OpenSynod is configured via environment variables. In local development, these are loaded from a .env file in the backend directory.
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
ENVIRONMENT | development | development or production |
LOG_LEVEL | INFO | Logging level: DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR |
API_PREFIX | /api/v1 | URL prefix for all REST endpoints |
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
DATABASE_URL | postgresql+asyncpg://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/opensynod | PostgreSQL connection string. Must use the asyncpg driver. |
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
REDIS_URL | redis://localhost:6379/0 | Redis connection string |
JWT signing uses RS256 (asymmetric). Generate a key pair and provide the PEM-encoded values.
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
JWT_PRIVATE_KEY | (required) | PEM-encoded RSA private key for signing JWTs |
JWT_PUBLIC_KEY | (required) | PEM-encoded RSA public key for verification |
JWT_ALGORITHM | RS256 | Signing algorithm (do not change) |
ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRE_MINUTES | 15 | Access token lifetime in minutes |
REFRESH_TOKEN_EXPIRE_DAYS | 30 | Refresh token lifetime in days |
Generating keys:
openssl genrsa -out private.pem 4096
openssl rsa -in private.pem -pubout -out public.pem
At least one LLM provider must be configured.
| Variable | Description |
|---|
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | Anthropic API key |
| Variable | Description |
|---|
OPENAI_API_KEY | OpenAI API key |
OPENAI_BASE_URL | Override base URL for OpenAI-compatible endpoints (LiteLLM, OpenRouter, custom proxy) |
If OPENAI_BASE_URL is set, all OpenAI client calls use this base URL instead of the default OpenAI endpoint.
| Variable | Description |
|---|
GOOGLE_API_KEY | Google AI API key (Gemini) |
| Variable | Description |
|---|
OLLAMA_BASE_URL | Ollama server URL |
OLLAMA_MODEL_PRIMARY | Model for moderator and advocate roles |
OLLAMA_MODEL_REASONING | Model for devil's advocate / skeptic roles |
OLLAMA_MODEL_EXPERT | Model for neutral expert roles |
OLLAMA_MODEL_SUPPORT | Model for secondary / support roles |
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
SEARCH_PROVIDER | tavily | Search provider: tavily, brave, bing, serper |
TAVILY_API_KEY | (empty) | Tavily API key (used when SEARCH_PROVIDER=tavily) |
BRAVE_API_KEY | (empty) | Brave Search API key |
SERPER_API_KEY | (empty) | Serper API key |
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
DEFAULT_ORG_COST_LIMIT_USD | 100.0 | Default monthly LLM spend limit per organization in USD |
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
MOCK_LLM_CALLS | false | When true, replaces all LLM calls with a mock client that returns canned responses. Useful for frontend development and integration testing without API keys. |
Copy .env.example to .env in the backend/ directory and fill in the values.
Ollama in Docker Compose
When running Ollama locally and accessing it from within Docker Compose, use http://host.docker.internal:<port> as the OLLAMA_BASE_URL. This resolves to the host machine from within a Docker container on macOS and Windows.
