Environment Variables Reference

This reference covers the environment variables actually used by QDrant Loader and its MCP server. Environment variables provide a secure way to configure credentials and basic settings.

🎯 Overview

Environment variables are used primarily for sensitive information like API keys and connection strings. They are substituted into configuration files using ${VARIABLE_NAME} syntax.

Configuration Priority

1. Command-line arguments    (highest priority)
2. Environment variables     ← This guide
3. Configuration file
4. Default values           (lowest priority)

🔧 Core Environment Variables

Based on the actual codebase implementation, these are the environment variables that are actually used:

QDrant Database Connection

QDRANT_URL

  • Description: URL of your QDrant database instance
  • Required: Yes (when used in config files)
  • Format: http://host:port or https://host:port
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${QDRANT_URL}
  • Examples:

```bash # Local QDrant instance export QDRANT_URL="http://localhost:6333"

# QDrant Cloud export QDRANT_URL="https://your-cluster.qdrant.io" ```

QDRANT_API_KEY

  • Description: API key for QDrant Cloud or secured instances
  • Required: Only for QDrant Cloud or secured instances
  • Format: String
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${QDRANT_API_KEY}
  • Examples:

bash # QDrant Cloud API key export QDRANT_API_KEY="your-qdrant-cloud-api-key"

QDRANT_COLLECTION_NAME

  • Description: Name of the QDrant collection to use
  • Required: Yes (when used in config files)
  • Format: String (alphanumeric, underscores, hyphens)
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${QDRANT_COLLECTION_NAME}
  • Examples:

```bash # Default collection export QDRANT_COLLECTION_NAME="documents"

# Project-specific collection export QDRANT_COLLECTION_NAME="my_project_docs" ```

OpenAI Configuration

OPENAI_API_KEY

  • Description: OpenAI API key for embeddings generation
  • Required: Yes (when using OpenAI models)
  • Format: String starting with "sk-"
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${OPENAI_API_KEY}
  • Examples:

bash # OpenAI API key export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-your-openai-api-key"

State Management

STATE_DB_PATH

  • Description: Path to SQLite database file for state management
  • Required: No (defaults to ":memory:" in workspace mode)
  • Format: File path or ":memory:"
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${STATE_DB_PATH}
  • Examples:

```bash # File-based database export STATE_DB_PATH="/path/to/state.db"

# In-memory database (default) export STATE_DB_PATH=":memory:" ```

📊 Data Source Configuration

Git Repository Settings

REPO_TOKEN / DOCS_REPO_TOKEN / CODE_REPO_TOKEN

  • Description: Personal access tokens for Git authentication
  • Required: Only for private repositories
  • Format: String (GitHub: ghp_, GitLab: glpat-)
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${REPO_TOKEN}, ${DOCS_REPO_TOKEN}, or ${CODE_REPO_TOKEN}
  • Examples:

bash # GitHub personal access token export REPO_TOKEN="ghp_your-github-token" export DOCS_REPO_TOKEN="ghp_your-docs-token" export CODE_REPO_TOKEN="ghp_your-code-token"

REPO_URL / CODE_REPO_URL

  • Description: Git repository URLs
  • Required: When using git sources
  • Format: Git URL
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${REPO_URL} or ${CODE_REPO_URL}
  • Examples:

bash # Repository URLs export REPO_URL="https://github.com/org/repo.git" export CODE_REPO_URL="https://github.com/org/code-repo.git"

Confluence Configuration

CONFLUENCE_URL / CONFLUENCE_BASE_URL

  • Description: Base URL of your Confluence instance
  • Required: Only when using Confluence
  • Format: URL
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${CONFLUENCE_URL} or ${CONFLUENCE_BASE_URL}
  • Examples:

bash # Atlassian Cloud export CONFLUENCE_URL="https://company.atlassian.net" export CONFLUENCE_BASE_URL="https://company.atlassian.net"

CONFLUENCE_TOKEN

  • Description: Confluence API token
  • Required: Only when using Confluence
  • Format: String
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${CONFLUENCE_TOKEN}
  • Examples:

bash # Confluence API token export CONFLUENCE_TOKEN="your-confluence-api-token"

CONFLUENCE_EMAIL

  • Description: Confluence user email
  • Required: Only when using Confluence Cloud
  • Format: Email address
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${CONFLUENCE_EMAIL}
  • Examples:

bash # Email address export CONFLUENCE_EMAIL="user@company.com"

CONFLUENCE_SPACE_KEY

  • Description: Confluence space key to process
  • Required: When using Confluence sources
  • Format: String (space key)
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${CONFLUENCE_SPACE_KEY}
  • Examples:

bash # Space key export CONFLUENCE_SPACE_KEY="DOCS"

CONFLUENCE_PAT

  • Description: Confluence Personal Access Token (for Data Center/Server)
  • Required: Alternative to token/email for Data Center
  • Format: String
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${CONFLUENCE_PAT}
  • Examples:

bash # Personal Access Token export CONFLUENCE_PAT="your-confluence-personal-access-token"

JIRA Configuration

JIRA_URL / JIRA_BASE_URL

  • Description: Base URL of your JIRA instance
  • Required: Only when using JIRA
  • Format: URL
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${JIRA_URL} or ${JIRA_BASE_URL}
  • Examples:

bash # Atlassian Cloud export JIRA_URL="https://company.atlassian.net" export JIRA_BASE_URL="https://company.atlassian.net"

JIRA_TOKEN

  • Description: JIRA API token
  • Required: Only when using JIRA
  • Format: String
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${JIRA_TOKEN}
  • Examples:

bash # JIRA API token export JIRA_TOKEN="your-jira-api-token"

JIRA_EMAIL

  • Description: JIRA user email
  • Required: Only when using JIRA Cloud
  • Format: Email address
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${JIRA_EMAIL}
  • Examples:

bash # Email address export JIRA_EMAIL="user@company.com"

JIRA_PROJECT_KEY

  • Description: JIRA project key to process
  • Required: When using JIRA sources
  • Format: String (project key)
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${JIRA_PROJECT_KEY}
  • Examples:

bash # Project key export JIRA_PROJECT_KEY="PROJ"

JIRA_PAT

  • Description: JIRA Personal Access Token (for Data Center/Server)
  • Required: Alternative to token/email for Data Center
  • Format: String
  • Usage: Referenced in configuration files as ${JIRA_PAT}
  • Examples:

bash # Personal Access Token export JIRA_PAT="your-jira-personal-access-token"

🤖 MCP Server Configuration

The MCP server uses these environment variables directly (not through configuration files):

Core MCP Settings

MCP_LOG_LEVEL

  • Description: Log level for MCP server
  • Required: No (defaults to "INFO")
  • Format: String (DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR)
  • Usage: Used directly by MCP server
  • Examples:

```bash # Default logging export MCP_LOG_LEVEL="INFO"

# Debug logging export MCP_LOG_LEVEL="DEBUG" ```

MCP_LOG_FILE

  • Description: Path to MCP server log file
  • Required: No (defaults to console only)
  • Format: File path
  • Usage: Used directly by MCP server
  • Examples:

bash # Log to file export MCP_LOG_FILE="/var/log/mcp-server.log"

MCP_DISABLE_CONSOLE_LOGGING

  • Description: Disable console logging for MCP server
  • Required: No (defaults to false)
  • Format: Boolean string ("true"/"false")
  • Usage: Used directly by MCP server
  • Examples:

bash # Disable console logging export MCP_DISABLE_CONSOLE_LOGGING="true"

📋 Environment File Templates

Basic .env Template

# .env - Basic configuration
# Copy this template and fill in your values

# Required: QDrant Database
QDRANT_URL=http://localhost:6333
QDRANT_COLLECTION_NAME=documents

# Required: OpenAI API
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-openai-api-key

# Optional: QDrant Cloud
# QDRANT_API_KEY=your-qdrant-cloud-api-key

# Optional: State Management
# STATE_DB_PATH=/path/to/state.db

Development .env Template

# .env.development - Development environment

# QDrant Database (local)
QDRANT_URL=http://localhost:6333
QDRANT_COLLECTION_NAME=dev_documents

# OpenAI API (development key)
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-dev-openai-api-key

# State Management (in-memory for development)
STATE_DB_PATH=:memory:

# Git Repository (if using)
REPO_TOKEN=ghp_your-github-token
REPO_URL=https://github.com/org/repo.git

# MCP Server (development settings)
MCP_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
MCP_LOG_FILE=/tmp/mcp-dev.log

Production .env Template

# .env.production - Production environment

# QDrant Database (production)
QDRANT_URL=https://your-qdrant-cluster.qdrant.io
QDRANT_API_KEY=your-production-qdrant-api-key
QDRANT_COLLECTION_NAME=production_documents

# OpenAI API (production key)
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-prod-openai-api-key

# State Management (persistent database)
STATE_DB_PATH=/var/lib/qdrant-loader/state.db

# Data Sources (production credentials)
CONFLUENCE_URL=https://company.atlassian.net
CONFLUENCE_TOKEN=your-confluence-api-token
CONFLUENCE_EMAIL=service-account@company.com
CONFLUENCE_SPACE_KEY=DOCS

JIRA_URL=https://company.atlassian.net
JIRA_TOKEN=your-jira-api-token
JIRA_EMAIL=service-account@company.com
JIRA_PROJECT_KEY=PROJ

REPO_TOKEN=ghp_your-production-github-token
REPO_URL=https://github.com/company/docs.git

# MCP Server (production settings)
MCP_LOG_LEVEL=INFO
MCP_LOG_FILE=/var/log/qdrant-loader/mcp.log
MCP_DISABLE_CONSOLE_LOGGING=true

🔧 Environment Management

Loading Environment Variables

Using .env Files

# Load from .env file
set -a  # automatically export all variables
source .env
set +a  # stop automatically exporting

# Or use direnv (if installed)
echo "source .env" > .envrc
direnv allow

Using Environment-Specific Files

# Load development environment
source .env.development

# Load production environment
source .env.production

# Load with prefix
env $(cat .env.production | xargs) qdrant-loader --workspace . config

Validation and Testing

Check Environment Variables

# Check if required variables are set
if [ -z "$QDRANT_URL" ]; then
  echo "Error: QDRANT_URL not set"
  exit 1
fi

if [ -z "$OPENAI_API_KEY" ]; then
  echo "Error: OPENAI_API_KEY not set"
  exit 1
fi

# Test configuration
qdrant-loader --workspace . config

Environment Variable Script

#!/bin/bash
# check-env.sh - Validate environment variables

required_vars=(
  "QDRANT_URL"
  "OPENAI_API_KEY"
  "QDRANT_COLLECTION_NAME"
)

optional_vars=(
  "QDRANT_API_KEY"
  "CONFLUENCE_URL"
  "JIRA_URL"
  "REPO_TOKEN"
)

echo "Checking required environment variables..."
for var in "${required_vars[@]}"; do
  if [ -z "${!var}" ]; then
    echo "❌ $var is not set"
    exit 1
  else
    echo "✅ $var is set"
  fi
done

echo "Checking optional environment variables..."
for var in "${optional_vars[@]}"; do
  if [ -z "${!var}" ]; then
    echo "⚠️  $var is not set (optional)"
  else
    echo "✅ $var is set"
  fi
done

echo "Environment validation complete!"

🔗 Related Documentation

📋 Environment Variables Checklist

  • [ ] Core variables set (QDRANT_URL, OPENAI_API_KEY, QDRANT_COLLECTION_NAME)
  • [ ] Data source credentials configured for your sources
  • [ ] MCP server settings configured if using MCP server
  • [ ] Environment file created and secured (chmod 600)
  • [ ] Variables validated with test commands
  • [ ] Configuration tested with qdrant-loader --workspace . config

Environment configuration complete! 🎉

Your QDrant Loader is now configured via environment variables. This provides a secure way to manage credentials while keeping sensitive information out of configuration files.

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