Environment Variables

Complete reference for all Quackback configuration options. Copy .env.example to .env and fill in your values.

Required Variables

These variables must be set for Quackback to run.

Variable	Description	Example
`DATABASE_URL`	PostgreSQL connection string	`postgresql://postgres:password@localhost:5432/quackback`
`SECRET_KEY`	Secret key for authentication and encryption (32+ chars). Used for session signing and deriving encryption keys.	`openssl rand -base64 32`
`BASE_URL`	Public URL for your instance (used for auth, emails, and OAuth callbacks)	`https://feedback.example.com`
`REDIS_URL`	Redis/Dragonfly connection for background job queue (BullMQ). Dragonfly is included in docker-compose.	`redis://localhost:6379`

Email Configuration

Configure email delivery for OTP codes, notifications, and invitations.

If email is not configured, OTP codes and other emails are printed to the console. This is useful for local development.

Priority order: SMTP (if configured) > Resend (if configured) > Console logging.

SMTP

Variable	Description	Example
`EMAIL_SMTP_HOST`	SMTP server hostname	`smtp.sendgrid.net`
`EMAIL_SMTP_PORT`	SMTP port	`587`
`EMAIL_SMTP_USER`	SMTP username	`apikey`
`EMAIL_SMTP_PASS`	SMTP password	`SG.xxxx`
`EMAIL_SMTP_SECURE`	Use TLS (for port 465)	`true`
`EMAIL_FROM`	Sender email address	`Quackback <feedback@example.com>`

Resend

Variable	Description	Example
`EMAIL_RESEND_API_KEY`	Resend API key	`re_xxxxxxxxxxxx`
`EMAIL_FROM`	Sender email address	`Quackback <feedback@example.com>`

OAuth Providers

Enable social login for portal users and team members.

GitHub

Variable	Description
`GITHUB_CLIENT_ID`	GitHub OAuth App client ID
`GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET`	GitHub OAuth App client secret

Create at: GitHub Developer Settings

Callback URL: https://your-domain.com/api/auth/callback/github

Google

Variable	Description
`GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID`	Google OAuth client ID
`GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET`	Google OAuth client secret

Create at: Google Cloud Console

Callback URL: https://your-domain.com/api/auth/callback/google

Integration credentials (Slack, Microsoft Teams, Linear, etc.) are configured through the admin UI and stored securely in the database, not as environment variables.

Enable AI features: post summaries, duplicate detection, feedback extraction, and help center semantic search. AI is off unless you set the key, the endpoint, and a model for each role -- Quackback works with any OpenAI-compatible endpoint but never assumes one.

Variable	Description	Example
`OPENAI_API_KEY`	API key for your AI endpoint	`sk-...`
`OPENAI_BASE_URL`	OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Required -- there is no default	`https://api.openai.com/v1`
`AI_CHAT_MODEL`	Default model for chat features (summaries, suggestions, merge verification)	`gpt-4o-mini`
`AI_EMBEDDING_MODEL`	Model for embeddings (duplicate detection, semantic search)	`text-embedding-3-small`
`AI_SUMMARY_MODEL`	Per-feature override of `AI_CHAT_MODEL` for post summaries	`off`
`AI_SENTIMENT_MODEL`	Per-feature override for sentiment analysis	`gpt-4o-mini`
`AI_EXTRACTION_MODEL`	Per-feature override for suggestion extraction	`gpt-4o-mini`
`AI_QUALITY_GATE_MODEL`	Per-feature override for the suggestion quality gate	`gpt-4o-mini`
`AI_INTERPRETATION_MODEL`	Per-feature override for feedback interpretation	`gpt-4o-mini`
`AI_MERGE_MODEL`	Per-feature override for merge verification	`gpt-4o`

Per-feature overrides fall back to AI_CHAT_MODEL when unset. Set an override to off to disable just that feature. Use model ids your endpoint accepts -- gateways typically want provider-prefixed ids like google/gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview.

Before v0.12.0, OPENAI_API_KEY alone enabled AI with an implicit OpenAI endpoint and built-in model names. If you upgraded and AI features turned off, add OPENAI_BASE_URL, AI_CHAT_MODEL, and AI_EMBEDDING_MODEL.

File Storage

S3-compatible storage for image uploads in changelogs and rich text content. Supports AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, MinIO, and other S3-compatible services.

If not configured, image upload is disabled in the rich text editor. For local development, MinIO is included in docker-compose and configured by default. Run bun run setup to start it.

Variable	Description	Example
`S3_ENDPOINT`	S3 endpoint URL (leave empty for AWS S3)	`http://localhost:9000`
`S3_BUCKET`	S3 bucket name	`quackback`
`S3_REGION`	S3 region	`us-east-1`
`S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID`	S3 access key	`minioadmin`
`S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`	S3 secret key	`minioadmin`
`S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE`	Use path-style URLs (required for MinIO, R2)	`true`
`S3_PUBLIC_URL`	Public URL for uploaded files (optional)	`https://cdn.example.com`

Telemetry

Anonymous usage statistics help improve Quackback. Telemetry is enabled by default and can be disabled via environment variable.

Variable	Description	Example
`DISABLE_TELEMETRY`	Set to `"true"` to disable anonymous usage statistics	`true`

Complete Example

# ===================
# Required
# ===================
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:password@localhost:5432/quackback"
SECRET_KEY="your-32-character-minimum-secret-key-here"
BASE_URL="https://feedback.yourcompany.com"
REDIS_URL="redis://localhost:6379"
 
# ===================
# Email (choose one)
# ===================
# SMTP
EMAIL_SMTP_HOST="smtp.sendgrid.net"
EMAIL_SMTP_PORT="587"
EMAIL_SMTP_USER="apikey"
EMAIL_SMTP_PASS="SG.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
EMAIL_FROM="Quackback <feedback@yourcompany.com>"
 
# Or Resend
# EMAIL_RESEND_API_KEY="re_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
# EMAIL_FROM="Quackback <feedback@yourcompany.com>"
 
# ===================
# OAuth (optional)
# ===================
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID="your-github-client-id"
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET="your-github-client-secret"
 
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID="your-google-client-id"
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET="your-google-client-secret"
 
# ===================
# Telemetry (optional)
# ===================
# DISABLE_TELEMETRY="true"

Validation

Quackback validates required variables on startup. Missing variables will cause the application to fail with a clear error message indicating which variables are missing.