Environment configuration overview

Scope

This domain documents f3router's runtime configuration surface: every variable the server reads from .env, how provider API keys are encrypted at rest, and how outbound traffic can be steered through proxies. The single source of truth is .env.example at the repository root; the references here are derived from it (and from the code paths it describes) and never invent values.

For getting an install running in the first place, see Install & deploy.

File index

File	Description
01-variables.md	Full variable reference grouped by concern (server/bind, security, rate limits, routing overrides, outbound proxies, body/media limits, misc), with defaults taken verbatim from `.env.example`.
02-security-and-keys.md	`ENCRYPTION_KEY` lifecycle: generation, dev auto-generated key file, AES-256-GCM at-rest encryption of stored provider keys, key-file-out-of-DB hardening, and data-directory permissions.
03-outbound-proxies.md	Outbound proxy configuration: scheme support, resolution-chain precedence (`PROXY_URL` through `HTTP_PROXY`), `NO_PROXY` bypasses, the Docker `host.docker.internal` gotcha, and the related inbound rate-limit knobs.

Conventions

Variables are loaded by server/src/env.ts via dotenv; FREEAPI_ENV_PATH selects an alternate .env location for embedders.
Commented lines in .env.example are optional; uncommented ones ship active defaults.
Where a variable can also be changed at runtime from the dashboard, the runtime settings key is noted and always takes precedence over the environment value.