reference configuration

Configuration

All configuration is through environment variables. Copy .env.example to .env for local development. Never commit real secrets.

Required

Variable	Description	Default
DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL connection string for Prisma. Format: postgresql://user:password@host:port/database?schema=public	--
JWT_SECRET	Secret key for signing and verifying JWT authentication tokens. The server exits on startup if this is not set.	--

Server

Variable	Description	Default
PORT	HTTP server port. Used for both the Express API and Vite dev server.	3006
APP_URL	Public URL of the application (used for CORS, redirects, and API links).	http://localhost:3006
FRONTEND_URL	Public URL of the frontend (used for CORS and redirects).	http://localhost:3006
NODE_ENV	Environment mode: development, test, or production. Controls Vite middleware vs. static serving, CORS wildcard behavior, and debug output.	development

CORS

Variable	Description	Default
CORS_ORIGIN	Comma-separated list of allowed origins for CORS. Used by both Express and Socket.io. Must be an explicit allowlist in production. Example: https://kognitika.ru,https://kognitika.syntog.ru	--
CORS_ALLOW_DEV_WILDCARD	When "true", allows CORS_ORIGIN=* in development and test modes only. Ignored in production.	false
CORS_ALLOW_NATIVE_APP	When "true", adds Capacitor native app origins (capacitor://localhost, https://localhost) to the allowlist.	true

Legacy email

Variable	Description	Default
ADMIN_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL	Admin notification mailbox. Not a public identity or auth source.	admin@example.com
LEGACY_EMAIL_NOTIFICATIONS_ENABLED	Enables legacy email notification channels. Must be opt-in only.	false
LEGACY_EMAIL_AUTH_ENABLED	Enables legacy email-based authentication. Brain ID is the primary auth method.	false

Optional integrations

Variable	Description	Default
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN	Telegram bot token for admin notifications.	replace-me
TELEGRAM_ADMIN_CHAT_ID	Telegram chat ID for admin notifications.	replace-me
SMTP_HOST	SMTP server hostname for email sending.	smtp.example.com
SMTP_PORT	SMTP server port.	465
SMTP_SECURE	Whether to use TLS for SMTP.	true
SMTP_USER	SMTP authentication username.	user@example.com
SMTP_PASS	SMTP authentication password.	replace-me

Neurotrainer (LLM)

Variable	Description	Default
LLM_ENABLED	Enables the OpenAI-compatible neurotrainer provider. When "false", uses deterministic local generation.	false
LLM_BASE_URL	Base URL for the OpenAI-compatible API.	https://api.openai.com/v1
LLM_API_KEY	API key for the LLM provider.	replace-me
LLM_MODEL	Model name to use for generation.	replace-with-model-name
LLM_TIMEOUT_MS	Timeout for LLM API calls in milliseconds.	8000

Debugging

Variable	Description	Default
DEBUG_LOGS	Enables verbose server-side logging when "true".	false

Build-time variables

These are set during CI/CD build steps, not in .env:

Variable	Description	Default
VITE_BUILD_ID	Build identifier embedded in the frontend.	dev
VITE_GIT_COMMIT	Git commit hash embedded in the frontend.	dev
VITE_DEBUG_LOGS	Enables frontend debug logging.	false
BUILD_HASH	Build hash used by the server health check endpoint. Set during deploy.	(resolved from git)