Configuration

Environment variables and integration setup for Edward.

Required

VariableDescription
ANTHROPIC_API_KEYYour Anthropic API key. Get one at console.anthropic.com

Everything else is optional. Edward works out of the box with just the API key — additional variables unlock integrations.

Database

VariableDefaultDescription
DB_USERedwardPostgreSQL username
DB_PASSWORDedwardPostgreSQL password
DB_NAMEedwardPostgreSQL database name
DB_HOSTlocalhostDatabase host
DB_PORT5432Database port

Authentication

VariableDescription
JWT_SECRET_KEYSecret for signing JWT tokens. Defaults to a dev key — change this in production

Messaging

Twilio (SMS & WhatsApp)

VariableDescription
TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SIDTwilio account SID
TWILIO_AUTH_TOKENTwilio auth token
TWILIO_PHONE_NUMBERYour Twilio phone number (e.g. +1234567890)
TWILIO_WEBHOOK_URLPublic URL for SMS webhooks
TWILIO_WHATSAPP_WEBHOOK_URLPublic URL for WhatsApp webhooks

WhatsApp MCP Bridge

VariableDescription
MCP_WHATSAPP_ENABLEDSet to true to enable the whatsapp-mcp Go bridge
MCP_WHATSAPP_SERVER_DIRPath to the whatsapp-mcp-server directory

iMessage

No environment variables needed — iMessage works via AppleScript on macOS. Enable the imessage_applescript skill in Settings.

Apple Services

VariableDescription
MCP_APPLE_ENABLEDSet to true to enable Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Mail, Contacts, and Maps

Apple Services runs as an MCP subprocess and requires macOS with the relevant apps configured (Calendar, Mail, etc.).

Web Search

VariableDescription
BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEYBrave Search API key for web search and page content extraction

HTML Hosting

VariableDescription
HTML_HOSTING_API_KEYAPI key for html.zyroi.com hosting service
HTML_HOSTING_URLHosting URL (defaults to https://html.zyroi.com)

Custom MCP Servers

VariableDescription
GITHUB_TOKENGitHub personal access token — used for searching MCP server packages

Observability

VariableDescription
LANGCHAIN_TRACING_V2Set to true to enable LangSmith tracing
LANGCHAIN_API_KEYLangSmith API key
LANGCHAIN_PROJECTLangSmith project name (e.g. edward)

Push Notifications

VariableDescription
VAPID_PUBLIC_KEYVAPID public key for Web Push
VAPID_PRIVATE_KEYVAPID private key for Web Push

Generate VAPID keys with: npx web-push generate-vapid-keys

File Storage

VariableDefaultDescription
FILE_STORAGE_ROOT./storageDirectory for persistent file storage

See all available integrations in the Skills & Integrations guide.