Skip to Content
Genfeed Core (OSS)Configuration

Configuration

Environment variables and settings for Genfeed Core. Create a canonical root .env.local file in your project root:

cp .env.example .env.local
bun run env:sync local

Never commit secrets. Add .env.local to your .gitignore. Never commit API keys, tokens, or credentials to version control.

The root env files are the source of truth. bun run env:sync local|staging|production generates the app and service .env* files used by local frontend and backend runtimes.

For EC2 deploys, prefer AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store over a persistent .env.production on disk. The deploy scripts can hydrate .env.staging or .env.production from SSM at deploy time, then render the service env files automatically.

Database

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
DATABASE_URLYes—PostgreSQL connection string (e.g. postgresql://genfeed:genfeed_local@localhost:5432/genfeed)
REDIS_URLYes—Redis connection string for BullMQ job queues and caching (e.g. redis://localhost:6379)

Authentication

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
JWT_SECRETYes—Secret key for signing JWT tokens. Use a long random string.
CLERK_SECRET_KEYAuth—Clerk backend secret key for deployments using Clerk auth
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEYAuth—Clerk publishable key exposed to the Next.js frontend

AI Providers

Add keys for the providers you want to use. At least one is required for content generation.

VariableRequiredDescription
OPENAI_API_KEYNoOpenAI API key for GPT models and DALL-E image generation
ANTHROPIC_API_KEYNoAnthropic API key for Claude models
GOOGLE_API_KEYNoGoogle API key for Gemini models
REPLICATE_KEYNoReplicate API token for server-side image and video models (Flux, SDXL, Kling, etc.)
FAL_API_KEYNofal.ai API key for server-side image and video inference
ELEVENLABS_API_KEYNoElevenLabs API key for voice synthesis and text-to-speech

For the model registry and discovery contract, see Provider Registry.

Managed Cloud Execution

Self-hosted Core can use local/server provider keys or organization BYOK keys without a Genfeed Cloud account. Managed Cloud execution is separate: it requires an explicit Genfeed Cloud API key and only supported generation calls should cross that boundary.

VariableRequiredDescription
GENFEED_API_KEYManaged execution onlyGenfeed Cloud API key used by the self-hosted backend to call managed Cloud services. Do not expose this to browser code.
GENFEED_MANAGED_INFERENCE_URLNoOverride for the managed inference API base URL. Defaults to the Genfeed Cloud endpoint when omitted.

For the full runtime contract, see Execution Boundaries.

Storage

By default, generated assets are stored locally. For production, configure S3-compatible storage.

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_IDNo—AWS access key for S3 storage
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEYNo—AWS secret key for S3 storage
S3_BUCKETNo—S3 bucket name for storing generated assets
S3_REGIONNous-east-1AWS region for your S3 bucket

Discord Notifications

Discord is optional in Core. Configure it only when the notifications service should publish to your own Discord server.

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
DISCORD_BOT_TOKENYes—Bot token for the Discord application installed in your server
DISCORD_CLIENT_IDYes—Discord application client ID
DISCORD_GUILD_IDYes—Discord server ID where the bot manages notification webhooks
DISCORD_CHANNEL_ID_POSTSNo—Channel ID for published post/article notifications
DISCORD_CHANNEL_ID_STUDIONo—Channel ID for studio/ingredient notifications
DISCORD_CHANNEL_ID_USERSNo—Channel ID for user/account notifications
DISCORD_CHANNEL_ID_MODELSNo—Channel ID for model discovery notifications; falls back to the studio channel
DISCORD_BOT_AVATAR_URLNo—Optional avatar URL for Discord webhook messages
DISCORD_WEBHOOK_NAME_PREFIXNo—Optional prefix for bot-managed webhook names, such as a workspace name
DISCORD_WEBHOOK_REASONNo—Optional audit-log reason used when the bot creates Discord webhooks

The integration does not require a Genfeed-managed Discord server. Channel IDs, webhook naming, avatar branding, and webhook audit reasons are self-hosted configuration.

Payments (Cloud only)

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
STRIPE_SECRET_KEYCloud only—Stripe secret key for subscription billing
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRETCloud only—Stripe webhook signing secret for payment event verification

URLs

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
APP_URLNohttp://localhost:3000Frontend application URL
API_URLNohttp://localhost:3010Backend API URL
MARKETPLACE_API_URLNo—Marketplace API endpoint (cloud only, for marketplace.genfeed.ai integration)

Application

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
NODE_ENVNodevelopmentEnvironment mode (development, production, test)
PORTNo3010API server port

EC2 With AWS SSM Parameter Store

For staging and production on EC2, store secrets as individual parameters under a flat path:

/genfeed/staging/OPENAI_API_KEY
/genfeed/staging/API_SENTRY_DSN
/genfeed/production/OPENAI_API_KEY
/genfeed/production/API_SENTRY_DSN

Recommended setup:

  • Attach an IAM role to the EC2 instance with ssm:GetParametersByPath, ssm:GetParameters, and kms:Decrypt if you use a customer-managed KMS key.
  • Keep the path prefix flat so the parameter leaf name matches the canonical env key.
  • Optionally set SSM_PARAMETER_PATH_PREFIX in GitHub Actions repo variables if you want a prefix other than /genfeed.

At deploy time, the EC2 host runs:

./docker/render-ssm-env.sh staging
./docker/render-ssm-env.sh production

That script fetches SSM values into the root env file for the target environment and then renders service env files used by Docker Compose.

Database Setup

PostgreSQL

# macOS
brew install postgresql@17
brew services start postgresql@17
 
# Docker
docker run -d -p 5432:5432 \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=genfeed \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=genfeed \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=genfeed_local \
  postgres:17-alpine

Redis

# macOS
brew install redis
brew services start redis
 
# Docker
docker run -d -p 6379:6379 redis:7

Next Steps

Backlog GovernanceContributing