Operations

Production env

With NODE_ENV=production or CMS_STRICT_CONFIG=true, the server checks required config at startup and exits if something is missing:

Variable	Notes
`BETTER_AUTH_SECRET`	Random secret (≥32 chars)
`CMS_PUBLIC_BASE_URL`	Public API origin (`https://…`)
`CORS_ORIGIN`	Admin UI origin
`COOKIE_SECURE`	`true`
`CMS_API_KEY_PEPPER`	Required while API keys are required (default)

Behind a proxy that sets X-Forwarded-*, set CMS_TRUST_PROXY=true so Express trusts one hop for client IP / scheme (the example Caddy overlay sets this).

AI stays off until you set CMS_AI_DRAFTS_ENABLED / CMS_AI_AGENT_ENABLED and OPENROUTER_API_KEY.

Defaults worth knowing

Setting	Default
Upload `isPublic`	`false` — mark public when you need a keyless URL
`CMS_REQUIRE_API_KEY`	`true`
`CMS_AI_*`	`false`

Limits

Scope	Env prefix
Login	`CMS_RATE_LIMIT_LOGIN_*`
AI	`CMS_RATE_LIMIT_AI_*`
Global	`CMS_RATE_LIMIT_GLOBAL_*`
Upload size	`CMS_UPLOAD_MAX_BYTES`
Image decode	`CMS_IMAGE_MAX_BYTES`, `CMS_IMAGE_MAX_DIMENSION`

In-process rate limits suit a single API replica; put shared limits at the proxy if you run more than one.

Health

/ok — liveness
/ready — includes DB (use for HEALTHCHECK / orchestration)

Apply migrations before relying on /ready (pnpm db:migrate or your image entrypoint).

API keys & drafts

Use read keys from your app’s server. Default list endpoints omit drafts; pass includeDrafts=true when you need them.