Environment Variables

This page lists runtime variables used by the current Flask app, local services, mailer, and lambda-resize code. The Makefile supplies the local defaults for normal development and testing.

Required

DYNAMODB_TABLE_PREFIX

Prefix added to every DynamoDB table name. Local defaults use demo-.

PLANTTRACER_S3_BUCKET

Existing S3 bucket name. Do not include s3://. For local MinIO the Makefile uses planttracer-local.

AWS And Local Service Selection

The Makefile has two storage modes. With AWS_REGION unset or set to local, Makefile targets use DynamoDB Local and MinIO. With AWS_REGION set to a real AWS region, remote debug targets use AWS DynamoDB and S3 and unset local endpoint overrides.

AWS_REGION

AWS region. Use local for DynamoDB Local and MinIO.

AWS_DEFAULT_REGION

Optional AWS SDK default region. Local Make targets set this to local.

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID / AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

AWS credentials. Local MinIO uses minioadmin / minioadmin.

AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_DYNAMODB

DynamoDB endpoint override. Local default: http://localhost:8000/. Do not set this for remote AWS mode.

AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3

S3 endpoint override. Local default: http://localhost:9000/. Do not set this for remote AWS mode.

AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_SQS

Optional SQS endpoint override for lambda-resize if testing against an SQS emulator.

AWS_PROFILE

Optional AWS profile for deployed or administrative commands.

Application URLs

PLANTTRACER_API_BASE

Optional Flask API base injected into browser pages as API_BASE. Empty means same-origin. If set, include a complete origin/base path; the runtime normalizes a missing trailing slash.

PLANTTRACER_STATIC_BASE

Reserved for a future versioned-asset plan. Static assets are currently served same-origin by Flask/lambda-web under /static/*.

PLANTTRACER_LAMBDA_API_BASE

Explicit lambda-resize HTTP API base injected as LAMBDA_API_BASE. Local debug targets set this to http://127.0.0.1:9811/ when the local lambda debug bridge is running. Set it to an explicit empty value to run Flask-only browser tests without probing a resize service. The Lambda-only stack sets this to the same public application origin.

HOSTNAME / DOMAIN

If PLANTTRACER_LAMBDA_API_BASE is absent, Flask derives https://{HOSTNAME}.{DOMAIN}/. If those are also absent, Flask uses the current request origin.

Lambda Stack Diagnostics

PLANTTRACER_STACK_NAME

CloudFormation stack name for a deployed Lambda-only stack. The SAM template passes this to both Lambda functions. It is also the storage deployment identifier in uploads/{stack}/ and movies/{stack}/ keys and the exact prefix matched by that stack’s upload EventBridge rule. Local mode defaults to local.

PLANTTRACER_BASE_DOMAIN

Base domain used to create the stack hostname, such as planttracer.com. The SAM template passes this to both Lambda functions for deployed-stack diagnostics.

PLANTTRACER_HOSTED_ZONE_ID

Route53 hosted zone id used by the stack domain mapping. The SAM template passes this to both Lambda functions for deployed-stack diagnostics.

/ver and /api/ver report the configured DYNAMODB_TABLE_PREFIX; /api/ver and /resize-api/v1/ping also report stack_name. The /resize-api/v1/ping endpoint also reports a stack_parameters object with selected CloudFormation parameter values: HostedZoneId, BaseDomain, ImageBucketName, LogLevel, MailerDryRun, and DynamoDBTablePrefix. It intentionally does not report WildcardCertificateArn.

Demo Mode

DEMO_MODE

Enables demo mode when present.

DEMO_COURSE_ID

Identifies the course containing demo data. This does not enable demo mode by itself.

Mail

SERVER_EMAIL

Server sender address for outgoing mail. Defaults to admin@planttracer.com. In the Lambda-only stack this is set by the stack and the Lambda role is scoped to that SES sender. The exact address must be verified in AWS SES in the deployment region. This is not the course administrator email; see Identity Management.

SERVER_EMAIL_NAME

Display name used with SERVER_EMAIL in the MIME From header. Defaults to Plant Tracer. The Lambda-only stack sets this value and passes it to lambda-web.

PLANTTRACER_CREDENTIALS

Path to an INI file with [smtp] and optional [imap] sections. Used for local or legacy VM-style SMTP configuration, not by the Lambda-only SAM stack.

SMTPCONFIG_JSON

JSON SMTP configuration. Local Make targets set this for Mailpit.

SMTPCONFIG_ARN

AWS Secrets Manager ARN containing SMTP configuration. The mailer supports this explicit override, but the Lambda-only SAM stack does not set it and does not grant Secrets Manager access by default. Lambda production mail uses SES IAM permissions instead of committed or environment-injected SMTP secrets.

MAILER_DRY_RUN

Set to true to log email content instead of sending it. The Lambda-only stack exposes this as the MailerDryRun SAM parameter for non-production stacks whose operators cannot send SES mail as SERVER_EMAIL. Dry-run mail includes login links and API keys in Lambda logs, so use it only with test users and test data.

Lambda Queue

TRACING_QUEUE_MODE

Set to local to use the in-process local retrace queue.

TRACING_QUEUE_URL

SQS queue URL used by deployed lambda-resize tracing.

Development And Diagnostics

LOG_LEVEL

Logging level. Local Make targets default to INFO; set LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG for an explicitly requested diagnostic run.

FFMPEG_PATH

Optional path used by legacy/local tooling.

COLLECT_JS_COVERAGE

When true, Flask serves instrumented static files from static-instrumented if present.

DISABLE_PROXYFIX

When true, disables Flask ProxyFix handling for forwarded headers.

AWS_EC2_METADATA_DISABLED

Local Make targets set this to true to avoid AWS metadata lookups.

Local Makefile Defaults

The primary local environment is defined by LOCAL_AWS_ENV and LOCAL_FLASK_ENV in the root Makefile. Prefer these targets over hand-built commands:

make start-local-services
make make-local-demo
make run-local-debug
make run-local-demo-debug
make run-local-lambda-debug

To configure the current shell for direct local-debug commands, evaluate the shell assignments emitted by show-local-vars:

eval "$(make show-local-vars)"

This selects DynamoDB Local, MinIO, Mailpit, the demo- table prefix, and the local resize-lambda debug endpoint. It unsets AWS profile and demo-mode variables.