honcho/docs/v2/contributing/configuration.mdx

---
title: "Configuration Guide"
description: "Complete guide to configuring Honcho for development and production"
icon: "gear"
---

Honcho uses a flexible configuration system that supports both TOML files and environment variables. Configuration values are loaded in the following priority order (highest to lowest):

1. Environment variables (always take precedence)
2. `.env` file (for local development)
3. `config.toml` file (base configuration)
4. Default values

## Recommended Configuration Approaches

### Option 1: Environment Variables Only (Production)
- Use environment variables for all configuration
- No config files needed
- Ideal for containerized deployments (Docker, Kubernetes)
- Secrets managed by your deployment platform

### Option 2: config.toml (Development/Simple Deployments)
- Use config.toml for base configuration
- Override sensitive values with environment variables
- Good for development and simple deployments

### Option 3: Hybrid Approach
- Use config.toml for non-sensitive base settings
- Use .env file for sensitive values (API keys, secrets)
- Good for development teams

### Option 4: .env Only (Local Development)
- Use .env file for all configuration
- Simple for local development
- Never commit .env files to version control

## Configuration Methods

### Using config.toml

Copy the example configuration file to get started:

```bash
cp config.toml.example config.toml
```

Then modify the values as needed. The TOML file is organized into sections:

- `[app]` - Application-level settings (log level, session limits, embedding settings, Langfuse integration, local metrics collection)
- `[db]` - Database connection and pool settings (connection URI, pool size, timeouts, connection recycling)
- `[auth]` - Authentication configuration (enable/disable auth, JWT secret)
- `[cache]` - Redis cache configuration (enable/disable caching, Redis URL, TTL settings, lock configuration for cache stampede prevention)
- `[llm]` - LLM provider API keys (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Groq, OpenAI-compatible endpoints) and general LLM settings
- `[dialectic]` - Dialectic API configuration (provider, model, query generation settings, semantic search parameters, context window size)
- `[deriver]` - Background worker settings (worker count, polling intervals, queue management) and theory of mind configuration (model, tokens, observation limits)
- `[peer_card]` - Peer card generation settings (provider, model, token limits)
- `[summary]` - Session summarization settings (frequency thresholds, provider, model, token limits for short and long summaries)
- `[dream]` - Dream processing configuration (enable/disable, thresholds, idle timeouts, dream types, LLM settings)
- `[webhook]` - Webhook configuration (webhook secret, workspace limits)
- `[metrics]` - Metrics collection settings (enable/disable metrics, namespace)
- `[sentry]` - Error tracking and monitoring settings (enable/disable, DSN, environment, sample rates)

### Using Environment Variables

All configuration values can be overridden using environment variables. The environment variable names follow this pattern:

- `{SECTION}_{KEY}` for nested settings
- Just `{KEY}` for app-level settings

Examples:

- `DB_CONNECTION_URI` → `[db].CONNECTION_URI`
- `DB_POOL_SIZE`      → `[db].POOL_SIZE`
- `AUTH_JWT_SECRET`   → `[auth].JWT_SECRET`
- `DIALECTIC_MODEL` → `[dialectic].MODEL`
- `LOG_LEVEL` (no section) → `[app].LOG_LEVEL`

### Configuration Priority

When a configuration value is set in multiple places, Honcho uses this priority:

1. **Environment variables** - Always take precedence
2. **.env file** - Loaded for local development
3. **config.toml** - Base configuration
4. **Default values** - Built-in defaults

This allows you to:

- Use `config.toml` for base configuration
- Override specific values with environment variables in production
- Use `.env` files for local development without modifying config.toml

### Example

If you have this in `config.toml`:

```toml
[db]
CONNECTION_URI = "postgresql+psycopg://localhost/honcho_dev"
POOL_SIZE = 10
```

You can override just the connection URI in production:

```bash
export DB_CONNECTION_URI="postgresql+psycopg://prod-server/honcho_prod"
```

The application will use the production connection URI while keeping the pool size from config.toml.

## Core Configuration

### Application Settings

Application-level settings control core behavior of the Honcho server including logging, session limits, message handling, and optional integrations.

**Basic Application Configuration:**
```bash
# Logging and server settings
LOG_LEVEL=INFO  # DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL

# Session and context limits
SESSION_OBSERVERS_LIMIT=10  # Maximum number of observers per session
GET_CONTEXT_MAX_TOKENS=100000  # Maximum tokens for context retrieval
MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE=25000  # Maximum message size in characters

# Embedding settings
EMBED_MESSAGES=true  # Enable vector embeddings for messages
MAX_EMBEDDING_TOKENS=8192  # Maximum tokens per embedding
MAX_EMBEDDING_TOKENS_PER_REQUEST=300000  # Batch embedding limit
```

**Optional Integrations:**
```bash
# Langfuse integration for LLM observability
LANGFUSE_HOST=https://cloud.langfuse.com
LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY=your-langfuse-public-key

# Local metrics collection
COLLECT_METRICS_LOCAL=false
LOCAL_METRICS_FILE=metrics.jsonl
```

### Database Configuration

**Required Database Settings:**
```bash
# PostgreSQL connection string (required)
DB_CONNECTION_URI=postgresql+psycopg://username:password@host:port/database

# Example for local development
DB_CONNECTION_URI=postgresql+psycopg://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/postgres

# Example for production
DB_CONNECTION_URI=postgresql+psycopg://honcho_user:secure_password@db.example.com:5432/honcho_prod
```

**Database Pool Settings:**
```bash
# Connection pool configuration
DB_SCHEMA=public
DB_POOL_SIZE=10
DB_MAX_OVERFLOW=20
DB_POOL_TIMEOUT=5
DB_POOL_RECYCLE=300
DB_POOL_PRE_PING=true
DB_SQL_DEBUG=false
DB_TRACING=false
```

**Docker Compose for PostgreSQL:**
```yaml
# docker-compose.yml
version: '3.8'
services:
  database:
    image: pgvector/pgvector:pg15
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
      POSTGRES_DB: honcho
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
      - ./init.sql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/init.sql

volumes:
  postgres_data:
```

### Authentication Configuration

**JWT Authentication:**
```bash
# Enable/disable authentication
AUTH_USE_AUTH=false  # Set to true for production

# JWT settings (required if AUTH_USE_AUTH is true)
AUTH_JWT_SECRET=your-super-secret-jwt-key
```

**Generate JWT Secret:**
```bash
# Generate a secure JWT secret
python scripts/generate_jwt_secret.py
```

### Cache Configuration

Honcho supports Redis caching to improve performance by caching frequently accessed data like peers, sessions, and working representations. Caching also includes lock mechanisms to prevent cache stampede scenarios.

**Redis Cache Settings:**
```bash
# Enable/disable Redis caching
CACHE_ENABLED=false  # Set to true to enable caching

# Redis connection
CACHE_URL=redis://localhost:6379/0?suppress=true

# Cache namespace and TTL
CACHE_NAMESPACE=honcho  # Prefix for all cache keys
CACHE_DEFAULT_TTL_SECONDS=300  # How long items stay in cache (5 minutes)

# Lock settings for preventing cache stampede
CACHE_DEFAULT_LOCK_TTL_SECONDS=5  # Lock duration when fetching from DB on cache miss
```

**When to Enable Caching:**
- High-traffic production environments
- Applications with many repeated reads of the same data
- When you need to reduce database load

**Note:** Caching requires a Redis instance. You can run Redis locally with Docker:
```bash
docker run -d -p 6379:6379 redis:latest
```

## LLM Provider Configuration

Honcho supports multiple LLM providers for different tasks. API keys are configured in the `[llm]` section, while specific features use their own configuration sections.

### API Keys

All provider API keys use the `LLM_` prefix:

```bash
# Provider API Keys
LLM_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-anthropic-api-key
LLM_OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-api-key
LLM_GEMINI_API_KEY=your-gemini-api-key
LLM_GROQ_API_KEY=your-groq-api-key

# OpenAI-compatible endpoints
LLM_OPENAI_COMPATIBLE_API_KEY=your-api-key
LLM_OPENAI_COMPATIBLE_BASE_URL=https://your-openai-compatible-endpoint.com
```

### General LLM Settings

```bash
# Default settings for all LLM calls
LLM_DEFAULT_MAX_TOKENS=2500

# Embedding provider (used when EMBED_MESSAGES=true)
LLM_EMBEDDING_PROVIDER=openai  # Options: openai, gemini
```

### Feature-Specific Model Configuration

Different features can use different providers and models:

**Dialectic API:**

The Dialectic API provides theory-of-mind informed responses by integrating long-term facts with current context.

```bash
# Main dialectic model (default: Anthropic)
DIALECTIC_PROVIDER=anthropic
DIALECTIC_MODEL=claude-sonnet-4-20250514
DIALECTIC_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS=2500
DIALECTIC_THINKING_BUDGET_TOKENS=1024  # Only used with Anthropic provider
DIALECTIC_CONTEXT_WINDOW_SIZE=100000  # Maximum context window tokens

# Query generation for dialectic searches
DIALECTIC_PERFORM_QUERY_GENERATION=false  # Enable query generation for semantic search
DIALECTIC_QUERY_GENERATION_PROVIDER=groq
DIALECTIC_QUERY_GENERATION_MODEL=llama-3.1-8b-instant

# Semantic search settings
DIALECTIC_SEMANTIC_SEARCH_TOP_K=10  # Number of results to retrieve
DIALECTIC_SEMANTIC_SEARCH_MAX_DISTANCE=0.85  # Maximum distance for relevance
```

**Deriver (Theory of Mind):**

The Deriver is a background processing system that extracts facts from messages and builds theory-of-mind representations of peers.

```bash
# LLM settings for deriver
DERIVER_PROVIDER=google
DERIVER_MODEL=gemini-2.5-flash-lite
DERIVER_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS=10000
DERIVER_THINKING_BUDGET_TOKENS=1024  # Only used with Anthropic provider
DERIVER_MAX_INPUT_TOKENS=23000  # Maximum input tokens for deriver

# Worker settings
DERIVER_WORKERS=1  # Number of background worker processes
DERIVER_POLLING_SLEEP_INTERVAL_SECONDS=1.0  # Time between queue checks
DERIVER_STALE_SESSION_TIMEOUT_MINUTES=5  # Timeout for stale sessions

# Queue management
DERIVER_QUEUE_ERROR_RETENTION_SECONDS=2592000  # Keep errored items for 30 days

# Working representation settings
DERIVER_WORKING_REPRESENTATION_MAX_OBSERVATIONS=50  # Max observations stored
DERIVER_REPRESENTATION_BATCH_MAX_TOKENS=4096  # Max tokens per batch
```

**Peer Card:**

Peer cards are short, structured summaries of peer identity and characteristics.

```bash
# Enable/disable peer card generation
PEER_CARD_ENABLED=true

# LLM settings for peer card generation
PEER_CARD_PROVIDER=openai
PEER_CARD_MODEL=gpt-5-nano-2025-08-07
PEER_CARD_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS=4000  # Includes thinking tokens for GPT-5 models
```

**Summary Generation:**

Session summaries provide compressed context for long conversations. Honcho creates two types: short summaries (frequent) and long summaries (comprehensive).

```bash
# Enable/disable summarization
SUMMARY_ENABLED=true

# LLM settings for summary generation
SUMMARY_PROVIDER=openai
SUMMARY_MODEL=gpt-4o-mini-2024-07-18
SUMMARY_MAX_TOKENS_SHORT=1000  # Max tokens for short summaries
SUMMARY_MAX_TOKENS_LONG=4000  # Max tokens for long summaries
SUMMARY_THINKING_BUDGET_TOKENS=512  # Only used with Anthropic provider

# Summary frequency thresholds
SUMMARY_MESSAGES_PER_SHORT_SUMMARY=20  # Create short summary every N messages
SUMMARY_MESSAGES_PER_LONG_SUMMARY=60  # Create long summary every N messages
```

### Default Provider Usage

By default, Honcho uses:
- **Anthropic** (Claude) for dialectic API responses
- **Groq** for query generation (fast, cost-effective)
- **Google** (Gemini) for theory of mind derivation
- **OpenAI** (GPT) for peer cards and summarization
- **OpenAI** for embeddings (if `EMBED_MESSAGES=true`)

You only need to set the API keys for the providers you plan to use. All providers are configurable per feature.

## Additional Features Configuration

### Dream Processing

Dream processing consolidates and refines peer representations during idle periods, similar to how human memory consolidation works during sleep.

**Dream Settings:**
```bash
# Enable/disable dream processing
DREAM_ENABLED=true

# Trigger thresholds
DREAM_DOCUMENT_THRESHOLD=50  # Minimum documents to trigger a dream
DREAM_IDLE_TIMEOUT_MINUTES=60  # Minutes of inactivity before dream can start
DREAM_MIN_HOURS_BETWEEN_DREAMS=8  # Minimum hours between dreams for a peer

# Dream types to enable
DREAM_ENABLED_TYPES=["consolidate"]  # Currently supported: consolidate

# LLM settings for dream processing
DREAM_PROVIDER=openai
DREAM_MODEL=gpt-4o-mini-2024-07-18
DREAM_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS=2000
```

### Webhook Configuration

Webhooks allow you to receive real-time notifications when events occur in Honcho (e.g., new messages, session updates).

**Webhook Settings:**
```bash
# Webhook secret for signing payloads (optional but recommended)
WEBHOOK_SECRET=your-webhook-signing-secret

# Limit on webhooks per workspace
WEBHOOK_MAX_WORKSPACE_LIMIT=10
```

### Metrics Collection

Enable metrics collection for monitoring Honcho performance and usage.

**Metrics Settings:**
```bash
# Enable/disable metrics collection
METRICS_ENABLED=false

# Namespace for metrics (used in metric names)
METRICS_NAMESPACE=honcho
```

## Monitoring Configuration

### Sentry Error Tracking

**Sentry Settings:**
```bash
# Enable/disable Sentry error tracking
SENTRY_ENABLED=false

# Sentry configuration
SENTRY_DSN=https://your-sentry-dsn@sentry.io/project-id
SENTRY_RELEASE=2.4.0  # Optional: track which version errors come from
SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT=production  # Environment name (development, staging, production)

# Sampling rates (0.0 to 1.0)
SENTRY_TRACES_SAMPLE_RATE=0.1  # 10% of transactions tracked
SENTRY_PROFILES_SAMPLE_RATE=0.1  # 10% of transactions profiled
```

## Environment-Specific Examples

### Development Configuration

**config.toml for development:**
```toml
[app]
LOG_LEVEL = "DEBUG"
SESSION_OBSERVERS_LIMIT = 10
EMBED_MESSAGES = false

[db]
CONNECTION_URI = "postgresql+psycopg://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/honcho_dev"
POOL_SIZE = 5

[auth]
USE_AUTH = false

[cache]
ENABLED = false

[dialectic]
PROVIDER = "anthropic"
MODEL = "claude-sonnet-4-20250514"
PERFORM_QUERY_GENERATION = false
MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS = 2500

[deriver]
WORKERS = 1
PROVIDER = "google"
MODEL = "gemini-2.5-flash-lite"

[peer_card]
ENABLED = true
PROVIDER = "openai"
MODEL = "gpt-5-nano-2025-08-07"

[summary]
ENABLED = true
PROVIDER = "openai"
MODEL = "gpt-4o-mini-2024-07-18"
MAX_TOKENS_SHORT = 1000
MAX_TOKENS_LONG = 4000

[dream]
ENABLED = true

[webhook]
MAX_WORKSPACE_LIMIT = 10

[metrics]
ENABLED = false

[sentry]
ENABLED = false
```

**Environment variables for development:**
```bash
# .env.development
LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
DB_CONNECTION_URI=postgresql+psycopg://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/honcho_dev
AUTH_USE_AUTH=false
CACHE_ENABLED=false

# LLM Provider API Keys
LLM_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-dev-anthropic-key
LLM_OPENAI_API_KEY=your-dev-openai-key
LLM_GEMINI_API_KEY=your-dev-gemini-key
```

### Production Configuration

**config.toml for production:**
```toml
[app]
LOG_LEVEL = "WARNING"
SESSION_OBSERVERS_LIMIT = 10
EMBED_MESSAGES = true

[db]
CONNECTION_URI = "postgresql+psycopg://honcho_user:secure_password@prod-db:5432/honcho_prod"
POOL_SIZE = 20
MAX_OVERFLOW = 40

[auth]
USE_AUTH = true

[cache]
ENABLED = true
URL = "redis://redis:6379/0"
DEFAULT_TTL_SECONDS = 300

[dialectic]
PROVIDER = "anthropic"
MODEL = "claude-sonnet-4-20250514"
PERFORM_QUERY_GENERATION = false
MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS = 2500

[deriver]
WORKERS = 4
PROVIDER = "google"
MODEL = "gemini-2.5-flash-lite"

[peer_card]
ENABLED = true
PROVIDER = "openai"
MODEL = "gpt-5-nano-2025-08-07"

[summary]
ENABLED = true
PROVIDER = "openai"
MODEL = "gpt-4o-mini-2024-07-18"
MAX_TOKENS_SHORT = 1000
MAX_TOKENS_LONG = 4000

[dream]
ENABLED = true
PROVIDER = "openai"
MODEL = "gpt-4o-mini-2024-07-18"

[webhook]
MAX_WORKSPACE_LIMIT = 10

[metrics]
ENABLED = true

[sentry]
ENABLED = true
ENVIRONMENT = "production"
TRACES_SAMPLE_RATE = 0.1
PROFILES_SAMPLE_RATE = 0.1
```

**Environment variables for production:**
```bash
# .env.production
LOG_LEVEL=WARNING
DB_CONNECTION_URI=postgresql+psycopg://honcho_user:secure_password@prod-db:5432/honcho_prod

# Authentication
AUTH_USE_AUTH=true
AUTH_JWT_SECRET=your-super-secret-jwt-key

# Cache
CACHE_ENABLED=true
CACHE_URL=redis://redis:6379/0

# LLM Provider API Keys
LLM_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-prod-anthropic-key
LLM_OPENAI_API_KEY=your-prod-openai-key
LLM_GEMINI_API_KEY=your-prod-gemini-key
LLM_GROQ_API_KEY=your-prod-groq-key

# Webhooks
WEBHOOK_SECRET=your-webhook-signing-secret

# Monitoring
SENTRY_DSN=https://your-sentry-dsn@sentry.io/project-id
SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT=production
```

## Migration Management

**Running Database Migrations:**
```bash
# Check current migration status
uv run alembic current

# Upgrade to latest
uv run alembic upgrade head

# Downgrade to specific revision
uv run alembic downgrade revision_id

# Create new migration
uv run alembic revision --autogenerate -m "Description of changes"
```

## Troubleshooting

**Common Configuration Issues:**

1. **Database Connection Errors**
   - Ensure `DB_CONNECTION_URI` uses `postgresql+psycopg://` prefix
   - Verify database is running and accessible
   - Check pgvector extension is installed

2. **Authentication Issues**
   - Set `AUTH_USE_AUTH=true` for production
   - Generate and set `AUTH_JWT_SECRET` if authentication is enabled
   - Use `python scripts/generate_jwt_secret.py` to create a secure secret

3. **LLM Provider Issues**
   - Verify API keys are set correctly
   - Check model names match provider specifications
   - Ensure provider is enabled in configuration

4. **Deriver Issues**
   - Increase `DERIVER_WORKERS` for better performance
   - Check `DERIVER_STALE_SESSION_TIMEOUT_MINUTES` for session cleanup
   - Monitor background processing logs

This configuration guide covers all the settings available in Honcho. Always use environment-specific configuration files and never commit sensitive values like API keys or JWT secrets to version control.