Environment Variables¶

CHAOTICA uses environment variables for configuration. These can be set in Docker Compose, Kubernetes ConfigMaps/Secrets, or as system environment variables.

Required Variables¶

These variables must be set for production deployments:

Variable	Description	Example
`SECRET_KEY`	Django secret key - MUST change in production	`your-super-secret-key-here`
`RDS_PASSWORD`	Database password	`secure-db-password`

Django Core Settings¶

Variable	Default	Description
`DEBUG`	`0`	Enable Django debug mode (set to `1` for development)
`MAINTENANCE_MODE`	`0`	Enable maintenance mode
`SECRET_KEY`	(insecure default)	Django secret key
`DJANGO_ENV`	`Dev`	Environment type (`Dev`/`Production`)
`DJANGO_VERSION`	`bleeding-edge`	Version identifier for deployment
`DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS`	`* web`	Space-separated list of allowed hostnames
`USE_X_FORWARDED_HOST`	`True`	Trust X-Forwarded-Host header
`SITE_DOMAIN`	`127.0.0.1:8000`	Primary domain for the application
`SITE_PROTO`	`http`	Protocol (`http`/`https`)

Security Settings¶

Variable	Default	Description
`CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE`	`True` (prod)	Secure CSRF cookies (HTTPS only)
`SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE`	`True` (prod)	Secure session cookies (HTTPS only)
`SESSION_EXPIRE_AT_BROWSER_CLOSE`	`True`	Sessions expire when browser closes
`SESSION_COOKIE_AGE`	`43200`	Session timeout in seconds (12 hours)

Database Configuration¶

Variable	Default	Description
`SQL_ENGINE`	(SQLite)	Database backend (`django.db.backends.postgresql`)
`RDS_DB_NAME`	-	Database name
`RDS_USERNAME`	-	Database username
`RDS_PASSWORD`	-	Database password
`RDS_HOSTNAME`	-	Database hostname
`RDS_PORT`	`5432`	Database port

Authentication (Azure AD/ADFS)¶

Variable	Default	Description
`ADFS_CLIENT_ID`	-	Azure AD Application (client) ID
`ADFS_CLIENT_SECRET`	-	Azure AD Client secret
`ADFS_TENANT_ID`	-	Azure AD Directory (tenant) ID

Email Configuration¶

Variable	Default	Description
`EMAIL_BACKEND`	`console`	Email backend (use `django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend`)
`EMAIL_HOST`	`localhost`	SMTP server hostname
`EMAIL_HOST_USER`	-	SMTP username
`EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD`	-	SMTP password
`EMAIL_PORT`	`25`	SMTP port (587 for TLS, 465 for SSL)
`EMAIL_USE_SSL`	`False`	Enable SSL connection
`EMAIL_USE_TLS`	`True`	Enable TLS connection
`DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL`	`CHAOTICA <notifications@chaotica.app>`	Default sender email

Twilio (SMS) Configuration¶

Variable	Default	Description
`TWILIO_ACC`	-	Twilio Account SID
`TWILIO_TOKEN`	-	Twilio Auth Token
`TWILIO_SERVICESID`	-	Twilio Service SID

Monitoring & Logging¶

Variable	Default	Description
`SENTRY_BACKEND_DSN`	-	Sentry DSN for backend error tracking
`SENTRY_FRONTEND_DSN`	-	Sentry DSN for frontend error tracking

Application Settings¶

Variable	Default	Description
`DEFAULT_HOURS_IN_DAY`	`7.5`	Default working hours per day
`TZ`	-	System timezone (e.g., `Europe/London`, `America/New_York`)

GeoIP Settings¶

Variable	Default	Description
`MAXMIND_LICENSE_KEY`	-	MaxMind license key for GeoIP database
`GEOIP_PATH`	`/tmp/geoip`	Path to store GeoIP database files

AWS S3 Storage (Optional)¶

Variable	Default	Description
`USE_S3`	`0`	Enable S3 for static/media files (set to `1`)
`AWS_STORAGE_ACCESS_KEY_ID`	-	AWS Access Key ID
`AWS_STORAGE_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`	-	AWS Secret Access Key
`AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME`	-	S3 bucket name

Example Configurations¶

Development (.env file)¶

DEBUG=1
SECRET_KEY=dev-key-not-for-production
DJANGO_ENV=Dev

Production (Docker Compose)¶

environment:
  - DEBUG=0
  - SECRET_KEY=your-production-secret-key
  - DJANGO_ENV=Production
  - SQL_ENGINE=django.db.backends.postgresql
  - RDS_DB_NAME=chaotica
  - RDS_USERNAME=chaotica_user
  - RDS_PASSWORD=secure-password
  - RDS_HOSTNAME=db
  - EMAIL_BACKEND=django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend
  - EMAIL_HOST=smtp.example.com
  - EMAIL_PORT=587
  - EMAIL_USE_TLS=True

Kubernetes (ConfigMap/Secret)¶

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: chaotica-config
data:
  DEBUG: "0"
  DJANGO_ENV: "Production"
  SQL_ENGINE: "django.db.backends.postgresql"
  # ... other non-sensitive config
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: chaotica-secrets
data:
  SECRET_KEY: <base64-encoded-secret>
  RDS_PASSWORD: <base64-encoded-password>
  # ... other sensitive data