Configuration

The environment variables for hosting a Sugabots installation.

Sugabots reads its settings from environment variables. With Docker Compose, set them under environment in compose.yml.

Database

Variable	Default	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	Required	PostgreSQL connection string.

Variable	Default	Description
`NODE_ENV`	`production`	`development` or `production`.
`PORT`	`3000`	Port the API binds.
`PUBLIC_URL`	`http://localhost:` followed by `PORT`	Where a browser reaches the API, without its `/api` path. Links in emails and OAuth redirects start here, so it must not be a container-internal address.
`WEB_APP_URL`	`PUBLIC_URL`	Where the web app is served, when it is hosted apart from the API. Invite links and connection sign-ins return here.
`SUGABOTS_SKIP_MIGRATIONS`	`false`	Docker image only. Set to `true` to skip applying pending migrations on start.

Generate each with openssl rand -base64 32. Keep them private and backed up.

Variable	Default	Description
`BETTER_AUTH_SECRET`	Required	Signing key for sessions and tokens. Changing it signs everybody out.
`CREDENTIALS_ENCRYPTION_KEY`	Required	Seals every stored credential: model and search provider keys, connection secrets, and connection sign-ins. Losing it makes them unreadable.

Variable	Default	Description
`ALLOW_OPEN_SIGNUP`	`false`	Whether anybody may create an account. Off, the first person to arrive owns the installation, and after that the only way in is an invitation from a member.
`REQUIRE_EMAIL_VERIFICATION`	`false`	Whether a new account must open a link in its inbox before it gets a session. With the console email provider, the link is printed to the server's console.

Variable	Default	Description
`ALLOW_PRIVATE_MODEL_PROVIDER_NETWORK`	`false`	Whether model providers may be reached over plain HTTP or at private addresses such as localhost or your LAN. Turn it on for a self-hosted install using Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM and the like; keep it off on an installation serving other people's workspaces.
`ALLOW_PRIVATE_WEB_FETCH_NETWORK`	`false`	Whether an agent's `web_fetch` tool may read pages at private addresses. Turn it on for a self-hosted install whose agents should read an intranet.

Variable	Default	Description
`EMAIL_PROVIDER`	`console`	`console`, which prints each email to the server's log, or `webhook`.
`EMAIL_WEBHOOK_URL`	Required for `webhook`	Receives each email as JSON: `from`, `to`, `cc`, `bcc` and `replyTo` as `{email, name}` addresses, `subject`, and `text` and/or `html`. Must use HTTPS in production.
`EMAIL_WEBHOOK_TOKEN`	None	For `webhook`. Sent as a bearer token with each delivery.
`EMAIL_TRANSACTIONAL_FROM`	Required in production	Sender of emails a user's own action triggers, such as verification and invitations, like `Sugabots <no-reply@example.com>`.

Vite inlines anything prefixed VITE_ into the bundle, so nothing secret goes here.

Variable	Default	Description
`VITE_API_URL`	`/api` on the page's own origin	Where the API is, path included. Set it when the web app is hosted apart from the API.