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Environment Variables

All configuration is managed through the .env file at the root of your HELIX installation. This page documents every available variable.

Organization & Admin

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
ORG_NAMENo""Organization display name
ADMIN_EMAILYesFirst admin user's email
ADMIN_PASSWORDYesFirst admin user's password

AI Model Configuration

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
MODEL_PROVIDERYesAI provider: moonshot, openai, anthropic, nvidia, kimi-coding, custom
MODEL_NAMENoModel identifier (e.g., kimi-k2.5, gpt-4o)
MODEL_API_KEYYesYour AI provider API key
MODEL_BASE_URLNoAuto-detectedCustom API endpoint URL
MODEL_DISPLAY_NAMENoSame as MODEL_NAMEFriendly display name in the UI
MODEL_CONTEXT_WINDOWNo256000Maximum context tokens
MODEL_MAX_TOKENSNo8192Maximum output tokens per request

Provider Base URLs

If MODEL_BASE_URL is left blank, HELIX uses the default for each provider:

ProviderDefault Base URL
moonshothttps://api.moonshot.cn/v1
openaihttps://api.openai.com/v1
anthropichttps://api.anthropic.com/v1
nvidiaNVIDIA NIM endpoint
customMust be provided

Gateway (OpenClaw)

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
GATEWAY_PORTNo18789WebSocket port for the gateway
GATEWAY_TOKENAutoAuto-generatedAuthentication token for gateway communication
GATEWAY_URLNows://gateway:18789Internal Docker URL for the gateway

INFO

GATEWAY_TOKEN is auto-generated during installation. You should not need to change it unless reconfiguring the gateway manually.

Telegram Integration

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKENNoBot token from @BotFather
TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USER_IDSNoComma-separated Telegram user IDs allowed to interact with the bot

Domain & SSL

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
DOMAINNoYour domain or IP address
ENABLE_SSLNofalseEnable SSL/TLS via Caddy
SSL_EMAILNoEmail for Let's Encrypt certificate
SKIP_PROXYNofalseSkip Caddy reverse proxy setup

Database

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
POSTGRES_USERNohelixPostgreSQL username
POSTGRES_PASSWORDAutoAuto-generatedPostgreSQL password
POSTGRES_DBNohelix_mcDatabase name
DATABASE_URLAutoConstructedFull connection string (auto-built from above)

WARNING

POSTGRES_PASSWORD is auto-generated during installation. Changing it requires updating both the .env and the running PostgreSQL container.

Redis

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
REDIS_URLNoredis://redis:6379/0Redis connection URL

Authentication

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
AUTH_MODENolocalAuthentication mode
JWT_SECRETAutoAuto-generatedSecret key for JWT token signing
SERVICE_TOKENAutoAuto-generatedService-to-service authentication token

Frontend

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URLNoautoAPI URL for browser requests. auto = auto-detect from current domain. Set explicitly for custom setups.

TIP

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL is baked into the frontend at build time. If you change it, rebuild the frontend container: docker compose up -d --build frontend

CORS

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
CORS_ORIGINSNohttp://localhost:3000Comma-separated allowed origins

Licensing

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
LICENSE_SERVER_URLNohttps://api.helixnode.techLicense validation server
LICENSE_KEYNoYour HELIX license key (HLX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX)

Analytics (Optional)

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
GA4_PROPERTY_IDNoGoogle Analytics 4 property ID
GSC_SITE_URLNoGoogle Search Console site URL
GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALSNoPath to Google credentials JSON file

Advanced

VariableRequiredDefaultDescription
LOG_LEVELNoinfoLogging level: debug, info, warning, error
MAX_AGENTSNo50Maximum agents per organization
GENERATE_CONFIGNotrueAuto-generate OpenClaw configuration file

Example .env File

bash
# Organization
ORG_NAME=My Company
ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@mycompany.com
ADMIN_PASSWORD=secure-password-here

# AI Model
MODEL_PROVIDER=moonshot
MODEL_NAME=kimi-k2.5
MODEL_API_KEY=sk-your-api-key-here
MODEL_DISPLAY_NAME=Kimi K2.5

# Domain (optional)
DOMAIN=helix.mycompany.com
ENABLE_SSL=true
SSL_EMAIL=admin@mycompany.com

# Telegram (optional)
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=123456789:ABCdef...
TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USER_IDS=12345678

# License
LICENSE_KEY=HLX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

# Auto-generated (do not edit manually)
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=auto-generated-password
JWT_SECRET=auto-generated-secret
GATEWAY_TOKEN=auto-generated-token
SERVICE_TOKEN=auto-generated-token
DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://helix:password@db:5432/helix_mc

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