Configuration & environment variables

Every configuration surface in one place: the dependency baseline, the full environment-variable reference, and the provider configuration model.

Configuration reference

VerifAIer is configured entirely by environment variables (12-factor). There is no config file to edit; copy .env.example to .env and set values, or inject env vars via your platform. The runtime baseline:

.env.example · pyproject.toml · providers/config.py · auth/config.py · security/secrets.py

Item	Value
Python	≥ 3.12 (container base `python:3.12-slim`)
Core dependencies	`fastapi≥0.115`, `uvicorn[standard]≥0.32`, `anthropic≥0.40`, `pydantic≥2.9`, `pydantic-settings≥2.6`, `jsonschema≥4.23`
Optional extras	`dev` (pytest/httpx/ruff), `enterprise` (cryptography), `anchoring` (web3)
Package version	`2.0.0-alpha` (API/service version reported by `/health` is `1.4.2`)
Datastore	SQLite by default (`DB_PATH`); optional PostgreSQL via `DATABASE_URL`

Never commit .env. _build.py excludes .env and every .env.* except .env.example from the shipped artifact. Only .env.example (placeholders) is tracked.

Environment variable reference

Every variable, its default, and what it does. Unset optional variables fall back to safe defaults; the app never crashes on a missing key.

Variable	Default	Purpose
AI providers: see provider configuration
`VERIFAIER_DEFAULT_PROVIDER`	`mock`	default provider (mock/gemini/openai/anthropic)
`VERIFAIER_PROVIDER_MODE`	`mock`	`mock` (no network) or `live`
`VERIFAIER_ENV`	`development`	provider-config env; `production` reports missing config
`VERIFAIER_ENABLE_GEMINI/OPENAI/ANTHROPIC`	`false`	per-provider enable flags
`VERIFAIER_PROVIDER_FALLBACKS`	empty	ordered fallback chain (comma-separated)
`GEMINI_API_KEY` / `GOOGLE_API_KEY`	n/a	Gemini key (GOOGLE_ as fallback)
`OPENAI_API_KEY` / `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	n/a	provider keys (server-side only)
`GEMINI_MODEL`	`gemini-2.5-flash-lite`	Gemini model override
`OPENAI_MODEL`	`gpt-4o-mini`	OpenAI model override
`ANTHROPIC_MODEL`	`claude-opus-4-8`	Anthropic model override
Application
`APP_ENV`	`production`	runtime environment label
`LOG_LEVEL`	`INFO`	log level (DEBUG…CRITICAL)
`CORS_ORIGINS`	`["*"]`	allowed origins (JSON array), restrict in prod
Database
`DB_PATH`	`<root>/vailidator.db`	SQLite file path (Docker: `/app/data/vailidator.db`)
`DATABASE_URL`	unset → SQLite	optional PostgreSQL (`postgresql://…`)
Auth & sessions
`SESSION_SECRET`	ephemeral if unset	HMAC key, required in production
`AUTH_COOKIE_NAME`	`vai_session`	session cookie name
`AUTH_TOKEN_TTL`	`28800`	session lifetime, seconds
`AUTH_COOKIE_SECURE`	`false`	set `true` on HTTPS/prod
`AUTH_COOKIE_SAMESITE`	`lax`	lax / strict / none
Control Center & rate limit
`CC_API_KEY`	empty	pre-fill dashboard key field (never a real key in .env.example)
`CC_PBKDF2_ITERATIONS`	`100000`	PBKDF2 iterations (OWASP min); lower only in test
`RATE_LIMIT_LOGIN_RPW`	`20`	login attempts per window (per IP)
`RATE_LIMIT_LOGIN_WINDOW`	`900`	login window, seconds
Billing (optional)
`STRIPE_SECRET_KEY` / `STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY` / `STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	n/a	Stripe integration (webhook 503 if secret unset)
Dashboards & misc
`API_URL`	`http://localhost:8000`	backend URL as seen by Streamlit (compose: `http://api:8000`)
`FR_SIGNING_KEY`	built-in dev seed	Flight Recorder HMAC seed, set random in prod
`VERIFAIER_MEMORY_VAULT`	`.verifaier/memory`	Memory Receipt vault root
`VAI_SERVER_VERBOSE`	`0`	verbose sentinel server output
`VAI_FUJI_RPC` / `VAI_FUJI_PRIVATE_KEY`	n/a	optional blockchain anchoring (not required)

Provider configuration

The AI provider layer is off by default and deterministic. A live provider runs only when three conditions all hold, otherwise the router skips it and falls back to the offline mock:

env

# enable a live provider (all three required)
VERIFAIER_ENABLE_OPENAI=true      # 1) enabled
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...             # 2) key present (read server-side only)
VERIFAIER_PROVIDER_MODE=live      # 3) live mode
VERIFAIER_DEFAULT_PROVIDER=openai
VERIFAIER_PROVIDER_FALLBACKS=gemini   # optional ordered fallback; mock is always last

Default is mock: deterministic, offline, zero egress, safe for local and CI.
Presence only: keys are read from the environment at call time; the config object stores boolean presence, never the value.
Production reporting: with VERIFAIER_ENV=production, missing required provider config is reported explicitly (without exposing values) rather than failing silently.

Full routing semantics are in the provider routing engineering doc; the key-safety model is in secret handling.