NovusLens reads its configuration from the environment, and the customer profile refuses guesses.

NovusLens takes its settings from environment variablesEnvironment variableA named setting made available to a running program. The customer launcher reads these settings from the installation environment file.. In an installation, ./lens setup writes the settings to .novuslens.env, and Docker ComposeDocker ComposeThe Docker tool that starts and connects the services listed in one configuration file. passes a fixed set of variables to each service. Setup settings describes every line of that file. A variable in the operator’s shell does not reach the services. A variable Compose does not pass keeps its default.

The profile decides how strict the platform is. In the dev profile, development conveniences are on and public development values are used with a warning. In the customer profile, the same variables are required, and a missing or public value stops the service from starting. Every installation runs the customer profile.

A default in the tables is the value the code uses when the variable is unset. Where the default depends on the profile, both are shown. “None; required” means the service refuses to start without the variable. The In an installation column gives what Compose passes: a fixed value, a line of .novuslens.env, or “not passed” when the default applies.

Profile and security

Database

Mesh

Compose also sets the substrate’s own variables for each mesh node: MYCELIUM_DATA_DIR, MYCELIUM_PORT, MYCELIUM_HTTP_PORT, MYCELIUM_HTTP_ADDR, MYCELIUM_PEERS, MYCELIUM_ROLE and MYCELIUM_HOSTNAME. Operators do not set these. They are read by the substrate, outside this repository. NOVUSLENS_MESH_NETWORK in .novuslens.env chooses the private address range the nodes use.

Reasoning

User interface

The UI also reads CONWAY_PROFILE, CONWAY_SESSION_SECRET, CONWAY_SERVICE_TOKEN, DATABASE_URL and NOVUSLENS_TLS_PROXY. Those are described in the tables above.

These developer scripts read their own variables. They are not used by an installation.

Connectors

The connectorsConnectorSoftware that reads records from a source system, such as an incident tool. A customer-written file connects those records to teams or services in NovusLens. also read CONWAY_IDENTITY_SALT and CONWAY_SERVICE_TOKEN, described in the profile table, and the mesh address and port variables, described in the mesh table.

Logging

Every Python command and service, and the user interface server, reads these as it starts.

Settings only setup and Compose read

The other lines of .novuslens.env choose the images, the installation’s name and directory, the demo and the first operator account. No NovusLens service reads them. Setup settings describes each one.

Named manual inference and account declaration

The default CI route remains openrouter/free. The xing4-phala-zero manual profile pins the named Xing model to Phala. It requires parameter support, disables provider fallback and caps prompt, completion, request and image provider prices at zero. It extends CONWAY_LLM_FREE_ONLY=1 only for that exact reviewed profile; arbitrary free suffixes and paid alternatives are refused.

Both named profiles require account-plugins-off: true on an explicit manual version=dev dispatch. This operator declaration means the CI key’s account plugins are off and cannot be forced on by account policy. It is not an automatic account check and must be reassessed if account settings change. Missing or false confirmation refuses before an ops command; the shared HTTP guard also requires CONWAY_LLM_ACCOUNT_PLUGINS_OFF=1. OpenRouter documents account plugin defaults and forced overrides . Provider price caps do not cap account add-on fees or total spend. Paid-profile permission remains a separate decision.

The inference-compatibility component accepts only the confirmed named-zero profile. It makes one real public BuildAgent.chat request with the existing static group schema, low effort and 8,192-token limit. It makes no inferenceInferenceThe work a language model does to produce an answer from its instructions and input. preflight call, formatting nudge or retry. Its shape result is protocol evidence, not model semantic qualification or an application-gate pass. The ordinary live routing matrix and all twelve application gates remain required.