Configuration¶

The LMS uses django-environ for configuration via .env files. Django settings are split across environment-specific modules.

Django Settings Structure¶

Settings live in backend/config/settings/:

File	Purpose
`base.py`	Shared configuration: installed apps, middleware, database, REST framework, Celery, i18n
`development.py`	Debug mode, CORS, console email backend, eager Celery
`production.py`	Security hardening, external services, production caching
`test.py`	Test-specific overrides, in-memory caching, eager Celery

The active settings module is controlled by DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE:

# Development (default)
export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=config.settings.development

# Production
export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=config.settings.production

# Testing (set automatically by pytest-django)
export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=config.settings.test

Environment Variables¶

Required Variables¶

Variable	Description	Example
`DATABASE_URL`	PostgreSQL connection string	`postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/lms`
`SECRET_KEY`	Django secret key	Random 50+ character string
`PROVIDER_ENCRYPTION_KEY`	Fernet key for provider credential encryption	Generated via `Fernet.generate_key()`

Common Variables¶

Variable	Description	Default
`DEBUG`	Enable debug mode	`False`
`ALLOWED_HOSTS`	Comma-separated allowed hosts	`localhost,127.0.0.1`
`REDIS_URL`	Redis connection string	`redis://localhost:6379/0`
`CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS`	Comma-separated CORS origins	`http://localhost:5173,http://localhost:5174`
`LANGUAGE_CODE`	Default language	`en`
`TIME_ZONE`	Default timezone	`UTC`

External Service Variables¶

These are optional in development but required in production:

Variable	Service	Purpose
`AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID`	AWS S3	Document storage
`AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`	AWS S3	Document storage
`AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME`	AWS S3	Document storage
`SENDGRID_API_KEY`	SendGrid	Email delivery
`TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID`	Twilio	SMS delivery
`TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN`	Twilio	SMS delivery
`TWILIO_FROM_NUMBER`	Twilio	SMS sender number

Note

Payment processor credentials (Authorize.Net, Stripe) are stored per-tenant in the ProviderConfig model, not as environment variables. See Provider Pattern.

Database Configuration¶

PostgreSQL¶

The system requires PostgreSQL 16+ for schema-per-tenant isolation:

DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/lms

Key database settings:

ENGINE: django.db.backends.postgresql (via psycopg 3)
DATABASE_ROUTERS: ("django_pgschemas.routers.TenantAppsRouter",) --- routes queries to the correct schema

Redis¶

Redis is used as both the Celery broker and result backend:

REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379/0

Multi-Tenancy Configuration¶

The TENANTS setting in base.py defines the three-schema model:

TENANTS = {
    "public": {
        "APPS": [
            "django_pgschemas",
            "apps.tenants",
            "django.contrib.contenttypes",
        ],
    },
    "default": {
        "TENANT_MODEL": "tenants.Tenant",
        "DOMAIN_MODEL": "tenants.Domain",
        "APPS": [
            # Django contrib apps
            # Third-party apps (allauth, guardian, pghistory, etc.)
            # All LMS business apps
        ],
    },
}

Warning

The public and default keys cannot have DOMAINS or FALLBACK_DOMAINS. Domain configuration is done per-tenant in the Domain model.

Celery Configuration¶

Celery is configured in config/celery.py:

# Broker (Redis)
CELERY_BROKER_URL=redis://localhost:6379/0

# Result backend (Redis)
CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND=redis://localhost:6379/0

Development settings use CELERY_TASK_ALWAYS_EAGER=True to execute tasks synchronously.

CORS Configuration¶

For local development with separate frontend dev servers:

CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=http://localhost:5173,http://localhost:5174

Port 5173 is the admin dashboard, port 5174 is the borrower portal.