Environment reference

OpenPartner follows the principle that env is for secrets and build-time config; runtime content lives in the admin UI. So this list is shorter than you’d expect from competing products.

Required

Variable	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	Postgres connection string.
`SECRETS_ENCRYPTION_KEY`	32-byte hex. Used to encrypt SMTP passwords, Postmark tokens, etc.

Generate a key with:

openssl rand -hex 32

Optional

Variable	Description
`OPENPARTNER_MODE`	`selfhost` (default), `flat`, or `revshare`. Gates billing layer.
`COOKIE_DOMAIN`	First-party cookie scope. Default: request host.
`MAIL_FROM`	Default From: address. Overridable in admin UI.
`POSTMARK_SERVER_TOKEN`	Postmark API token. Overridable in admin UI.
`SMTP_HOST` / `SMTP_PORT` / `SMTP_USER` / `SMTP_PASSWORD`	SMTP fallback. Overridable.
`STRIPE_SECRET_KEY`	Required for Connect payouts on hosted tiers and for billing the merchant subscription.
`STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Webhook signing secret(s). Accepts a single value or a comma-separated list — Stripe’s “Event destinations” UI uses separate destinations for platform-account vs connected-account events, so you’ll have two secrets to verify against.
`STRIPE_FLAT_PRICE_ID`	Stripe Price ID for the Hosted Flex monthly subscription (`flat` mode).
`ADMIN_API_KEY`	Bootstrap / CI bearer. Bypasses Admin user, behaves like a headless admin.

File uploads (brand logos, creator avatars)

Two backends, picked by OPENPARTNER_STORAGE_KIND. Default is fs — a local directory served at /uploads/*. Switch to s3 if your runtime is ephemeral (DO App Platform, Fly Machines, Heroku, etc.) or you just want a managed object store. Same env-var shape on the Network app under NETWORK_*.

`fs` (default)

Variable	Description
`OPENPARTNER_STORAGE_KIND`	`fs` (default).
`OPENPARTNER_STORAGE_FS_DIR`	Where to write files. Default: `/var/lib/openpartner/uploads`. Mount a docker volume here so uploads survive restarts.
`OPENPARTNER_STORAGE_FS_PUBLIC_BASE`	Public URL base for the static handler. Default: `${API_URL}/uploads`. Override if the API is behind a CDN or different hostname.

`s3` (any S3-compatible bucket — DO Spaces, AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, MinIO)

Variable	Description
`OPENPARTNER_STORAGE_KIND`	`s3`.
`OPENPARTNER_STORAGE_S3_BUCKET`	Bucket name.
`OPENPARTNER_STORAGE_S3_REGION`	Region (e.g. `nyc3` for DO, `us-east-1` for AWS).
`OPENPARTNER_STORAGE_S3_ENDPOINT`	Custom endpoint URL. Required for non-AWS providers (e.g. `https://nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com`). Omit for AWS S3.
`OPENPARTNER_STORAGE_S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID`	Access key ID.
`OPENPARTNER_STORAGE_S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`	Secret access key.
`OPENPARTNER_STORAGE_S3_PUBLIC_BASE`	Optional CDN URL base (e.g. `https://uploads.cdn.openpartner.dev`). When unset, URLs are constructed from endpoint + bucket.

Uploads are written public-read with a 1-year immutable cache header. Object keys are random hex (16 bytes), so directory enumeration isn’t possible — but make sure the bucket itself doesn’t allow listing.

What’s NOT in env

These all live in the Config table and are managed from the admin UI:

Program name (the brand partners see)
Support email
Active mail transport (Postmark vs. SMTP vs. none)
Attribution model + lookback window
Commission rules

Why? You can rotate them without redeploying, and self-host customers don’t have to manage config in two places.