Environment

Every variable with its default is listed on the generated environment variables reference. This page explains how the values travel and which groups matter for an operator.

How values reach each container

Container	Mechanism	Source
api (platform)	init.sh runs docker/envs/envs.php: each LARAVEL_<NAME> variable is written to .env as <NAME>=value; Laravel reads .env	api/docker/envs/envs.php
api (tenants)	ulams:tenant:create and ulams:tenant:sync-env write .env.<tenant API host>: a copy of the platform .env with the tenant’s values on top (database, bucket, keys, URLs, Redis prefix)	packages/tenancy/src/Support/TenantNaming.php
api (scripts)	Read directly by init.sh and the worker scripts: JWT_*_KEY_BASE64, DISABLE_*, MULTI_DOMAINS, QUEUE_IDLE_SLEEP, LONG_JOB_*	api/init.sh, api/queue.sh
h5p	Its own variables, plus each tenant’s database, bucket and token from the Laravel env files (ENV_DIR)	api/h5p/src/config.ts
pdf	Its own variables (PDF_*)	api/pdf/README.md
web	ULAMS_* variables read when the server starts	front/web/.env.example
admin, front	REACT_APP_* / VITE_APP_* variables injected into index.html on every page load by a small PHP script	admin/config/php/index.php

Values written to .env

envs.php writes values unquoted. A value with spaces must carry its own quotes, e.g. LARAVEL_MAIL_FROM_NAME: '"My Academy"', or the .env file will not parse. Values that contain $ must be escaped as $$ in Compose files.

Changing a LARAVEL_* value needs a restart of api (the file is rewritten on start); tenant env files pick up platform changes on the next ulams:tenant:sync-env, which also runs on start. Tenants inherit the platform AI settings (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, AI_DRIVER, AI_MODEL_*) this way, unless a tenant overrides them with ulams:tenant:set-env (see Tenants). The H5P service re-reads the env files every TENANT_RELOAD_CHECK_MS (2 s).

Categories

Category	Set where	Main variables
Application	api	APP_KEY, APP_URL, APP_ENV=production, APP_DEBUG=false
Platform keys	api	JWT_PRIVATE_KEY_BASE64, JWT_PUBLIC_KEY_BASE64
Database	api	DB_*; DB_ADMIN_* for the role that creates tenant databases
Redis protocol	api, h5p	REDIS_HOST, REDIS_PORT, REDIS_PASSWORD; prefixes are set per tenant
Object storage	api, h5p	FILESYSTEM_DRIVER=s3, AWS_*; TENANCY_S3_* for bucket creation; S3_* on h5p
Tenancy	api	TENANCY_* host patterns, TENANCY_PLATFORM_HOSTS, TENANCY_PLATFORM_API (off by default), TENANT_DEMO_PASSWORD
Content origin	api	CONTENT_ORIGIN (platform), TENANCY_CONTENT_HOST (tenants; {slug}.content.<app domain> for the same-site mode)
Cookies and origins	api, web	SESSION_COOKIE_PREFIX, TRUSTED_ORIGINS, ORIGIN_CHECK (api); ULAMS_COOKIE_SECURE, ULAMS_COOKIE_FALLBACK_PREFIX (web)
Services	api, h5p, pdf	H5P_SERVICE_URL, H5P_INTERNAL_TOKEN, PDF_SERVICE_URL, PDF_INTERNAL_TOKEN
E-mail	api	MAIL_*, MJML_API_URL
First admin	api	INITIAL_USER_EMAIL, INITIAL_USER_PASSWORD
Uploads	api	UPLOADS_* size and archive limits, UPLOADS_SCANNER
LTI	api	LTI_* (issuer defaults to APP_URL; full list in LTI)
Error tracking	api, admin	SENTRY_LARAVEL_DSN or SENTRY_DSN, SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT; REACT_APP_SENTRYDSN
Process control	api	DISABLE_PHP_FPM, DISABLE_HORIZON, DISABLE_QUEUE, DISABLE_SCHEDULER, DISABLE_DB_MIGRATE, DISABLE_DB_SEED, DISABLE_TENANT_SYNC
Content Security Policy	web, api, proxy	CSP_ENFORCE, ULAMS_CONTENT_ORIGIN, ULAMS_STORAGE_ORIGINS (web); CSP_REPORT_RETENTION_DAYS (api); ULAMS_CSP_HEADER (admin policy in the proxy). See Security headers
Front routing	web, admin	ULAMS_TENANT_HOSTS, ULAMS_PLATFORM_HOSTS, REACT_APP_TENANT_API_HOST_PATTERN
Platform landing	web	ULAMS_LANDING_STATUS (final or actual, see below)
Queues and workers	api (container)	BUILDER_QUEUE_RETRY_AFTER (api, default 2400); QUEUE_CONNECTION, WORKERS_CHECK_INTERVAL, WORKERS_MAX_TIME, COURSE_BUILDER_QUEUE(_CONNECTION), LONG_JOB_QUEUE_CONNECTION and LONG_JOB_QUEUE (worker script and config/queue.php; the old LONG_JOB_CONNECTION is still accepted). See Queues and the scheduler
Scheduler	api	TENANCY_SCHEDULER_LOCK (default true: one replica runs each minute, ADR 0068). See Queues and the scheduler
Demo mode	tenant env file	DEMO_MODE (default false), DEMO_ADMIN_EMAIL, DEMO_STUDENT_EMAIL, DEMO_TUTOR_EMAIL, DEMO_ADMIN_URL, DEMO_RESET_SCHEDULE (true), DEMO_RESET_CRON (0 * * * *), DEMO_RESET_WIPE_FILES (false), DEMO_RESET_STUDENTS (5), ULAMS_DEMO_EXPERIENCE. Set DEMO_MODE with ulams:tenant:create <slug> --demo=on, never on the platform. See Demo mode
cmi5	api	CMI5_DISK (follows SCORM_DISK), CMI5_SESSION_MINUTES (default 120). See cmi5 packages
Adapt sources	api	ADAPT_SOURCE_ENABLED (default false), ADAPT_BUILDER_URL (http://adapt-builder:8080), ADAPT_BUILDER_TOKEN, ADAPT_BUILDER_TIMEOUT (300), ADAPT_MAX_SOURCE_KB (4096). See Adapt

Do not set tenant-only values on the platform: TENANT_SLUG, REDIS_PREFIX, CACHE_PREFIX, HORIZON_PREFIX, FRONTEND_URL, ADMIN_URL and DEMO_MODE are written into each tenant’s file.

Platform env, tenant env and overrides

A tenant’s .env.<host> file is generated, never edited by hand. Its values come from three layers, lowest first:

1. The platform environment (LARAVEL_* written to the platform .env, or plain variables). ulams:tenant:create and ulams:tenant:sync-env start every tenant file from a copy of the platform .env.

2. Inherited settings. For the keys listed in ulams_tenancy.inherited_env, the platform’s non-empty value is written into every tenant file: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (the legacy spelling ANTROPHIC_API_KEY is accepted), ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL, AI_DRIVER, AI_MODEL_DEFAULT, AI_MODEL_LIGHT, AI_MODEL_PREMIUM and their _LABEL variants. A changed platform value reaches the tenants on the next ulams:tenant:sync-env, which also runs when the api container starts.

3. Per-tenant overrides, which win over layer 2 and over the platform. They are stored encrypted in the tenants table and written into the tenant file on every sync:

   php artisan ulams:tenant:set-env coffee --set=AI_DRIVER=disabled --set=AI_MODEL_DEFAULT=<model>
   php artisan ulams:tenant:set-env coffee --unset=AI_DRIVER   # inherit the platform value again

   Only the inheritable keys are accepted; any other key is refused, so the command cannot change a database, bucket or key setting. It prints key names, never values. Run it on the platform, without --domain. The same is available through the platform API and ulams tenants set-env. See Tenants and ADR 0063.

The tenant’s own values (database, bucket, keys, URLs, Redis prefix, DEMO_MODE, CONTENT_ORIGIN) come from the tenants table and replace the platform’s.

The platform landing switch

ULAMS_LANDING_STATUS is read by the web container when it starts. It only changes what the platform landing (the product page on the platform host, not a tenant’s site) shows for roadmap items:

Value	Effect
final (default; any other or empty value counts as final)	Every roadmap item reads as delivered: no Coming or Preview badges, no roadmap captions, and ulams’s own Coming and Partial cells in the comparison table read Yes
actual	The honest status kept in the data files; competitor cells never change

Caution

The default is final, and the production example does not set the variable. Before a public launch set ULAMS_LANDING_STATUS=actual on the web service, or confirm that everything the landing shows has shipped. Set it in the environment: of the web container in Compose, or in front/web/.env for a local run. See Reference frontend.

Repository documents

The API keeps the long-form notes; this site does not repeat them:

• api/docs/enviromental-variables.md: LARAVEL_ prefix, legacy MULTI_DOMAINS, tenancy, uploads, LTI, Adapt.
• api/docs/init-script.md: the start-up script.
• api/h5p/README.md: every H5P service variable.

Environment variables referenceThe generated list of every variable with its default.