big-agi/docs/environment-variables.md

Environment Variables

This document provides an explanation of the environment variables used in the big-AGI application.

All variables are optional; and UI options take precedence over backend environment variables, which take place over defaults. This file is kept in sync with ../src/common/types/env.d.ts.

Setting Environment Variables

Environment variables can be set by creating a .env file in the root directory of the project.

For Docker deployment, ensure all necessary environment variables are set both during build and run. If the Docker container is built without setting environment variables, the frontend UI will be unaware of them, despite the backend being able to use them at runtime.

The following is an example .env for copy-paste convenience:

# Database
POSTGRES_PRISMA_URL=
POSTGRES_URL_NON_POOLING=

# LLMs
OPENAI_API_KEY=
OPENAI_API_HOST=
OPENAI_API_ORG_ID=
AZURE_OPENAI_API_ENDPOINT=
AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY=
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=
ANTHROPIC_API_HOST=
OLLAMA_API_HOST=
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=

# Model Observability: Helicone
HELICONE_API_KEY=

# Text-To-Speech
ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=
ELEVENLABS_API_HOST=
ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID=
# Google Custom Search
GOOGLE_CLOUD_API_KEY=
GOOGLE_CSE_ID=
# Text-To-Image
PRODIA_API_KEY=

Variables Documentation

Database

To enable features such as Chat Link Shring, you need to connect the backend to a database. We require serverless Postgres, which is available on Vercel, Neon and more.

Also make sure that you run npx prisma db:push to create the initial schema on the database for the first time (or update it on a later stage).

Variable	Description
POSTGRES_PRISMA_URL	The URL of the Postgres database used by Prisma - example: postgres://USER:PASS@SOMEHOST.postgres.vercel-storage.com/SOMEDB?pgbouncer=true&connect_timeout=15
POSTGRES_URL_NON_POOLING	The URL of the Postgres database without pooling

LLMs

The following variables when set will enable the corresponding LLMs on the server-side, without requiring the user to enter an API key

Variable	Description	Required
OPENAI_API_KEY	API key for OpenAI	Recommended
OPENAI_API_HOST	Changes the backend host for the OpenAI vendor, to enable platforms such as Helicone and CloudFlare AI Gateway	Optional
OPENAI_API_ORG_ID	Sets the "OpenAI-Organization" header field to support organization users	Optional
AZURE_OPENAI_API_ENDPOINT	Azure OpenAI endpoint - host only, without the path	Optional, but if set AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY must also be set
AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY	Azure OpenAI API key, see config-azure-openai.md	Optional, but if set AZURE_OPENAI_API_ENDPOINT must also be set
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	The API key for Anthropic	Optional
ANTHROPIC_API_HOST	Changes the backend host for the Anthropic vendor, to enable platforms such as config-aws-bedrock.md	Optional
OLLAMA_API_HOST	Changes the backend host for the Ollama vendor. See config-ollama.md
OPENROUTER_API_KEY	The API key for OpenRouter	Optional

Model Observability: Helicone

Helicone provides observability to your LLM calls. It is a paid service, with a generous free tier. It is currently supported for:

• Anthropic: by setting the Helicone API key, Helicone is automatically activated
• OpenAI: you also need to set OPENAI_API_HOST to oai.hconeai.com, to enable routing

Variable	Description
HELICONE_API_KEY	The API key for Helicone

Specials

Enable the app to Talk, Draw, and Google things up.

Variable	Description
Text-To-Speech	ElevenLabs is a high quality speech synthesis service
ELEVENLABS_API_KEY	ElevenLabs API Key - used for calls, etc.
ELEVENLABS_API_HOST	Custom host for ElevenLabs
ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID	Default voice ID for ElevenLabs
Google Custom Search	Google Programmable Search Engine produces links to pages
GOOGLE_CLOUD_API_KEY	Google Cloud API Key, used with the '/react' command - Link to GCP
GOOGLE_CSE_ID	Google Custom/Programmable Search Engine ID - Link to PSE
Text-To-Image	Prodia is a reliable image generation service
PRODIA_API_KEY	Prodia API Key - used with '/imagine ...'

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