` | Langfuse public key |
| `LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY` | `null` | Langfuse secret key |

Tracing activates automatically as soon as credentials are available — either via these environment variables (applied to all organizations) or per-organization in the UI under **Platform Settings**. If neither is set, spans are dropped silently. See the [Tracing guide](/configurations/tracing) for setup instructions.

---

## Monitoring

| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `SENTRY_DSN` | `null` | Sentry DSN for error tracking |
| `ENABLE_TELEMETRY` | `false` | Enable anonymous telemetry collection |

---

## Logging

| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `LOG_LEVEL` | `DEBUG` | Log level: `DEBUG`, `INFO`, `WARNING`, `ERROR` |
| `LOG_FILE_PATH` | `null` | Write logs to this file path (in addition to stdout) |
| `LOG_ROTATION_SIZE` | `100 MB` | Rotate log file when it reaches this size |
| `LOG_RETENTION` | `7 days` | How long to keep rotated log files |
| `LOG_COMPRESSION` | `gz` | Compression format for rotated logs |
| `SERIALIZE_LOG_OUTPUT` | `false` | Output logs as JSON (useful for log aggregation) |

---

## Campaigns

| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `DEFAULT_ORG_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT` | `2` | Maximum concurrent outbound calls per organization |

---

## Further Customisation

The variables documented here cover the standard configuration surface. For advanced customisation — such as integrating additional services or tuning internal behaviour — consult the relevant module alongside `api/constants.py` to understand how each variable is consumed.