Environment variables

Manifest reads its configuration from environment variables. In the bundled Docker setup these come from ~/manifest/.env. For docker run, pass them with -e. For non-Docker installs, export them in the shell before launching the backend.

Core

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	Yes	—	PostgreSQL connection string. Format: `postgresql://user:pass@host:5432/dbname`
`BETTER_AUTH_SECRET`	Yes	—	Session signing secret. Min 32 chars. Generate with `openssl rand -hex 32`
`BETTER_AUTH_URL`	No	`http://localhost:2099`	Public URL the dashboard is reachable on. Must match the browser URL
`PORT`	No	`2099`	Internal server port
`NODE_ENV`	No	`production`	Node environment. Telemetry is disabled when this isn’t `production`

Network & security

Variable	Default	Description
`BIND_ADDRESS`	`127.0.0.1`	Interface the server binds to. Set to `0.0.0.0` for LAN access
`CORS_ORIGIN`	`http://localhost:3000`	Allowed CORS origin for browser-based dashboard requests
`API_KEY`	—	Internal API key for system endpoints
`MANIFEST_ENCRYPTION_KEY`	`BETTER_AUTH_SECRET`	Key used to encrypt stored provider credentials at rest. Falls back to `BETTER_AUTH_SECRET` when unset
`THROTTLE_TTL`	`60000`	Rate-limit window in milliseconds
`THROTTLE_LIMIT`	`100`	Max requests per window per agent
`DB_POOL_MAX`	`30`	Max PostgreSQL connections in the pool
`SEED_DATA`	`false`	Seed demo data on first boot

LLM proxy

How Manifest talks to upstream providers.

Variable	Default	Description
`PROVIDER_TIMEOUT_MS`	`180000`	Per-attempt timeout (ms) for upstream requests. A hung provider surfaces as a synthetic `504` and triggers the next fallback. Set it strictly below your client’s own timeout; slow local models may need it raised
`MANIFEST_MAX_MESSAGES`	`1000`	Max messages Manifest forwards per request. Requests over the cap are rejected with error M301
`STREAM_WARMUP_MS`	`15000`	How long to wait for the first streamed chunk before falling back to the next model
`OLLAMA_HOST`	`http://localhost:11434`	Base URL for a local Ollama server. In Docker, set it to `http://host.docker.internal:11434`

Email

Used for both Better Auth transactional emails (signup verification, password reset) and threshold alerts. Set one provider block.

Variable	Description
`EMAIL_PROVIDER`	`resend`, `mailgun`, or `sendgrid`
`EMAIL_API_KEY`	API key for the chosen provider
`EMAIL_DOMAIN`	Sending domain (Mailgun only)
`EMAIL_FROM`	From-address for outbound mail

Without an email provider, signup verification is waived (users are created as unverified-but-usable) and password reset silently no-ops. Hard-limit blocks still work; alerts just don’t email.

Legacy Mailgun-only

Older deployments used these. Kept for backward compatibility; new installs should use EMAIL_* instead.

Variable	Description
`MAILGUN_API_KEY`	Mailgun API key
`MAILGUN_DOMAIN`	Mailgun domain
`NOTIFICATION_FROM_EMAIL`	Sender address for alerts

OAuth logins

Each provider activates automatically when both *_CLIENT_ID and *_CLIENT_SECRET are set. Configure the callback URL in the provider’s console as ${BETTER_AUTH_URL}/api/auth/callback/<provider>.

Variable	Provider
`GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID` / `GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET`	Google
`GITHUB_CLIENT_ID` / `GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET`	GitHub
`DISCORD_CLIENT_ID` / `DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET`	Discord

Subscription OAuth (ChatGPT, Claude, MiniMax) uses Manifest-side client IDs by default. Override only if you’ve registered your own app:

Variable	Description
`OPENAI_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID`	Custom OpenAI OAuth client ID
`MINIMAX_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID`	Custom MiniMax OAuth client ID

Telemetry

Variable	Default	Description
`MANIFEST_TELEMETRY_DISABLED`	unset	Set to `1` to disable anonymous telemetry
`TELEMETRY_ENDPOINT`	`https://telemetry.manifest.build/...`	Send reports to your own endpoint
`MANIFEST_PUBLIC_STATS`	`false`	Expose `/api/v1/public/*` aggregate stats without auth (Cloud only)

Postgres bundled volume

When you run the bundled compose file, Manifest brings up its own Postgres container. To use a stronger password than the default, set both of these. They must agree, and special characters in the password must be percent-encoded in DATABASE_URL:

Variable	Description
`POSTGRES_PASSWORD`	Password for the bundled Postgres user
`DATABASE_URL`	Connection string with the matching password

Special-char encoding: @ → %40, : → %3A, / → %2F.

Getting Started

Deployment

Features

Providers

Reference

Environment variables

Core

Network & security

LLM proxy

Email

Legacy Mailgun-only

OAuth logins

Telemetry

Postgres bundled volume

​Core

​Network & security

​LLM proxy

​Email

​Legacy Mailgun-only

​OAuth logins

​Telemetry

​Postgres bundled volume

Core

Network & security

LLM proxy

Email

Legacy Mailgun-only

OAuth logins

Telemetry

Postgres bundled volume