unitforge/ENVIRONMENT_IMPLEMENTATION.md

Environment Variable Implementation Summary

This document summarizes the implementation of environment variable support for UnitForge, making the application configurable without code changes.

Overview

The implementation adds comprehensive environment variable support to UnitForge, allowing configuration of:

• Application metadata (name, version, description)
• External links (GitHub, documentation, bug reports)
• Server settings (host, port, debug mode)
• CORS configuration
• Contact information

Files Modified

Core Configuration

• backend/app/core/config.py - New configuration module with Settings class
• .env.example - Template for environment variables
• docs/ENVIRONMENT.md - Comprehensive documentation

Application Integration

• backend/app/main.py - Updated to use settings and inject template context
• backend/cli/__init__.py - Updated to use configurable app name and version
• backend/__init__.py - Updated to use environment variables for metadata

Templates

• frontend/templates/index.html - Updated to use template variables
• frontend/templates/templates.html - Updated to use template variables
• frontend/templates/editor.html - Updated to use template variables

Build and Development

• pyproject.toml - Added python-dotenv dependency
• docker-compose.yml - Added env_file support to all services
• Makefile - Added .env file creation during setup
• check-uv.sh - Updated to use environment variable for GitHub URL

Key Features

1. Configuration Management

from app.core.config import settings

# Access configuration
print(settings.app_name)
print(settings.github_url)

2. Template Integration

HTML templates automatically receive configuration variables:

<title>{{ app_name }} - Page Title</title>
<a href="{{ github_url }}">GitHub</a>

3. Environment File Support

• Automatic loading of .env files using python-dotenv
• Fallback to default values when variables are not set
• Docker Compose integration

4. Development Workflow

• make setup-dev automatically creates .env from template
• Environment variables override defaults
• No code changes needed for different deployments

Configuration Variables

Application Settings

APP_NAME=UnitForge
APP_VERSION=1.0.0
APP_DESCRIPTION=Create, validate, and manage systemd unit files

External Links

GITHUB_URL=https://github.com/will666/unitforge
DOCUMENTATION_URL=https://unitforge.readthedocs.io/
BUG_REPORTS_URL=https://github.com/will666/unitforge/issues

Server Configuration

HOST=0.0.0.0
PORT=8000
DEBUG=false
CORS_ORIGINS=*

Contact Information

CONTACT_EMAIL=contact@unitforge.dev

Benefits

1. Deployment Flexibility - Same codebase works across environments
2. Customization - Easy branding and configuration changes
3. Security - Sensitive values can be set via environment
4. Container Ready - Full Docker and Kubernetes support
5. Developer Friendly - Automatic setup and clear documentation

Usage Examples

Development Override

# Temporary override for testing
GITHUB_URL="https://github.com/myorg/fork" python -m uvicorn backend.app.main:app

Production Deployment

# Production .env file
APP_NAME=UnitForge Production
DEBUG=false
HOST=0.0.0.0
PORT=80
GITHUB_URL=https://github.com/mycompany/unitforge
SECRET_KEY=production-secret-key

Docker Deployment

# docker-compose.yml automatically loads .env
services:
  unitforge:
    env_file: .env
    environment:
      - DEBUG=false  # Override specific values

Testing

All changes have been validated:

• ✅ Configuration loads correctly with defaults
• ✅ Environment variables override defaults
• ✅ Templates render with injected variables
• ✅ CLI shows configured app name and version
• ✅ Docker Compose loads environment files
• ✅ No linting errors or diagnostics issues

Migration Path

For existing deployments:

1. Copy .env.example to .env
2. Customize values as needed
3. No code changes required
4. Templates automatically use new variables

Future Enhancements

Potential additions:

• Database configuration via environment
• Email service configuration
• Logging configuration
• Feature flags
• API rate limiting settings
• Theme customization variables

Conclusion

This implementation provides a robust, flexible configuration system that follows modern application development best practices while maintaining backward compatibility and ease of use.