Environment Variables

Complete reference for all environment variables used by Ticketo.

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Required Variables

These must be set for the bot to start.

Variable	Description	Example
DISCORD_TOKEN	Discord bot token from the Developer Portal	MTIz...
DISCORD_SECRET	Discord OAuth2 client secret	abc123...
ENCRYPTION_KEY	AES encryption key (48+ hex characters). Generate with npm run keygen	a1b2c3d4...
DB_PROVIDER	Database provider: postgresql, mysql, or sqlite	postgresql
DB_CONNECTION_URL	Database connection string (not required for SQLite)	postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/ticketo
HTTP_EXTERNAL	Public-facing URL of the bot's HTTP server (no trailing slash)	https://tickets.example.com
HTTP_HOST	Address to bind the HTTP server to (not a URL)	0.0.0.0
HTTP_PORT	Port for the HTTP server	8169

HTTP_EXTERNAL, HTTP_HOST, and HTTP_PORT are not required if SKIP_HTTP=true.

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Optional Variables

HTTP

Variable	Default	Description
HTTP_INTERNAL	Same as HTTP_EXTERNAL	Internal URL for inter-service communication (e.g., http://api:8169)
HTTP_TRUST_PROXY	false	Set to true when behind a reverse proxy (Nginx, Cloudflare)
SKIP_HTTP	—	Set to true to disable the HTTP server (bot-only mode)

Discord

Variable	Default	Description
SUPER	—	JSON array of Discord user IDs with operator (level 4) privileges. Example: ["123456789"]
PUBLIC_BOT	—	Set to true if the bot is public (affects invite links and behavior)
PUBLISH_COMMANDS	—	Set to true to register slash commands globally instead of per-guild
BOT_PREFIX	?	Default prefix for legacy prefix commands
INVALIDATE_TOKENS	—	ISO date string; JWT tokens created before this date are rejected
OVERRIDE_ARCHIVE	—	Override the archive setting for all categories

API Service (Standalone)

Variable	Default	Description
BOT_USER_ID	—	Required for standalone API mode. The bot's Discord user ID

Database

Variable	Default	Description
DATABASE_URL	—	Alternative to DB_CONNECTION_URL (Prisma convention)

Redis

Variable	Default	Description
REDIS_URL	—	Redis connection URL. Required for 3-service mode. Example: redis://localhost:6379
REDIS_PASSWORD	—	Redis password (if not included in the URL)

Chargebee (Premium Billing)

Variable	Default	Description
CHARGEBEE_SITE	—	Chargebee site name (e.g., mysite)
CHARGEBEE_API_KEY	—	Chargebee API key
CHARGEBEE_WEBHOOK_SECRET	—	Secret for verifying Chargebee webhook signatures
CHARGEBEE_PLAN_ID	premium-monthly	Chargebee plan ID for the premium subscription

Sharding

Variable	Default	Description
TOTAL_SHARDS	auto	Total Discord shard count (auto or a number)
SHARDS_PER_CLUSTER	4	Number of shards per cluster process

Sentry (Error Tracking)

Variable	Default	Description
SENTRY_DSN	—	Sentry DSN for error tracking

Miscellaneous

Variable	Default	Description
NODE_ENV	production	Node.js environment (production or development)
LOG_LEVEL	info	Logging level
DOCKER	—	Set automatically in Docker containers
DEFAULT_EMBED_COLOR	#252B4C	Default color for Discord embeds (hex)

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Database Connection URLs

PostgreSQL

DB_PROVIDER=postgresql
DB_CONNECTION_URL=postgresql://username:password@hostname:5432/database_name

MySQL

DB_PROVIDER=mysql
DB_CONNECTION_URL=mysql://username:password@hostname:3306/database_name

SQLite

DB_PROVIDER=sqlite
# DB_CONNECTION_URL is not required; defaults to file:./database.db

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Docker Compose Environment

When using Docker Compose, environment variables are set in the docker-compose.yml or a .env file. Each service needs its own subset:

Bot Service

DISCORD_TOKEN=...
DISCORD_SECRET=...
ENCRYPTION_KEY=...
DB_PROVIDER=postgresql
DB_CONNECTION_URL=postgresql://ticketo:password@postgres:5432/ticketo
SKIP_HTTP=true
REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379

API Service

BOT_USER_ID=123456789
DISCORD_SECRET=...
ENCRYPTION_KEY=...
DB_PROVIDER=postgresql
DB_CONNECTION_URL=postgresql://ticketo:password@postgres:5432/ticketo
HTTP_HOST=0.0.0.0
HTTP_PORT=8169
HTTP_EXTERNAL=https://tickets.example.com
REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379

Portal Service

ORIGIN=https://tickets.example.com
API_URL=http://api:8169

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Generating an Encryption Key

Run the keygen script to generate a secure encryption key:

npm run keygen
# or
node scripts/keygen.js

This outputs a random hex string of sufficient length. Copy it into your ENCRYPTION_KEY variable.

Warning: If you change or lose the encryption key after data has been encrypted, all encrypted data (transcripts, topics, usernames) becomes permanently unrecoverable.

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Validation

Environment variables are validated on startup in src/env.js. If a required variable is missing or invalid, the process exits with an error message.