Configuration¶

Weirling reads its settings from environment variables (or .env). ./scripts/init_env.sh writes a .env with fresh secrets; every variable, with a comment, is in .env.example. The tables below cover the ones you are most likely to change.

Settings marked Setup screen can also be changed by the instance owner at /admin/setup. A value set in the environment always wins.

Core¶

Variable	Default	What it does
`APP_ENV`	`production`	`production` or `development`. Production refuses weak secrets and requires secure cookies.
`DEPLOYMENT_MODE`	`selfhost`	`selfhost`: one tenant, no quotas, full text in the reader. `hosted`: plans, quotas, abuse limits.
`SECRET_KEY`	required	Signs sessions. Generated by `init_env.sh`.
`REFRESH_SECRET_KEY`	`SECRET_KEY`	Optional separate secret for refresh tokens.
`SECRETS_ENCRYPTION_KEY`	empty	Encrypts secrets saved from the setup screen. Without it, the screen can't store them.
`METRICS_TOKEN`	required	Operator token for `/metrics` and `/api/v1/metrics/*` (`X-Metrics-Token`). The instance owner can read the Ingestion page without it.
`REGISTRATION_MODE`	`closed` (self-host)	`closed`, `invite` (codes in `REGISTRATION_INVITE_CODES`) or `open`. The first account always becomes the owner. Setup screen
`EMAIL_VERIFICATION`	`auto`	`auto` (required on hosted, off on self-host), `required` or `off`.
`FRONTEND_URL`	`http://localhost:3001`	The web app's address: CORS and links in emails.
`CORS_EXTRA_ORIGINS`	empty	More allowed origins, comma-separated (for example the `www.` host).
`PUBLIC_API_URL`	`http://localhost:8000`	The API's public address, used in unsubscribe links.
`COOKIE_DOMAIN`	host only	Set `.example.com` when the API and the app are on different subdomains.
`COOKIE_SECURE`	`auto`	HTTPS-only cookies, except on localhost or LAN over HTTP.

Database and Redis¶

Variable	Default	What it does
`DATABASE_URL`	`postgresql+asyncpg://readprism:readprism@db:5432/readprism`	Postgres with pgvector. A plain `postgres://` URL (Railway, Render, Heroku) is accepted.
`DATABASE_SYNC_URL`	derived from `DATABASE_URL`	Used by migrations.
`AUTO_MIGRATE`	`true`	Run migrations at start-up, under a lock, so several containers migrate once.
`DB_POOL` / `DB_POOL_SIZE` / `DB_MAX_OVERFLOW`	`auto` / `10` / `10`	The API pools connections; workers don't (`auto`). Lower the sizes on small managed databases.
`REDIS_URL`	`redis://redis:6379/0`	Cache, rate limits, sessions.
`CELERY_BROKER_URL`	`redis://redis:6379/1`	Job queue.
`CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND`	`redis://redis:6379/2`	Job results.

The compose Redis keeps an append-only log on the redis_data volume, so a restart keeps sessions and pending sign-in links. make backup snapshots it.

Summaries (LLM)¶

Variable	Default	What it does
`LLM_API_KEY`	empty	Any OpenAI-compatible key. Without one, summaries are extracts and nothing is sent anywhere. Setup screen
`LLM_BASE_URL`	`https://api.groq.com/openai/v1`	Groq, OpenAI, OpenRouter, a local Ollama. Setup screen
`LLM_MODEL_PRIMARY`	`openai/gpt-oss-120b`	Story synthesis and interest expansion. Setup screen
`LLM_MODEL_FAST`	`openai/gpt-oss-20b`	Item summaries and topics. Setup screen
`LLM_MODEL_SUMMARY`, `_TOPICS`, `_SYNTHESIS`, `_INTERESTS`	empty	Override the model for one task (which model does what).
`LLM_SUMMARIZE`	`lazy`	`lazy`: only items that reach a digest or the reader. `all`: every item.
`OPENAI_FALLBACK_ENABLED`	`false`	Fall back to `OPENAI_API_KEY` / `OPENAI_MODEL` when the main provider fails.

GROQ_API_KEY is still read in 0.3.x and will be removed; use LLM_API_KEY.

Embeddings and ranking¶

Variable	Default	What it does
`EMBEDDING_MODEL`	`all-MiniLM-L6-v2`	Local sentence-transformers model, or `hash` (no PyTorch; weaker matching). See switching models.
`EMBEDDING_DEVICE`	`cpu`	`cpu` or `cuda`.
`OMP_NUM_THREADS` / `TORCH_NUM_THREADS`	container CPUs	PyTorch threads. By default they follow the container's CPU quota.
`SERENDIPITY_DEFAULT_PERCENTAGE`	`15`	Share of each digest kept for discovery.
`COLD_START_COLLABORATIVE_ENABLED`	`true`	"Popular with readers" picks, from 100 active readers and only for items 20 readers finished.
`RANKER_VERSION`	`2`	Ranking engine version.

Email¶

Variable	Default	What it does
`EMAIL_PROVIDER`	`auto`	`auto`: Resend when `RESEND_API_KEY` is set, otherwise SMTP. Or force `smtp` / `resend`.
`RESEND_API_KEY`	empty	A sending-only Resend key. Use it where outbound SMTP is blocked (Railway Hobby and many clouds).
`SMTP_HOST` / `SMTP_PORT`	empty / `587`	Port 587 uses STARTTLS, 465 uses TLS. Setup screen
`SMTP_USER` / `SMTP_PASSWORD`	empty	The mailbox login. Email is skipped while no provider is configured. Setup screen
`FROM_EMAIL` / `FROM_NAME`	`SMTP_USER` / `Weirling`	The sender. With Resend it must be on a verified domain.
`REPLY_TO_EMAIL`	empty	Where replies go, for example `support@`.
`SUPPORT_EMAIL`	grievance contact	Help address shown in the app.
`GRIEVANCE_CONTACT_EMAIL`	empty	Privacy and takedown contact, shown on `/contact`.
`EMAIL_PHYSICAL_ADDRESS`	empty	Postal address in the email footer. Set it before sending to US readers.

DNS for deliverability (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is in Install & run.

Hosted service¶

Variable	Default	What it does
`BILLING_PROVIDER`	empty	`lemonsqueezy`, `paddle` or `razorpay`. While empty, trials never run out: no trial emails, pausing or deletion.
`BILLING_WEBHOOK_SECRET` / `BILLING_API_KEY`	empty	Webhook signature secret and API key for the provider.
`BILLING_TRIAL_DAYS`	`30`	Trial length once billing is on.
`HOSTED_PAUSED_DELETE_DAYS`	`30`	Days a paused account is kept before deletion (`0` never deletes).
`READER_FULL_TEXT`	`auto`	`auto`: hosted shows only text the publisher put in its feed; self-host shows everything. Or `all` / `feed_only`.
`HOSTED_FETCH_BUDGET_PER_HOUR`	`300`	Fetches one account may cause per hour.
`HOSTED_HOST_POLLS_PER_HOUR`	`120`	Polls of any one website per hour, across all accounts.
`HOSTED_MAX_SOURCES_PER_HOST`	`10`	Feeds one account may follow on the same website.
`SIGNUP_PER_DOMAIN_PER_HOUR`	`10`	Sign-ups per email domain per hour.
`TELEMETRY_RAW_RETENTION_DAYS`	`90`	Raw reading telemetry kept before it is aggregated (`0` keeps it).
`CONTENT_FULL_TEXT_RETENTION_DAYS`	`90`	Stored article text is cut to an excerpt after this many days.

More on plans, quotas and the account lifecycle: Hosted service.

Fetching¶

Variable	Default	What it does
`SSRF_PROTECTION_ENABLED`	`true`	Every fetch resolves the host, refuses private addresses and connects to the checked IP.
`BROWSERLESS_URL`	`http://browserless:3000`	Headless Chrome for pages that need JavaScript (`full` profile).
`RSSHUB_BASE_URL`	empty	RSSHub bridge for platforms without feeds (`bridge` profile).