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Environment variables

Environment variables

Quick reference for every .env variable the Aetheris platform reads.

Web app (Next.js)

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
DATABASE_URL✅—PostgreSQL connection string
REDIS_URL✅—Redis connection string
AETHERIS_SECRET✅—HMAC token signing secret (≥ 32 chars)
NEXTAUTH_URL✅—Public URL of the web app (e.g. https://app.example.com)
NEXTAUTH_SECRET✅—NextAuth session encryption key
AETHERIS_APP_URL—NEXTAUTH_URLOverride URL for internal redirects
AETHERIS_BACKEND_URL—http://127.0.0.1:8000Python backend URL
AETHERIS_REDIS_URL—falls back to REDIS_URLSeparate Redis for BullMQ queues
NODE_ENV—productionproduction or development

Python backend (FastAPI)

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
AETHERIS_BACKEND_DB—backend/aetheris.dbSQLite database path
AETHERIS_SECRET✅—HMAC token signing secret
AETHERIS_TOKEN_TTL—86400Token lifetime in seconds
AETHERIS_CORS_ORIGINS—*Comma-separated CORS origins
ADMIN_EMAIL—admin@example.comSeeded superadmin email
ADMIN_PASSWORD—admin-aetheris-2026Seeded superadmin password

Hypervisor drivers

VariableDescription
PTERODACTYL_APP_API_KEYPterodactyl Application API key (read/write)
PTERODACTYL_CLIENT_API_KEYPterodactyl Client API key (power, console, telemetry)
PTERODACTYL_PANEL_URLPterodactyl Panel base URL
PROXMOX_API_TOKENProxmox VE API v2 token (user@realm!token)
PROXMOX_API_SECRETProxmox VE API token secret
PROXMOX_URLProxmox VE API base URL
VIRTFUSION_API_KEYVirtFusion bearer token
VIRTFUSION_URLVirtFusion API base URL

Payment gateways

VariableDescription
STRIPE_SECRET_KEYStripe secret API key
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRETStripe webhook signing secret
PAYPAL_CLIENT_IDPayPal REST API client ID
PAYPAL_CLIENT_SECRETPayPal REST API secret
MOLLIE_API_KEYMollie API key

See also: Backend, Architecture, Pterodactyl bridge.

System requirementsLinux setup