Environment Variables

Tina4 Python is configured through environment variables, read from .env at the project root. Every variable has a sensible default — most projects set three or four values and leave the rest alone.

This chapter lists every variable the Python framework reads, grouped by subsystem. Start with the minimum-config examples at the end, then come back here when you need to tune something specific.

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Core Server

Variable	Default	Description
HOST	0.0.0.0	Bind address. 0.0.0.0 listens on every interface. 127.0.0.1 restricts to localhost.
PORT	7145	HTTP server port. The Rust CLI prefers TINA4_PORT but falls back to PORT.
TINA4_PORT	(inherits PORT)	Explicit Tina4-specific port override. Takes precedence over PORT when both are set.
HOST_NAME	localhost:7145	Fully-qualified host used in generated absolute URLs (Swagger, OAuth redirects, emails).
TINA4_DEBUG	false	Master debug toggle. Enables Swagger UI, dev dashboard, live reload, template dump filter, error overlay. Never set to true in production.
TINA4_ENV	development	Runtime environment label. Values like development, staging, production control dev-only features.
TINA4_NO_BROWSER	false	Stops tina4 serve from opening your browser on every restart. Recommended during active development.
TINA4_OPEN_BROWSER	true	Alternative flag — set to false to prevent the browser opening on start.
TINA4_NO_RELOAD	false	Disables the dev hot-reload signal from the Rust CLI. Use when you want a stable server for debugging.
TINA4_DEV_POLL_INTERVAL	1.0	Seconds between dev-mode mtime polls. Lower for faster reload, higher to reduce CPU.
TINA4_PUBLIC_DIR	src/public	Directory served as static files under /.

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Secrets and Authentication

Variable	Default	Description
SECRET	tina4-default-secret	JWT signing secret. Must be long, random, and unique per environment. Never commit.
TINA4_TOKEN_LIMIT	60	JWT token lifetime in minutes.
TINA4_TOKEN_EXPIRES_IN	(inherits TOKEN_LIMIT)	Alias for TINA4_TOKEN_LIMIT.
TINA4_API_KEY	(empty)	Static API key used by Auth.validate_api_key() as a fallback to JWT.
API_KEY	(empty)	Legacy alias for TINA4_API_KEY.

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Database

Variable	Default	Description
DATABASE_URL	sqlite:///data/app.db	Connection URL. Scheme selects the driver: sqlite, postgres, mysql, firebird.
DATABASE_USERNAME	(empty)	Overrides the username embedded in DATABASE_URL.
DATABASE_PASSWORD	(empty)	Overrides the password embedded in DATABASE_URL.
TINA4_DB_CACHE	false	Enables in-memory query-result caching for read queries.
TINA4_DB_CACHE_TTL	60	Query cache TTL in seconds when TINA4_DB_CACHE=true.
ORM_PLURAL_TABLE_NAMES	true	When true, the ORM pluralises class names into table names (User → users). Set false to keep them singular.

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CORS

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_CORS_ORIGINS	*	Comma-separated allowed origins. Lock down to real domains in production.
TINA4_CORS_MAX_AGE	600	Preflight cache lifetime in seconds.

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Security Headers

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_CSP	default-src 'self'	Content-Security-Policy header.
TINA4_CSRF	true	CSRF token validation on POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE.
TINA4_HSTS	(empty/off)	Strict-Transport-Security max-age in seconds. Set 31536000 in production with HTTPS.
TINA4_FRAME_OPTIONS	DENY	X-Frame-Options header.
TINA4_REFERRER_POLICY	strict-origin-when-cross-origin	Referrer-Policy header.

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Rate Limiting

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_RATE_LIMIT	100	Maximum requests per window per IP. Set 0 to disable.
TINA4_RATE_WINDOW	60	Rate-limit window in seconds.

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Sessions

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_SESSION_BACKEND	file	Storage backend. Options: file, redis, valkey, mongo, database.
TINA4_SESSION_TTL	1800	Session expiry in seconds (30 minutes).
TINA4_SESSION_SAMESITE	Lax	SameSite cookie attribute. Options: Strict, Lax, None.
TINA4_SESSION_PATH	data/sessions	Filesystem path for the file backend.
TINA4_SESSION	PY_SESS	Name of the session cookie.

Redis/Valkey session backend

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_SESSION_REDIS_HOST	localhost	Redis host.
TINA4_SESSION_REDIS_PORT	6379	Redis port.
TINA4_SESSION_REDIS_PASSWORD	(none)	Redis auth password.
TINA4_SESSION_REDIS_DB	0	Redis database number.
TINA4_SESSION_VALKEY_HOST	localhost	Valkey host.
TINA4_SESSION_VALKEY_PORT	6379	Valkey port.
TINA4_SESSION_VALKEY_PASSWORD	(none)	Valkey auth password.
TINA4_SESSION_VALKEY_DB	0	Valkey database number.

MongoDB session backend

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_SESSION_MONGO_URL	mongodb://localhost:27017	MongoDB connection string.
TINA4_SESSION_MONGO_DB	tina4	MongoDB database name.
TINA4_SESSION_MONGO_COLLECTION	sessions	MongoDB collection name.

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Cache

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_CACHE_BACKEND	memory	Response cache backend. Options: memory, file, redis.
TINA4_CACHE_DIR	data/cache	Cache directory for the file backend.
TINA4_CACHE_TTL	60	Default cache TTL in seconds.
TINA4_CACHE_MAX_ENTRIES	1000	Maximum cache entries. Oldest entries evicted first.
TINA4_CACHE_URL	redis://localhost:6379	Connection URL for remote cache backends.

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Queues

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_QUEUE_BACKEND	lite	Queue backend. Options: lite (file-based), kafka, rabbitmq, mongo, database.
TINA4_QUEUE_PATH	data/queue	Filesystem path for the lite backend.
TINA4_QUEUE_URL	(none)	Connection URL for remote backends.

Kafka queue backend

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_KAFKA_BROKERS	localhost:9092	Comma-separated broker list.
TINA4_KAFKA_GROUP_ID	tina4_consumer_group	Kafka consumer group ID.

RabbitMQ queue backend

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_RABBITMQ_HOST	localhost	RabbitMQ host.
TINA4_RABBITMQ_PORT	5672	RabbitMQ port.
TINA4_RABBITMQ_USERNAME	guest	RabbitMQ username.
TINA4_RABBITMQ_PASSWORD	guest	RabbitMQ password.
TINA4_RABBITMQ_VHOST	/	RabbitMQ virtual host.

MongoDB queue backend

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_MONGO_URI	(none)	Full MongoDB connection string. Overrides host/port when set.
TINA4_MONGO_HOST	localhost	MongoDB host.
TINA4_MONGO_PORT	27017	MongoDB port.
TINA4_MONGO_USERNAME	(none)	MongoDB username.
TINA4_MONGO_PASSWORD	(none)	MongoDB password.
TINA4_MONGO_DB	tina4	MongoDB database name.
TINA4_MONGO_COLLECTION	tina4_queue	MongoDB collection name for jobs.

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WebSocket

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_WS_BACKPLANE	(none)	Backplane type. Set redis for multi-instance broadcasts.
TINA4_WS_MAX_CONNECTIONS	1000	Maximum concurrent WebSocket connections.
TINA4_WS_MAX_FRAME_SIZE	65536	Maximum WebSocket frame size in bytes.

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Email

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_MAIL_HOST	(none)	SMTP server hostname.
TINA4_MAIL_PORT	587	SMTP server port.
TINA4_MAIL_USERNAME	(none)	SMTP authentication username.
TINA4_MAIL_PASSWORD	(none)	SMTP authentication password.
TINA4_MAIL_FROM	(none)	Default sender email address.
TINA4_MAIL_FROM_NAME	(none)	Default sender display name.
TINA4_MAIL_ENCRYPTION	tls	Connection encryption. Options: tls, ssl, none.
TINA4_MAIL_IMAP_HOST	(none)	IMAP server for inbound mail.
TINA4_MAIL_IMAP_PORT	993	IMAP server port.
TINA4_MAILBOX_DIR	data/mailbox	Dev mailbox directory. All outbound mail lands here when TINA4_DEBUG=true.

SMTP_HOST, SMTP_PORT, SMTP_USERNAME, SMTP_PASSWORD, SMTP_FROM, SMTP_FROM_NAME, IMAP_HOST, IMAP_PORT are accepted as legacy aliases. New projects should use the TINA4_MAIL_* names.

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Logging

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_LOG_LEVEL	ERROR	Minimum log level written to files. Options: ALL, DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR.
TINA4_LOG_MAX_SIZE	10485760	Per-file log size limit in bytes (10 MB). Rotated when exceeded.
TINA4_LOG_KEEP	5	Number of rotated log files to retain.

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Uploads

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_MAX_UPLOAD_SIZE	10485760	Maximum multipart upload size in bytes (10 MB).

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Localisation

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_LOCALE	en	Default locale for the I18n module.
TINA4_LOCALE_DIR	src/locale	Directory containing locale JSON files.

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Services (background tasks)

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_SERVICE_DIR	src/services	Directory scanned for service classes.

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AI and MCP Tooling

Variable	Default	Description
TINA4_NO_AI_PORT	false	Disables the MCP port listener in dev mode.
TINA4_OVERRIDE_CLIENT	(none)	Forces a specific AI client ID in /__dev/api/ai. Used for testing.
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	(none)	Anthropic API key for built-in AI integrations.
OPENAI_API_KEY	(none)	OpenAI API key for built-in AI integrations.

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Swagger / OpenAPI

Variable	Default	Description
SWAGGER_TITLE	Tina4 API	OpenAPI spec title.
SWAGGER_DESCRIPTION	(empty)	OpenAPI spec description.
SWAGGER_VERSION	1.0.0	OpenAPI spec version.

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Minimal .env for Development

TINA4_DEBUG=true
TINA4_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
TINA4_NO_BROWSER=true

Debug mode lights up the Swagger UI, the dev dashboard, detailed error pages, and live reload. Keeping the browser flag on stops a new tab opening every time you save a file.

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Minimal .env for Production

SECRET=your-long-random-secret-here
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@db-host:5432/myapp
TINA4_CORS_ORIGINS=https://myapp.com,https://www.myapp.com
TINA4_HSTS=31536000
TINA4_MAIL_HOST=smtp.example.com
TINA4_MAIL_PORT=587
TINA4_MAIL_USERNAME=noreply@myapp.com
TINA4_MAIL_PASSWORD=your-smtp-password
TINA4_MAIL_FROM=noreply@myapp.com

No TINA4_DEBUG. It defaults to false, which is what you want in production. Set a real secret, a real database, locked-down CORS origins, HSTS, and SMTP credentials if you send email. Everything else has a production-appropriate default.