Environment Variables

All Selu configuration is done through environment variables, typically set in your .env file next to docker-compose.yml. This page lists every available variable.

Required variables

These must be set for Selu to start:

Variable	Description
SELU_SECRET_KEY	Master encryption key for credentials. Use a random string of at least 32 characters.
POSTGRES_PASSWORD	Password for the PostgreSQL database.

Danger

Keep SELU_SECRET_KEY safe. If you lose it, all encrypted credentials (API keys, tokens) will be permanently unrecoverable.

Server configuration

Variable	Description	Default
SELU_PORT	Port the Selu dashboard listens on	3000
SELU_HOST	Hostname or IP to bind to	0.0.0.0
SELU__EXTERNAL_URL	Public URL of your Selu instance (used for webhooks)	http://localhost:3000
SELU__BASE_PATH	URL path prefix for reverse-proxy deployments (e.g. /selu)	—
SELU_LOG_LEVEL	Logging verbosity: debug, info, warn, error	info

System updates

Configure the built-in system update functionality:

Variable	Description	Default
SELU_RELEASE_CHANNEL	Default release channel: stable, dev, nightly	stable
SELU__RELEASE_METADATA_URL	Update metadata endpoint URL	https://selu.bot/api/releases/selu
SELU__COMPOSE_FILE	Path to the Docker Compose file used for updates	./docker-compose.yml
SELU__COMPOSE_SERVICE	Docker Compose service name for the Selu container	selu
SELU__COMPOSE_ENV_FILE	Path to the environment file updated when the channel changes	./.env

Note

The system update functionality requires Docker Compose and write access to the environment file to persist settings.

Database

Variable	Description	Default
DATABASE_URL	Full PostgreSQL connection string (overrides individual vars)	—
POSTGRES_HOST	Database hostname	selu-db
POSTGRES_PORT	Database port	5432
POSTGRES_DB	Database name	selu
POSTGRES_USER	Database username	postgres
POSTGRES_PASSWORD	Database password	—

Channels

Variable	Description	Default
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN	Telegram bot token (alternative to setting it in the dashboard)	—
BLUEBUBBLES_URL	BlueBubbles server URL for iMessage	—
BLUEBUBBLES_PASSWORD	BlueBubbles server password	—

LLM providers

Variable	Description	Default
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Anthropic API key	—
OPENAI_API_KEY	OpenAI API key	—
XAI_API_KEY	xAI API key for Grok models	—
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID	AWS access key for Bedrock	—
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	AWS secret key for Bedrock	—
AWS_REGION	AWS region for Bedrock	us-east-1

Note

You can also add and manage all LLM providers directly from the Selu dashboard under Providers, without setting environment variables. Environment variables are an alternative for automated or headless setups.

Agents

Variable	Description	Default
SELU_AGENT_NETWORK	Docker network name for agent containers	selu-agents
SELU_AGENT_TIMEOUT	Default gRPC timeout for agent calls (seconds)	30
SELU_AGENT_MAX_MEMORY	Memory limit per agent container	512m

Sessions

Variable	Description	Default
SELU_SESSION_IDLE_TIMEOUT	Idle timeout before a session expires (minutes)	30
SELU_SESSION_MAX_HISTORY	Maximum messages kept in session context	100

Using a .env file

Place your .env file in the same directory as docker-compose.yml. Docker Compose picks it up automatically:

.env

SELU_SECRET_KEY=a1b2c3d4e5f6...
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=my-strong-password
SELU__EXTERNAL_URL=https://selu.example.com
SELU_RELEASE_CHANNEL=stable
SELU_LOG_LEVEL=info

You can also set variables directly in docker-compose.yml under the environment key, but the .env file is cleaner for most setups.

Variable naming

Selu uses double underscores (__) for nested configuration keys. For example:

• SELU__EXTERNAL_URL maps to the external_url field in configuration
• SELU__BASE_PATH maps to the base_path field

Single underscores separate words within the same configuration level.