Configuring an environment

Most app configuration is controlled via environment variables.

Where to configure values

• For local development, values are set in docker-compose.yml and .env.
• For deployed environments, values are managed in ds-infrastructure-web.

For the full, maintained variable table and defaults, see README.md.

How settings modules are selected

• The Docker image defaults DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE to config.settings.production.
• Local docker-compose.yml overrides this to config.settings.develop.

The settings modules are in config/settings/ and develop/staging inherit from production.

Minimum required variables

At minimum, each environment should provide:

• SECRET_KEY (required and non-empty)
• DATABASE_HOST, DATABASE_NAME, DATABASE_USER, DATABASE_PASSWORD (and optional DATABASE_PORT)
• ROSETTA_API_URL

You will also usually set:

• ENVIRONMENT_NAME
• ALLOWED_HOSTS
• WAGTAILADMIN_BASE_URL, WAGTAILAPI_BASE_URL, WAGTAILAPI_MEDIA_BASE_URL
• CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS

Operational recommendations

• Use unique SECRET_KEY values per environment.
• Keep secrets out of source control.
• Review cache settings (REDIS_URL, CACHE_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT) when enabling Redis.
• Review telemetry settings (SENTRY_DSN, SENTRY_SAMPLE_RATE) per environment.