Environment Configuration - docker/genai-stack

In this explanation, we will cover the topic of “Environment Configuration” for the project “genai-stack” by discussing the possible options and providing examples for each option. The key technologies and dependencies for this project include Docker, Compose, Python, Neo4j, OpenAI, Boto3, FastAPI, Torch, and Sentence Transformers.

The .env file is a crucial component of environment configuration. It is a plain text file that contains key-value pairs, where the key is the name of an environment variable, and the value is the corresponding value for that variable. The .env file is used to set environment variables that are required by the application.

Here are some of the available variables and their descriptions for the .env file in the context of the genai-stack project:

NEO4J_PASSWORD: The password for the Neo4j database.
OPENAI_API_KEY: The API key for OpenAI.
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: The access key ID for AWS.
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: The secret access key for AWS.
FASTAPI_URL: The URL for the FastAPI application.
TORCH_HOME: The directory where Torch will store its files.
SENTENCE_TRANSFORMERS_HOME: The directory where Sentence Transformers will store its files.

Here’s an example of what a .env file might look like for the genai-stack project:

NEO4J_PASSWORD=mypassword
OPENAI_API_KEY=myopenaikey
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=myaccesskey
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=mysecretkey
FASTAPI_URL=http://localhost:8000
TORCH_HOME=/path/to/torch
SENTENCE_TRANSFORMERS_HOME=/path/to/sentence-transformers

It’s important to note that environment variables set in the .env file will take precedence over values in the configuration file. This is because the environment variable will be loaded into the system’s environment before the configuration file is read.

In addition to the .env file, there are other ways to configure the environment for the genai-stack project. For example, you can use the config command in Terraform to set environment variables for a specific stack. Here’s an example:

config = {
Environment = "dev"
Region      = "us-east-1"
}

In this example, the Environment variable is set to “dev”, and the Region variable is set to “us-east-1”. These variables can then be referenced in the Terraform configuration files.

Another way to configure the environment is to use the waypoint config command to set environment variables for a specific app or runner. Here’s an example:

waypoint config set -runner env=dev

In this example, the env variable is set to “dev” for the runner. This variable can then be referenced in the Waypoint configuration files.

In conclusion, there are several ways to configure the environment for the genai-stack project, including the .env file, the config command in Terraform, and the waypoint config command. By using these methods, you can easily set environment variables that are required by the application, which will help to ensure that it runs smoothly and efficiently.

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