Parchment Docs
Development

Environment

Environment variables and configuration for Parchment.

All configuration is done via environment variables. Copy .env.example to .env and fill in the values.

Database

VariableDescriptionDefault
POSTGRES_DBDatabase name
POSTGRES_USERDatabase user
POSTGRES_PASSWORDDatabase password

Server

VariableDescriptionDefault
SERVER_ORIGINPublic URL of the API serverhttp://localhost:5000
CLIENT_ORIGINPublic URL of the frontendhttp://localhost:5173

The CLIENT_ORIGIN variable controls which origins the API allows requests from. In production, set it to your exact frontend domain.

Email

Used for account verification and password resets. Parchment uses Gmail with an app password.

VariableDescription
GMAIL_EMAILGmail address to send from
GMAIL_APP_PASSWORDGmail app password
APP_TESTER_EMAILEmail used in automated tests

Documentation Site

VariableDescriptionDefault
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLIENT_ORIGINApp URL shown in the docs headerhttp://localhost:5173

Integrations

Third-party integrations can be enabled in the app under Settings → Integrations. Each may require its own API key at the instance level.

Observability

The server supports OpenTelemetry for tracing and log export:

VariableDescription
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINTOTLP endpoint for traces and logs
OTEL_SERVICE_NAMEService name in traces