# Environment Variables

This document provides a comprehensive overview of all environment variables used in the Messages application. These variables are organized by service and functionality.

## Development Environment

### Environment Files Structure

The application uses a new environment file structure with `.defaults` and `.local` files:

- `*.defaults` - Committed default configurations
- `*.local` - Gitignored local overrides (created by `make bootstrap`)

#### Available Environment Files

- `backend.defaults` - Main Django application settings
- `common.defaults` - Shared settings across services
- `frontend.defaults` - Frontend configuration
- `postgresql.defaults` - PostgreSQL database configuration
- `keycloak.defaults` - Keycloak configuration
- `mta-in.defaults` - Inbound mail server settings
- `mta-out.defaults` - Outbound mail server settings
- `crowdin.defaults` - Translation service configuration

## Core Application Configuration

### Django Settings

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `DJANGO_CONFIGURATION` | `Development` | Django configuration class to use (Development, Production, Test, etc.) | Required |
| `DJANGO_SECRET_KEY` | None | Secret key for cryptographic signing | Required |
| `DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS` | `[]` | List of allowed hostnames | Required |
| `DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE` | `messages.settings` | Django settings module | Required |
| `DJANGO_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD` | `admin` | Default superuser password for development | Dev |
| `DJANGO_DATA_DIR` | `/data` | Base directory for data storage | Optional |
| `DJANGO_ADMIN_URL` | `admin` | admin route (must not be ended by `/`) | Optional |

### Database Configuration

#### PostgreSQL (Main Database)
| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `DATABASE_URL` | None | Complete database URL (overrides individual DB_* vars) | Optional |
| `DB_ENGINE` | `django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2` | Database engine | Optional |
| `DB_HOST` | `postgresql` | Database hostname (container name) | Optional |
| `DB_NAME` | `messages` | Database name | Optional |
| `DB_USER` | `user` | Database username | Optional |
| `DB_PASSWORD` | `pass` | Database password | Optional |
| `DB_PORT` | `5432` | Database port | Optional |

#### PostgreSQL (Keycloak)
| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `POSTGRES_DB` | `messages` | Keycloak database name | Dev |
| `POSTGRES_USER` | `user` | Keycloak database user | Dev |
| `POSTGRES_PASSWORD` | `pass` | Keycloak database password | Dev |

### Redis Configuration

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `REDIS_URL` | `redis://redis:6379` | Redis connection URL (internal) | Optional |
| `CELERY_BROKER_URL` | `redis://redis:6379` | Celery message broker URL (internal) | Optional |
| `CACHES_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT` | `30` | Default cache timeout in seconds | Optional |

**Note**: For external Redis access, use `localhost:8913`. For internal container communication, use `redis:6379`.

### OpenSearch Configuration

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `OPENSEARCH_URL` | `["http://opensearch:9200"]` | OpenSearch hosts list | Optional |
| `OPENSEARCH_TIMEOUT` | `20` | OpenSearch query timeout (seconds) for unitary requests | Optional |
| `OPENSEARCH_BULK_TIMEOUT` | `60` | OpenSearch request timeout (seconds) applied to bulk indexation calls. Raise it if full reindex (`make search-index`) hits timeouts on large payloads. | Optional |
| `OPENSEARCH_BULK_MAX_BYTES` | `26_214_400` | Flush threshold (bytes) for bulk indexation payloads; default 25 MiB. Once accumulated actions exceed this, `opensearch-py` emits a sub-chunk HTTP request. Note: this is a batching threshold, not a per-document cap — a single oversized document is still sent as its own chunk. Keep well under the OpenSearch server `http.max_content_length` | Optional |
| `OPENSEARCH_BULK_CHUNK_SIZE` | `50` | Number of thread documents (and their child message documents) accumulated before a bulk flush in `reindex_bulk_threads`. Lower values reduce per-request cluster pressure (heap, queue depth) at the cost of more round-trips. Lower this if you see 503s on bulk requests. | Optional |
| `OPENSEARCH_MAX_RETRIES` | `3` | Transport-level retry budget on the OpenSearch client. The opensearch-py transport already retries on 502/503/504 (`DEFAULT_RETRY_ON_STATUS`); this just exposes the count so it can be raised above the library default. Whatever exhausts this budget is wrapped as `TransientTransportError` and handed to Celery autoretry (5 attempts, exponential backoff up to 600s). | Optional |
| `OPENSEARCH_INDEX_THREADS` | `True` | Enable thread indexing | Optional |
| `SEARCH_REINDEX_TASKS_INTERVAL` | `30` | Interval (seconds) between Celery Beat runs of `process_pending_reindex_task`, which drains the reindex and delete coalescing buffers and enqueues bulk thread tasks. Longer values cut Celery/OpenSearch load at the cost of search-result staleness. | Optional |
| `SEARCH_FLUSH_BATCH_SIZE` | `1000` | Maximum number of thread / message IDs handed to a single `bulk_*_task` call. This is the unit of parallelism, retry granularity and worker occupation for catch-up flows. Lower means more, shorter tasks (better parallelism, cheaper retries on failure); higher means fewer, longer tasks (less broker chatter but worse failure isolation). | Optional |
| `SEARCH_FLUSH_MAX_BATCHES` | `10` | Maximum number of `bulk_*_task` calls a single Beat tick is allowed to enqueue, shared across the three handoffs (reindex / thread-delete / message-delete). Bounds catch-up bursts so a huge backlog is spread across several ticks rather than flooding the broker in one go. Effective per-tick capacity is roughly `SEARCH_FLUSH_BATCH_SIZE × SEARCH_FLUSH_MAX_BATCHES` IDs. | Optional |

## Mail Processing Configuration

### MTA Settings

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `MTA_OUT_MODE` | `direct` | Outbound MTA mode ('direct' or 'relay') | Required |
| `MTA_OUT_RELAY_HOST` | `mta-out:587` | Outbound SMTP server host for relay mode | Required |
| `MTA_OUT_RELAY_USERNAME` | `user` | Outbound SMTP username for relay mode | Optional |
| `MTA_OUT_RELAY_PASSWORD` | `pass` | Outbound SMTP password for relay mode | Optional |
| `MTA_OUT_DIRECT_PROXIES` | `[]` | List of SOCKS proxy URLs (randomly chosen when non-empty; used in direct mode) | Optional |
| `MTA_OUT_DIRECT_PORT` | `25` | TCP port for direct mode on remote MX servers | Optional |
| `MTA_OUT_SMTP_TLS_SECURITY_LEVEL` | `may` | SMTP TLS security level: `none`, `may` (opportunistic, no cert check, matches Postfix), or `secure` (mandatory TLS + CA chain + hostname check). Applied to both direct and relay modes — set to `secure` when running against a controlled relay with a valid cert. | Optional |
| `MDA_API_SECRET` | `my-shared-secret-mda` | Shared secret for MDA API | Required |
| `MDA_API_BASE_URL` | `http://backend-dev:8000/api/v1.0/` | Base URL for MDA API | Dev |

### Email Domain Configuration

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `MESSAGES_TESTDOMAIN` | `example.local` | Test domain for development | Dev |
| `MESSAGES_TESTDOMAIN_MAPPING_BASEDOMAIN` | `example.com` | Base domain mapping | Dev |
| `MESSAGES_ACCEPT_ALL_EMAILS` | `False` | Accept emails to any domain | Optional |

### DKIM Configuration

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `MESSAGES_DKIM_SELECTOR` | `default` | DKIM selector | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_DKIM_DOMAINS` | `[]` | List of domains for DKIM signing | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_DKIM_PRIVATE_KEY_B64` | None | Base64 encoded DKIM private key | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_DKIM_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE` | None | Path to DKIM private key file | Optional |

## Storage Configuration

### S3-Compatible Storage

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `AWS_S3_ENDPOINT_URL` | `http://objectstorage:9000` | S3 endpoint URL | Optional |
| `AWS_S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID` | `messages` | S3 access key | Optional |
| `AWS_S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` | `password` | S3 secret key | Optional |
| `AWS_S3_REGION_NAME` | None | S3 region | Optional |
| `AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME` | `st-messages-media-storage` | S3 bucket name | Optional |
| `AWS_S3_UPLOAD_POLICY_EXPIRATION` | `86400` | Upload policy expiration (24h) | Optional |
| `MEDIA_BASE_URL` | `http://localhost:8902` | Base URL for media files | Optional |
| `ITEM_FILE_MAX_SIZE` | `5368709120` | Max file size (5GB) | Optional |

### Message Imports Storage

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `STORAGE_MESSAGE_IMPORTS_ENDPOINT_URL` | `http://objectstorage:9000` | S3 endpoint URL | Required |
| `STORAGE_MESSAGE_IMPORTS_BUCKET_NAME` | `msg-imports` | S3 bucket name | Required |
| `STORAGE_MESSAGE_IMPORTS_ACCESS_KEY` | `st-messages` | S3 access key | Required |
| `STORAGE_MESSAGE_IMPORTS_SECRET_KEY` | `password` | S3 secret key | Required |
| `STORAGE_MESSAGE_IMPORTS_REGION_NAME` | None | S3 region | Optional |
| `STORAGE_MESSAGE_IMPORTS_EXPIRE_POLICY` | `3600` | Upload policy expiration (1h) | Optional |

### Tiered Blob Storage

Blobs (raw email bodies and attachments) live in PostgreSQL by default and
can be offloaded to S3 after a configurable age. See [tiered storage
docs](tiered-storage.md) for the runbook (rotation, verify, recovery).

The bucket is treated as "configured" when at least one of
`STORAGE_MESSAGE_BLOBS_ENDPOINT_URL` or `STORAGE_MESSAGE_BLOBS_ACCESS_KEY`
is set — the periodic offload task and the read-from-S3 path both
short-circuit otherwise. Bucket creds must additionally be valid for
the periodic task to actually move data; until both
`MESSAGES_BLOBS_OFFLOAD_ENABLED=True` and creds are in place, every
blob stays in PG.

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `STORAGE_MESSAGE_BLOBS_ENDPOINT_URL` | unset | S3 endpoint URL for blob bucket | Optional |
| `STORAGE_MESSAGE_BLOBS_BUCKET_NAME` | unset | S3 bucket name (must be set together with `STORAGE_MESSAGE_BLOBS_ENDPOINT_URL` to enable offload) | Optional |
| `STORAGE_MESSAGE_BLOBS_ACCESS_KEY` | unset | S3 access key | Optional |
| `STORAGE_MESSAGE_BLOBS_SECRET_KEY` | unset | S3 secret key | Optional |
| `STORAGE_MESSAGE_BLOBS_REGION_NAME` | unset | S3 region | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_BLOBS_OFFLOAD_ENABLED` | `False` | Master switch for the periodic offload task. Hourly schedule with a 55-minute per-tick budget; processes blobs sequentially (no per-blob fan-out). The orphan-blob GC sweep (`gc_orphan_blobs_task`) runs on the same hourly cadence regardless of this flag — its job is reference-graph cleanup, not S3 offload. | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_BLOBS_OFFLOAD_DELAY` | `86400` | Age threshold (seconds) for offload (`0` = immediate) | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_BLOBS_OFFLOAD_MIN_SIZE` | `0` | Minimum blob size in bytes (0 = all) | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_BLOBS_COMPRESS` | `zstd:7` | Default compression: `none`, `zstd`, or `zstd:<level>` | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_BLOBS_ENCRYPT_KEYS` | `{}` | JSON dict mapping `key_id` → entry. Each entry must be `{"algo": "aes-gcm", "secret": "<32+ chars>", "active": <bool>}`. Add `"active": true` to exactly one entry to make it the key new blobs are encrypted with; entries without `active` (or with `active=false`) stay readable for legacy ciphertext. The secret is SHA-256'd to a 32-byte AEAD key, so its strength is whatever entropy the operator supplied — use `openssl rand -base64 32` (or equivalent). Startup emits a warning when a secret is shorter than 32 characters; that floor is a length check only, not an entropy measurement. | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_BLOBS_VERIFY_HASH` | `False` | When True, `Blob.get_content()` re-hashes plaintext and rejects mismatches. One SHA-256 over the plaintext per read; main value is for `key_id=0` blobs (encrypted blobs are already AAD-bound). | Optional |

### Static Files

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `STORAGES_STATICFILES_BACKEND` | `django.contrib.staticfiles.storage.StaticFilesStorage` | Static files storage backend | Optional |

## Authentication & Authorization

### OIDC Configuration

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `OIDC_CREATE_USER` | `False` | Automatically create users from OIDC | Optional |
| `OIDC_RP_CLIENT_ID` | `messages` | OIDC client ID | Required |
| `OIDC_RP_CLIENT_SECRET` | `ThisIsAnExampleKeyForDevPurposeOnly` | OIDC client secret | Required |
| `OIDC_RP_SIGN_ALGO` | `RS256` | OIDC signing algorithm | Optional |
| `OIDC_RP_SCOPES` | `openid email` | OIDC scopes | Optional |
| `OIDC_OP_JWKS_ENDPOINT` | `http://keycloak:8000/realms/messages/protocol/openid-connect/certs` | OIDC JWKS endpoint | Required |
| `OIDC_OP_AUTHORIZATION_ENDPOINT` | `http://localhost:8902/realms/messages/protocol/openid-connect/auth` | OIDC authorization endpoint | Required |
| `OIDC_OP_TOKEN_ENDPOINT` | `http://keycloak:8000/realms/messages/protocol/openid-connect/token` | OIDC token endpoint | Required |
| `OIDC_OP_USER_ENDPOINT` | `http://keycloak:8000/realms/messages/protocol/openid-connect/userinfo` | OIDC user info endpoint | Required |
| `OIDC_OP_LOGOUT_ENDPOINT` | None | OIDC logout endpoint | Optional |
| `OIDC_USERINFO_ESSENTIAL_CLAIMS` | `[]` | Essential OIDC claims | Optional |
| `OIDC_USERINFO_FULLNAME_FIELDS` | `["first_name", "last_name"]` | Fields to use for full name | Optional |
| `OIDC_STORE_ACCESS_TOKEN` | `False` | Store access token | Optional |
| `OIDC_STORE_REFRESH_TOKEN` | `False` | Store refresh token | Optional |
| `OIDC_STORE_REFRESH_TOKEN_KEY` | `None` | Refresh token encryption key (Must be a valid Fernet key) | Optional |


### OIDC Advanced Settings

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `OIDC_USE_NONCE` | `True` | Use nonce in OIDC flow | Optional |
| `OIDC_REDIRECT_REQUIRE_HTTPS` | `False` | Require HTTPS for redirects | Optional |
| `OIDC_REDIRECT_ALLOWED_HOSTS` | `["http://localhost:8902", "http://localhost:8900"]` | Allowed redirect hosts | Optional |
| `OIDC_STORE_ID_TOKEN` | `True` | Store ID token | Optional |
| `OIDC_FALLBACK_TO_EMAIL_FOR_IDENTIFICATION` | `True` | Use email as fallback identifier | Optional |
| `OIDC_ALLOW_DUPLICATE_EMAILS` | `False` | Allow duplicate emails (⚠️ Security risk) | Optional |
| `OIDC_AUTH_REQUEST_EXTRA_PARAMS` | `{"acr_values": "eidas1"}` | Extra parameters for auth requests | Optional |

### User Mapping (⚠️ DEPRECATED)
_Those settings are deprecated and will be removed in the future._

| Variable | Default | Description | Required | ⚠️ Deprecated |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|----------|
| `USER_OIDC_ESSENTIAL_CLAIMS` | `[]` | Essential OIDC claims | Optional | Renamed to `OIDC_USERINFO_ESSENTIAL_CLAIMS` |
| `USER_OIDC_FIELDS_TO_FULLNAME` | `["first_name", "last_name"]` | Fields for full name | Optional | Renamed to `OIDC_USERINFO_FULLNAME_FIELDS` |
| `USER_OIDC_FIELD_TO_SHORTNAME` | `first_name` | Field for short name | Optional | Unused, will be removed in the future |

### Authentication URLs

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL` | `http://localhost:8900` | Post-login redirect URL | Optional |
| `LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL_FAILURE` | `http://localhost:8900` | Login failure redirect URL | Optional |
| `LOGOUT_REDIRECT_URL` | `http://localhost:8900` | Post-logout redirect URL | Optional |
| `ALLOW_LOGOUT_GET_METHOD` | `True` | Allow GET method for logout | Optional |

## Security & CORS

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `CORS_ALLOW_ALL_ORIGINS` | `True` | Allow all CORS origins | Optional |
| `CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS` | `[]` | Specific allowed CORS origins | Optional |
| `CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN_REGEXES` | `[]` | Regex patterns for allowed origins | Optional |
| `CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS` | `["http://localhost:8900", "http://localhost:8901"]` | Trusted origins for CSRF | Optional |
| `SERVER_TO_SERVER_API_TOKENS` | `[]` | API tokens for server-to-server auth | Optional |

## Monitoring & Observability

### Sentry

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `SENTRY_DSN` | None | Sentry DSN for error tracking | Optional |
| `NEXT_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DSN` | None | Sentry DSN for error tracking | Optional |
| `NEXT_PUBLIC_SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT` | None | Sentry environment for error tracking | Optional ('production', 'development', 'staging') |

### Selfcheck

End-to-end mail delivery probe — see [selfcheck.md](selfcheck.md) for details.

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `MESSAGES_SELFCHECK_FROM` | None | Email address the selfcheck sends from. Leave unset to disable the selfcheck. | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_SELFCHECK_TO` | None | Email address the selfcheck sends to. Leave unset to disable the selfcheck. | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_SELFCHECK_SECRET` | `self-check-secret-for-dev` | Secret string embedded in the test message body | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_SELFCHECK_INTERVAL` | `600` | Interval between selfcheck runs, in seconds | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_SELFCHECK_TIMEOUT` | `60` | Timeout for message reception, in seconds | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_SELFCHECK_WEBHOOK_URL` | None | Webhook URL POSTed on each successful selfcheck (updown.io-compatible heartbeat) | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_SELFCHECK_SENTRY_MONITOR_SLUG` | None | Sentry cron monitor slug. When set (with `SENTRY_DSN`), each run is reported as a Sentry check-in. | Optional |

### Logging

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `LOGGING_LEVEL_LOGGERS_ROOT` | `INFO` | Root logger level | Optional |
| `LOGGING_LEVEL_LOGGERS_APP` | `INFO` | Application logger level | Optional |
| `LOGGING_LEVEL_HANDLERS_CONSOLE` | `INFO` | Console handler level | Optional |

### Prometheus

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `ENABLE_PROMETHEUS` | `False` | Enable Prometheus monitoring | Optional |
| `PROMETHEUS_API_KEY` | None | Bearer token required to access metrics. If unset, the endpoint is public. Set this in production. | Optional |

### OpenAPI Schema

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `SPECTACULAR_SETTINGS_ENABLE_DJANGO_DEPLOY_CHECK` | `False` | Enable deploy check in OpenAPI | Optional |

## Frontend Configuration

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `NEXT_PUBLIC_API_ORIGIN` | `http://localhost:8901` | Frontend API origin | Dev |
| `NEXT_PUBLIC_LANGUAGES` | `[["en-US","English"],["fr-FR","Français"],["nl-NL","Nederlands"]]` | Languages available for frontend | Optional |
| `NEXT_PUBLIC_DEFAULT_LANGUAGE` | `en-US` | Default language for frontend | Optional |
| `NEXT_PUBLIC_FORCED_DEFAULT_LANGUAGE` | `false` | When `true`, the default language fallback is `NEXT_PUBLIC_DEFAULT_LANGUAGE` instead of the browser language. | Optional |
| `NEXT_PUBLIC_THEME_CONFIG` | `{theme: "white-label"}` | Theme configuration for frontend | Optional |
| `NEXT_PUBLIC_FEEDBACK_WIDGET_API_URL` || Feedback widget API URL | Optional |
| `NEXT_PUBLIC_FEEDBACK_WIDGET_PATH` || Feedback widget path | Optional |
| `NEXT_PUBLIC_FEEDBACK_WIDGET_CHANNEL` || Feedback widget channel used by the in-app survey button (authenticated header) | Optional |
| `NEXT_PUBLIC_FEEDBACK_WIDGET_HOME_CHANNEL` || Feedback widget channel used on the unauthenticated home page. Falls back to `NEXT_PUBLIC_FEEDBACK_WIDGET_CHANNEL` when unset | Optional |
| `NEXT_PUBLIC_HELP_CENTER_URL` || Help center URL | Optional |

## Development Tools

### Crowdin (Translations)

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `CROWDIN_PERSONAL_TOKEN` | `Your-Personal-Token` | Crowdin API token | Dev |
| `CROWDIN_PROJECT_ID` | `Your-Project-Id` | Crowdin project ID | Dev |
| `CROWDIN_BASE_PATH` | `/app/src` | Base path for translations | Dev |

## Application Settings

### Common Feature Flags

Kill-switches for opt-out features. Flip to `False` to disable the
corresponding API action and hide the related frontend entry points,
without redeploying the frontend (the flag is pulled from
`GET /api/v1.0/config/`).

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `FEATURE_IMPORT_MESSAGES` | `True` | Enables message import (IMAP, PST, MBOX, etc.). When `False`, mailbox admins lose the `CAN_IMPORT_MESSAGES` ability. | Optional |
| `FEATURE_MAILBOX_ADMIN_CHANNELS` | `` | Comma-separated list of channel types enabled for mailbox admin (e.g., `widget,api_key`). Empty list disables all channel types. | Optional |
| `FEATURE_MAILDOMAIN_CREATE` | `True` | Allows superusers to create new mail domains via the API. When `False`, the create action returns 403. | Optional |
| `FEATURE_MAILDOMAIN_MANAGE_ACCESSES` | `True` | Allows managing mail domain accesses (create/delete). When `False`, those actions return 403. | Optional |
| `FEATURE_MESSAGE_TEMPLATES` | `True` | Enables the "message templates" feature. When `False`, mailbox admins lose the `CAN_MANAGE_MESSAGE_TEMPLATES` ability and the related UI is hidden. | Optional |
| `FEATURE_THREAD_SPLIT` | `True` | Enables "split thread" feature. When `False`, the split API action returns 404 and the frontend hides the menu entry. | Optional |

### Business Logic

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `TRASHBIN_CUTOFF_DAYS` | `30` | Days before permanent deletion | Optional |
| `INVITATION_VALIDITY_DURATION` | `604800` | Invitation validity (7 days) | Optional |
| `MESSAGES_MANUAL_RETRY_MAX_AGE`| `604800` | Maximum age in seconds for a message to be eligible for manual retry of failed deliveries (7 days) | Optional |
| `MAX_INCOMING_EMAIL_SIZE` | `10485760` | Maximum size in bytes for incoming email (including attachments and body) (10MB) | Optional |
| `MAX_OUTGOING_ATTACHMENT_SIZE` | `20971520` | Maximum size in bytes for outgoing email attachments (20MB) | Optional |
| `MAX_OUTGOING_BODY_SIZE` | `5242880` | Maximum size in bytes for outgoing email body (text + HTML) (5MB) | Optional |
| `MAX_TEMPLATE_IMAGE_SIZE` | `2097152` | Maximum size in bytes for images embedded in templates and signatures (2MB) | Optional |
| `MAX_RECIPIENTS_PER_MESSAGE` | `500` | Maximum number of recipients per message (to + cc + bcc) | Optional |
| `MAX_THREAD_EVENT_EDIT_DELAY` | `3600` | Time window in seconds during which a ThreadEvent (internal comment) can still be edited or deleted after creation. Set to `0` to disable the restriction. | Optional |

### Model custom attributes schema

**Note**: Custom attributes are stored in a JSONField (Take a look at User and MailDomain models).

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `SCHEMA_CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTES_USER` | {} | JSONSchema definition of the User custom attributes | Optional |
| `SCHEMA_CUSTOM_ATTRIBUTES_MAILDOMAIN` | {} | JSONSchema definition of the MailDomain custom attributes | Optional |

### Internationalization

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `LANGUAGE_CODE` | `en-us` | Default backend language code | Optional |


### AI

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `AI_BASE_URL` | None | Default URL to access AI API endpoint (Albert API) | Optional |
| `AI_API_KEY` | None| API Key used for AI features | Optional |
| `AI_MODEL` | None | Default model used for AI features | Optional |
| `FEATURE_AI_SUMMARY` | `False` | Default enabled mode for summary AI features | Required |
| `FEATURE_AI_AUTOLABELS` | `False` | Default enabled mode for label AI features | Required |

### Throttling

Outbound message throttling limits the number of **external recipients** (recipients whose domain is not managed by this instance) that can be sent from a mailbox or maildomain within a time period, using simple fixed time windows.


| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `THROTTLE_MAILBOX_OUTBOUND_EXTERNAL_RECIPIENTS` | None | Rate limit per mailbox. Format: `count/period` where period is `minute`, `hour`, or `day`. Example: `1000/day` limits each mailbox to 1000 external recipients per day. | Optional |
| `THROTTLE_MAILDOMAIN_OUTBOUND_EXTERNAL_RECIPIENTS` | None | Rate limit per maildomain. Format: `count/period`. Example: `10000/day` limits each domain to 10000 external recipients per day. | Optional |
| `THROTTLE_AUTOREPLY_PER_SENDER` | `1/day` | Rate limit for autoreplies per sender per mailbox. Format: `count/period`. Example: `1/day` limits each sender to 1 autoreply per day per mailbox. | Optional |

### Image Proxy

**Note**: By default `IMAGE_PROXY_MAX_SIZE` is set to 5MB. We do not encourage to increase this value as
it can lead to memory exhaustion, increase at your own risk.

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `IMAGE_PROXY_ENABLED` | `False` | Whether external images should be proxied | Optional |
| `IMAGE_PROXY_MAX_SIZE` | `5242880` (5MB) | Maximum size in bytes for external images | Optional |
| `IMAGE_PROXY_CACHE_TTL` | `2592000` (30 days) | Cache TTL in seconds for external images | Optional |

### Frontend

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `FRONTEND_THEME` | `white-label` | Theme for the frontend | Optional |
| `FRONTEND_SILENT_LOGIN_ENABLED` | `False` | Whether silent login is enabled | Optional |

### Third-party Services

#### Drive

| Variable | Default | Description | Required |
|----------|---------|-------------|----------|
| `DRIVE_BASE_URL` | None | Base URL to access Drive endpoints | Optional |
| `DRIVE_APP_NAME` | `Drive` | Name of the Drive application used in the frontend | Optional |

## Legend

- **Required**: Must be set for the application to function
- **Dev**: Required for development/testing environments
- **Optional**: Has sensible defaults, can be customized

## Environment Files

The application uses environment files located in `env.d/development/` for different services:

- `backend.defaults` - Main Django application settings
- `common.defaults` - Shared settings across services
- `frontend.defaults` - Frontend configuration
- `postgresql.defaults` - PostgreSQL database configuration
- `keycloak.defaults` - Keycloak configuration
- `mta-in.defaults` - Inbound mail server settings
- `mta-out.defaults` - Outbound mail server settings
- `crowdin.defaults` - Translation service configuration

### Local Overrides

The `make bootstrap` command creates empty `.local` files for each service with a comment header:
```
# Put your local-specific, gitignored env vars here
```

These files are gitignored and allow for local development customizations without affecting the repository.

## Security Notes

⚠️ **Important Security Considerations:**

1. **Never commit actual secrets** - Use `.local` files only
2. **OIDC_ALLOW_DUPLICATE_EMAILS** - Should remain `False` in production
3. **CORS_ALLOW_ALL_ORIGINS** - Should be `False` in production
4. **DJANGO_SECRET_KEY** - Must be unique and secret in production
5. **Database passwords** - Use strong, unique passwords
6. **API tokens** - Rotate regularly and keep secure

## Production Deployment

For production deployments, ensure:

1. All **Required** variables are properly configured
2. Secrets are managed through secure secret management systems
3. HTTPS is enforced for all external communications
4. Database connections use SSL/TLS
5. File storage uses appropriate access controls