Environment Variables¶

Pipelit is configured through environment variables, loaded from a .env file in the repository root (one level above platform/). The configuration is managed by Pydantic Settings in platform/config.py.

Variable Reference¶

Variable	Default	Required	Description
`FIELD_ENCRYPTION_KEY`	`""` (empty)	Yes	Fernet encryption key for securing stored credentials (API keys, bot tokens, etc.). Generate with `python -c "from cryptography.fernet import Fernet; print(Fernet.generate_key().decode())"`. Without this key, credential storage will not work.
`SECRET_KEY`	`change-me-in-production`	Yes (production)	Secret key used for cryptographic signing. Must be changed from the default in production deployments. Use a long, random string.
`DATABASE_URL`	`sqlite:///platform/db.sqlite3`	No	SQLAlchemy database connection string. Defaults to a SQLite file inside the `platform/` directory. Set to a PostgreSQL URL for production (e.g., `postgresql://user:pass@localhost/pipelit`).
`REDIS_URL`	`redis://localhost:6379/0`	No	Redis connection URL. Used for RQ task queuing, pub/sub broadcasting, and RediSearch. Format: `redis://[:password]@host:port/db_number`.
`DEBUG`	`false`	No	Enable debug mode. Set to `true` for development. Should always be `false` in production.
`ALLOWED_HOSTS`	`localhost`	No	Comma-separated list of allowed hostnames. Set to your domain name in production (e.g., `pipelit.example.com`).
`CORS_ALLOW_ALL_ORIGINS`	`true`	No	Allow cross-origin requests from any domain. Set to `false` in production and configure specific allowed origins through your reverse proxy.
`ZOMBIE_EXECUTION_THRESHOLD_SECONDS`	`900` (15 min)	No	Time in seconds after which a running execution is considered a zombie and eligible for cleanup. The system marks stale executions as failed and releases their resources.
`LOG_LEVEL`	`INFO`	No	Logging level. Supported values: `DEBUG`, `INFO`, `WARNING`, `ERROR`, `CRITICAL`.
`LOG_FILE`	`""` (empty)	No	Path to a log file. When set, logs are written to this file in addition to the console. Example: `logs/pipelit.log`. The parent directory must exist.

`.env` File Location¶

The .env file should be placed in the repository root (the directory containing platform/), not inside the platform/ directory:

Pipelit/
├── .env              <-- here
├── platform/
│   ├── main.py
│   ├── config.py
│   └── ...
└── ...

Pipelit uses python-dotenv to load the .env file from BASE_DIR.parent (one level above platform/).

Minimal Development Configuration¶

.env

FIELD_ENCRYPTION_KEY=your-generated-fernet-key
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379/0

Production Configuration¶

.env

FIELD_ENCRYPTION_KEY=your-generated-fernet-key
SECRET_KEY=a-long-random-string-at-least-32-characters
DEBUG=false
ALLOWED_HOSTS=pipelit.example.com
CORS_ALLOW_ALL_ORIGINS=false
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379/0
DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///opt/pipelit/platform/db.sqlite3
ZOMBIE_EXECUTION_THRESHOLD_SECONDS=900
LOG_FILE=logs/pipelit.log
LOG_LEVEL=INFO

Generating the Encryption Key¶

The FIELD_ENCRYPTION_KEY is a Fernet key used to encrypt sensitive credential data (LLM API keys, Telegram bot tokens, etc.) at rest in the database. Generate one with:

python -c "from cryptography.fernet import Fernet; print(Fernet.generate_key().decode())"

Keep your encryption key safe

If you lose the FIELD_ENCRYPTION_KEY, all stored credentials become unreadable. Back up this key securely. If you change the key, existing encrypted credentials cannot be decrypted -- you will need to re-enter them.