sentryagent-idp/docs/devops/environment-variables.md

Environment Variables

Complete reference for all environment variables consumed by AgentIdP.

Variables are loaded from a .env file at startup via dotenv. In production, inject them directly into the process environment — do not commit .env to version control.

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Required Variables

These variables must be set. The server will throw and exit immediately if any are missing.

DATABASE_URL

PostgreSQL connection string.

Required	Yes
Format	postgresql://<user>:<password>@<host>:<port>/<database>
Example	postgresql://sentryagent:sentryagent@localhost:5432/sentryagent_idp

The application uses pg.Pool with this connection string. Connection pool size uses the pg default (10 connections).

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REDIS_URL

Redis connection URL.

Required	Yes
Format	redis://<host>:<port> or redis://<user>:<password>@<host>:<port>
Example	redis://localhost:6379

Used for token revocation, rate limiting, and monthly token counters.

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JWT_PRIVATE_KEY

PEM-encoded RSA-2048 private key for signing JWT access tokens (RS256).

Required	Yes
Format	PEM string, including -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- header and footer
Example	See Security guide for key generation

In a .env file, use double quotes and encode newlines as \n:

JWT_PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----\nMIIEow...\n-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"

Alternatively, read from a file at startup (see Security guide).

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JWT_PUBLIC_KEY

PEM-encoded RSA-2048 public key for verifying JWT access tokens.

Required	Yes
Format	PEM string, including -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY----- header and footer
Example	Derived from JWT_PRIVATE_KEY — see Security guide

Every authenticated request verifies the JWT signature using this key. If this key does not match the private key used to sign tokens, all authentication will fail.

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Optional Variables

These variables have defaults and do not need to be set for local development.

VAULT_ADDR

HashiCorp Vault server address. Required to enable Vault integration (Phase 2).

Required	No (Vault is optional)
Format	URL string
Example	VAULT_ADDR=http://127.0.0.1:8200

When set alongside VAULT_TOKEN, new credentials are stored in Vault KV v2 instead of as bcrypt hashes in PostgreSQL. Existing bcrypt credentials continue to work unchanged until rotated. See Vault setup guide.

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VAULT_TOKEN

Vault authentication token. Required when VAULT_ADDR is set.

Required	Only when VAULT_ADDR is set
Format	String
Example	VAULT_TOKEN=hvs.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Use a Vault service token scoped to read, write, and delete on {VAULT_MOUNT}/data/agentidp/* and {VAULT_MOUNT}/metadata/agentidp/*.

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VAULT_MOUNT

KV v2 secrets engine mount path.

Required	No
Default	secret
Format	String (no leading or trailing slash)
Example	VAULT_MOUNT=agentidp

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PORT

HTTP port the Express server listens on.

Required	No
Default	3000
Format	Integer
Example	PORT=8080

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NODE_ENV

Node.js environment flag.

Required	No
Default	undefined (treated as development)
Values	development, test, production
Example	NODE_ENV=production

Effect: When NODE_ENV=test, HTTP request logging (Morgan) is disabled.

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CORS_ORIGIN

Allowed origin(s) for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing.

Required	No
Default	* (all origins)
Format	URL string or *
Example	CORS_ORIGIN=https://app.mycompany.ai

In production, set this to the specific origin(s) that should be permitted to call the API. The default * is acceptable for a public API but restricts cookie-based auth flows (not applicable here — Bearer tokens only).

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Complete .env Example

# Database
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://sentryagent:sentryagent@localhost:5432/sentryagent_idp

# Redis
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379

# Application
PORT=3000
NODE_ENV=development
CORS_ORIGIN=*

# JWT Keys (generate with openssl — see docs/devops/security.md)
JWT_PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
MIIEowIBAAKCAQEA...
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"

JWT_PUBLIC_KEY="-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MIIBIjANBgkq...
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----"

# HashiCorp Vault (Phase 2 — optional, omit to use bcrypt mode)
# VAULT_ADDR=http://127.0.0.1:8200
# VAULT_TOKEN=hvs.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
# VAULT_MOUNT=secret

Do not commit .env to version control. Add it to .gitignore.

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Variable Validation at Startup

The application validates required variables at startup in this order:

1. JWT_PRIVATE_KEY and JWT_PUBLIC_KEY — checked in createApp() before the server starts
2. DATABASE_URL — checked when getPool() is first called (during createApp())
3. REDIS_URL — checked when getRedisClient() is first called (during createApp())

If any required variable is missing, the process exits with an error before binding to any port.