Dequel’s platform-level settings are configured through environment variables or a dequel.json config file. Environment variables take precedence over file values.

Config File Location

Dequel looks for dequel.json in the following order:

1. DEQUEL_CONFIG environment variable pointing to an explicit path
2. ~/.config/dequel/dequel.json
3. ./dequel.json (next to the binary)
4. ./data/dequel.json

Reference

Security

Variable	Default	Description
ENV_ENCRYPTION_KEY	dev-env-key-change-me	Key used to encrypt environment variable values and SMTP passwords at rest

GitHub Integration

Set these to enable the repo picker in the project creation dialog:

Variable	Default	Description
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID	""	GitHub OAuth App client ID
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET	""	GitHub OAuth App client secret
GITHUB_APP_NAME	Dequel	GitHub App name displayed during OAuth
GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET	""	Secret for GitHub webhook verification

Config file equivalent:

{
  "githubClientId": "Iv1...",
  "githubClientSecret": "...",
  "githubAppName": "Dequel",
  "githubWebhookSecret": "..."
}

On boot, these values seed the github_integrations table. You can also update them from the Settings page in the dashboard.

SMTP

Set these to enable email alerts and notifications:

Variable	Default	Description
SMTP_HOST	""	SMTP server hostname
SMTP_PORT	587	SMTP server port
SMTP_USER	""	SMTP username
SMTP_PASS	""	SMTP password
SMTP_FROM	dequel@localhost	From address for outgoing emails

Config file equivalent:

{
  "smtpHost": "smtp.sendgrid.net",
  "smtpPort": 587,
  "smtpUser": "apikey",
  "smtpPass": "...",
  "smtpFrom": "dequel@example.com"
}

On boot, these values seed the smtp_settings table. The password is encrypted at rest using ENV_ENCRYPTION_KEY. You can also update these from the Settings page in the dashboard, and send a test email to verify the configuration.

Ingress

Variable	Default	Description
CADDY_BASE_DOMAIN	localhost	Base domain for deployment subdomains. Deployed apps are reachable at https://<slug>.<domain>. GitHub webhook URLs are derived from this automatically. Set to a real domain (e.g. example.com) and configure wildcard DNS for auto-SSL.
CADDY_EMAIL	""	Email address for Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate expiration notifications

Config file equivalent:

{
  "caddyBaseDomain": "example.com",
  "caddyEmail": "admin@example.com"
}

Full Config File Example

{
  "githubClientId": "Iv1...",
  "githubClientSecret": "...",
  "githubAppName": "MyDequel",
  "githubWebhookSecret": "...",
  "smtpHost": "smtp.sendgrid.net",
  "smtpPort": 587,
  "smtpUser": "apikey",
  "smtpPass": "...",
  "smtpFrom": "alerts@example.com",
  "envEncryptionKey": "your-secure-key-here"
}