Configuration

Pi-Chat is configured entirely through environment variables. Copy .env.example to .env and set the values described below before running the app.

Database

Variable	Description
DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL connection string

Authentication

Variable	Description
NEXTAUTH_URL	Full public URL of your deployment
NEXTAUTH_SECRET	Random secret used to sign session tokens
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID	Google OAuth client ID
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET	Google OAuth client secret

Generate a strong NEXTAUTH_SECRET with:

openssl rand -base64 32

Access policy

Variable	Description
ALLOWED_DOMAIN	Google accounts in this domain can sign in without an invite
ADMIN_EMAIL	Email address that receives admin role on first sign-in

Only accounts whose email ends with @ALLOWED_DOMAIN are allowed to sign in by default. All other users need an explicit invite from an admin.

Object storage

Pi-Chat stores file attachments in any S3-compatible bucket. MinIO is used locally.

Variable	Description
MINIO_ENDPOINT	Storage endpoint hostname
MINIO_PORT	Storage endpoint port (default 9000)
MINIO_ACCESS_KEY	Access key
MINIO_SECRET_KEY	Secret key
MINIO_BUCKET	Bucket name (default pichat)
MINIO_USE_SSL	Set to true for HTTPS endpoints

App branding

Variable	Description
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_NAME	Display name shown in the UI
NEXT_PUBLIC_TEAM_NAME	Team name shown in onboarding and emails

Optional

Variable	Description
DEV_PORT	Override the local dev server port (default 3001)
SMOKE_DATABASE_URL	Alternate database URL for smoke tests
SMOKE_MINIO_ENDPOINT	Alternate MinIO endpoint for smoke tests

Google OAuth setup

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console.
2. Create a project and enable the Google+ API.
3. Create OAuth 2.0 credentials with type Web Application.
4. Add http://localhost:3001/api/auth/callback/google as an authorized redirect URI for local development.
5. Add your production URL with the same callback path for production.
6. Copy the client ID and secret into .env.