The .env file stores configuration values that change between environments (development, staging, production) or contain sensitive information like API keys and secrets.
Why use .env files? - Keep secrets out of code (never commit them to git) - Different values
for different environments - Easy to change without modifying code - Follows the 12-factor
app methodology
# Maximum tokens in LLM response (default: 1024)LLM_MAX_TOKENS=1024# Which provider to use: anthropic | openaiLLM_PROVIDER=anthropic
No LLM key? The app will use mock responses in development. Task parsing will return
placeholder data, which is fine for UI development but not realistic testing.
The Hitler Slack bot uses Socket Mode, which means it connects to Slack via WebSocket instead of HTTP webhooks. This is simpler for local development since you don’t need ngrok or a public URL.
Select From scratch, enter a name (e.g., “Hitler Dev”), and select your workspace.
3
Get Signing Secret
In Basic Information, scroll to App Credentials: - Copy Signing Secret → This is
your SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET - Copy Client ID and Client Secret (needed for OAuth login
on web dashboard)
In your Slack App settings, click Socket Mode in the left sidebar.
2
Enable Socket Mode
Toggle Enable Socket Mode to ON.
3
Create App-Level Token
Click Generate Token and Scopes 2. Give it a name (e.g., “socket-token”) 3. Add the
connections:write scope 4. Click Generate 5. Copy the token (starts with xapp-) → This
is your SLACK_APP_TOKEN
The App-Level Token is only shown once! Save it immediately to your .env file.
# Slack Bot (Socket Mode) - Required for bot functionalitySLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-your-bot-token # From OAuth & PermissionsSLACK_APP_TOKEN=xapp-your-app-level-token # From Socket Mode settingsSLACK_SIGNING_SECRET=your-signing-secret # From Basic Information# Slack OAuth - Required for "Sign in with Slack" on web dashboardSLACK_CLIENT_ID=1234567890.1234567890 # From Basic InformationSLACK_CLIENT_SECRET=abcdef1234567890abcdef # From Basic Information
Get a key from jina.ai. Used to fetch and extract content from URLs shared in channels. Falls back to @extractus/article-extractor if Jina is unavailable.
# Messages per extraction batch (default: 20)CONTEXT_BATCH_SIZE=20# Batch processing interval in ms (default: 300000 = 5 min)CONTEXT_BATCH_INTERVAL_MS=300000# Days to keep raw channel_messages before cleanup (default: 7)CONTEXT_RAW_RETENTION_DAYS=7
The context memory system also uses OPENAI_API_KEY (for text-embedding-3-small embeddings) and ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (for Claude Haiku fact extraction). These are already configured as part of the LLM setup above.
# Time window in milliseconds (default: 60000 = 1 minute)RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW_MS=60000# Maximum requests per window (default: 100)RATE_LIMIT_MAX_REQUESTS=100
# =============================================# DATABASE# =============================================DATABASE_URL=postgres://hitler:hitler@localhost:5432/hitlerREDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379# =============================================# SERVER PORTS# =============================================API_PORT=3001WEB_PORT=3005BOT_SLACK_PORT=3002# =============================================# API SERVER# =============================================NODE_ENV=developmentJWT_SECRET=GENERATE_ME_WITH_CRYPTO_RANDOM_BYTESJWT_EXPIRES_IN=7d# IMPORTANT: API_KEY must be identical in root .env (read by bot-slack) and apps/api/.env (read by API).# If they don't match, bots will get 401 errors when calling the API.API_KEY=hitler_xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx_dev_secret_key# =============================================# WEB APP# =============================================NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:3005/api# =============================================# LLM (choose one or both)# =============================================ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...LLM_MODEL_ANTHROPIC=claude-3-haiku-20240307OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...LLM_MODEL_OPENAI=gpt-4o-miniLLM_MAX_TOKENS=1024LLM_PROVIDER=anthropic# =============================================# SLACK (Socket Mode)# =============================================# Bot credentials (required for bot functionality)SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-your-bot-tokenSLACK_APP_TOKEN=xapp-your-app-level-tokenSLACK_SIGNING_SECRET=# OAuth credentials (required for "Sign in with Slack")SLACK_CLIENT_ID=SLACK_CLIENT_SECRET=# Notifications (optional)SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL=# =============================================# EMAIL (optional)# =============================================RESEND_API_KEY=re_...EMAIL_FROM=noreply@yourdomain.com# =============================================# CLOUDFLARE KV (production only)# =============================================CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID=CLOUDFLARE_KV_NAMESPACE_ID=CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN=SECRETS_ENCRYPTION_KEY=# =============================================# RATE LIMITING# =============================================RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW_MS=60000RATE_LIMIT_MAX_REQUESTS=100# =============================================# TASKS# =============================================TASK_DRAFT_EXPIRY_HOURS=24# =============================================# CONTEXT MEMORY (optional)# =============================================JINA_API_KEY=jina_... # URL fetching via Jina Reader APITAVILY_API_KEY=tvly-... # Web search via TavilyOPENAI_EMBEDDING_MODEL=text-embedding-3-small # Embedding model for context memoryCONTEXT_BATCH_SIZE=20 # Messages per extraction batchCONTEXT_BATCH_INTERVAL_MS=300000 # Batch interval (5 min)CONTEXT_RAW_RETENTION_DAYS=7 # Days to keep raw channel_messages# =============================================# LOGGING# =============================================LOG_LEVEL=debug
Ensure you’ve copied .env.example to .env and the database is running:
cp .env.example .envmake db-up
JWT_SECRET must be at least 32 characters
Generate a proper secret: bash node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('hex'))"
LLM returns mock responses
You need to set either ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or OPENAI_API_KEY for real LLM responses.
Slack bot won't start
“You must provide an appToken” error:
Set SLACK_APP_TOKEN in your .env (starts with xapp-)
Generate one in Slack App → Socket Mode → App-Level Tokens
“Invalid token” error:
Verify SLACK_BOT_TOKEN is correct (starts with xoxb-)
Re-install the app to your workspace if needed
Slack bot not receiving messages
Ensure Socket Mode is enabled in your Slack App settings 2. Verify Event Subscriptions has
message.im and app_mention subscribed 3. For channel messages, the bot must be invited to the
channel 4. Check that SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET matches your app
