Environment Variables Reference

This document is the single source of truth for all environment variables that configure Cadence. All configuration variables use the CADENCE_ prefix.

Configuration Variables

Variable	Section	Default	Type	Required	Description	Example
`CADENCE_CONFIG`	Core	none	string	No	Path to configuration file	`/etc/cadence/cadence.yaml`
`CADENCE_LOG_LEVEL`	Logging	`info`	string	No	Logging verbosity: debug, info, warn, error	`debug`

Detection Thresholds

Variable	Section	Default	Type	Range	Description
`CADENCE_THRESHOLDS_SUSPICIOUS_ADDITIONS`	Thresholds	`500`	integer	100-10000	Flag commits with more lines added than this
`CADENCE_THRESHOLDS_SUSPICIOUS_DELETIONS`	Thresholds	`1000`	integer	100-10000	Flag commits with more lines deleted than this
`CADENCE_THRESHOLDS_MAX_ADDITIONS_PER_MIN`	Thresholds	`100`	integer	10-500	Flag if additions per minute exceeds this
`CADENCE_THRESHOLDS_MAX_DELETIONS_PER_MIN`	Thresholds	`500`	integer	50-1000	Flag if deletions per minute exceeds this
`CADENCE_THRESHOLDS_MIN_TIME_DELTA_SECONDS`	Thresholds	`60`	integer	0-300	Flag if commits are within N seconds of previous commit
`CADENCE_THRESHOLDS_MAX_FILES_PER_COMMIT`	Thresholds	`50`	integer	10-200	Flag commits modifying more files than this
`CADENCE_THRESHOLDS_MAX_ADDITION_RATIO`	Thresholds	`0.95`	float	0.0-1.0	Flag commits where additions are >N ratio (0=0%, 1=100%)
`CADENCE_THRESHOLDS_MIN_DELETION_RATIO`	Thresholds	`0.95`	float	0.0-1.0	Flag commits where deletions are >N ratio
`CADENCE_THRESHOLDS_ENABLE_PRECISION_ANALYSIS`	Thresholds	`true`	boolean	-	Enable precision/consistency analysis

Webhook Server

Variable	Section	Default	Type	Required	Description	Example
`CADENCE_WEBHOOK_ENABLED`	Webhook	`false`	boolean	No	Enable webhook server	`true`
`CADENCE_WEBHOOK_HOST`	Webhook	`0.0.0.0`	string	No	Host address to bind to	`0.0.0.0`
`CADENCE_WEBHOOK_PORT`	Webhook	`8000`	integer	No	Port to listen on	`8000`
`CADENCE_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Webhook	none	string	Yes (if enabled)	Secret key for webhook authentication	`your-secret-key`
`CADENCE_WEBHOOK_MAX_WORKERS`	Webhook	`4`	integer	No	Number of concurrent webhook handlers	`8`
`CADENCE_WEBHOOK_READ_TIMEOUT`	Webhook	`30`	integer	No	Request read timeout (seconds)	`30`
`CADENCE_WEBHOOK_WRITE_TIMEOUT`	Webhook	`30`	integer	No	Response write timeout (seconds)	`30`

AI Analysis Configuration

Variable	Section	Default	Type	Required	Description	Example
`CADENCE_AI_ENABLED`	AI	`false`	boolean	No	Enable AI-powered analysis features	`true`
`CADENCE_AI_PROVIDER`	AI	`openai`	string	Yes (if enabled)	AI provider: `openai` or `anthropic`	`openai`
`CADENCE_AI_KEY`	AI	none	string	Yes (if enabled)	API key for selected provider	`sk-proj-...`
`CADENCE_AI_MODEL`	AI	(provider default)	string	No	Specific model to use	`gpt-4o-mini`
`CADENCE_AI_BASE_URL`	AI	(provider default)	string	No	Custom API endpoint (if self-hosted)	`https://api.custom.com/v1`
`CADENCE_AI_TIMEOUT`	AI	`30`	integer	No	Request timeout (seconds)	`60`
`CADENCE_AI_MAX_RETRIES`	AI	`3`	integer	No	Number of retry attempts	`5`

OpenAI Specific

Variable	Default	Example	Purpose
`CADENCE_AI_PROVIDER=openai`	-	`openai`	Set provider to OpenAI
`CADENCE_AI_KEY`	-	`sk-proj-xxx`	OpenAI API key (starts with `sk-proj-`)
`CADENCE_AI_MODEL`	`gpt-4o-mini`	`gpt-4o-mini` or `gpt-4`	Model selection

Example:

Bash

CADENCE_AI_PROVIDER=openai
CADENCE_AI_KEY=sk-proj-abc123...
CADENCE_AI_MODEL=gpt-4o-mini

Anthropic (Claude) Specific

Variable	Default	Example	Purpose
`CADENCE_AI_PROVIDER=anthropic`	-	`anthropic`	Set provider to Anthropic
`CADENCE_AI_KEY`	-	`sk-ant-...`	Anthropic API key (starts with `sk-ant-`)
`CADENCE_AI_MODEL`	`claude-sonnet-4-20250514`	`claude-opus-4-1`	Model selection
`CADENCE_AI_BASE_URL`	`https://api.anthropic.com/v1`	-	Usually not needed

Example:

Bash

CADENCE_AI_PROVIDER=anthropic
CADENCE_AI_KEY=sk-ant-abc123...
CADENCE_AI_MODEL=claude-sonnet-4-20250514

File Exclusions

Variable	Default	Type	Description	Example
`CADENCE_EXCLUDE_FILES`	(defaults)	string	Comma-separated file patterns to exclude	`.lock,node_modules/`

Example:

Bash

CADENCE_EXCLUDE_FILES="*.log,temp/**,*.tmp"

Advanced Configuration

Variable	Default	Type	Description	Example
`CADENCE_CACHE_ENABLED`	`true`	boolean	Enable analysis caching	`true`
`CADENCE_CACHE_TTL`	`86400`	integer	Cache time-to-live (seconds, 1 day)	`86400`
`CADENCE_PRECISION_ANALYSIS`	`true`	boolean	Enable precision analysis strategy	`true`

Strategy Configuration

Variable	Section	Default	Type	Description
`CADENCE_STRATEGIES_DISABLED`	Strategies	none	string	Comma-separated strategy names to disable

Example:

Bash

CADENCE_STRATEGIES_DISABLED="emoji_usage,special_chars"

Common Environment Variable Combinations

Minimal Configuration (Local Analysis)

Bash

# No webhook, no AI, just detection
export CADENCE_LOG_LEVEL=info

Development Configuration

Bash

export CADENCE_LOG_LEVEL=debug
export CADENCE_WEBHOOK_ENABLED=true
export CADENCE_WEBHOOK_PORT=8000
export CADENCE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=dev-secret

Production Configuration (OpenAI)

Bash

export CADENCE_LOG_LEVEL=warn
export CADENCE_WEBHOOK_ENABLED=true
export CADENCE_WEBHOOK_PORT=8000
export CADENCE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=$(aws secretsmanager get-secret-value --secret-id cadence/webhook --query SecretString --output text)
export CADENCE_AI_ENABLED=true
export CADENCE_AI_PROVIDER=openai
export CADENCE_AI_KEY=$(aws secretsmanager get-secret-value --secret-id cadence/openai-key --query SecretString --output text)
export CADENCE_AI_MODEL=gpt-4o-mini

Production Configuration (Anthropic)

Bash

export CADENCE_LOG_LEVEL=warn
export CADENCE_WEBHOOK_ENABLED=true
export CADENCE_WEBHOOK_PORT=8000
export CADENCE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=$(vault kv get -field=webhook_secret secret/cadence)
export CADENCE_AI_ENABLED=true
export CADENCE_AI_PROVIDER=anthropic
export CADENCE_AI_KEY=$(vault kv get -field=api_key secret/cadence/anthropic)
export CADENCE_AI_MODEL=claude-sonnet-4-20250514

Setting Environment Variables

Docker

Bash

docker run -e CADENCE_AI_KEY=sk-... -e CADENCE_WEBHOOK_PORT=8000 trycadence/cadence:latest

Docker Compose

YAML

environment:
  CADENCE_AI_ENABLED: "true"
  CADENCE_AI_PROVIDER: "openai"
  CADENCE_AI_KEY: ${CADENCE_AI_KEY}
  CADENCE_WEBHOOK_PORT: "8000"

Kubernetes

YAML

env:
- name: CADENCE_AI_KEY
  valueFrom:
    secretKeyRef:
      name: cadence-secrets
      key: ai-key

systemd

Create /etc/cadence/cadence.env:

Bash

CADENCE_AI_ENABLED=true
CADENCE_AI_PROVIDER=openai
CADENCE_AI_KEY=sk-...
CADENCE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=secret

Then reference in service file:

INI

EnvironmentFile=/etc/cadence/cadence.env

Priority/Override Order

Environment variables override configuration file settings in this order (highest to lowest priority):

Command-line flags (if supported)
Environment variables (CADENCE_*)
Configuration file (.cadence.yaml)
Built-in defaults

Example:

Bash

# Config file says port=8000
# But this overrides it:
export CADENCE_WEBHOOK_PORT=9000
cadence webhook  # Will use port 9000

Required vs Optional

For Local Analysis (No Webhook/AI)

✅ All optional (uses defaults)

For Webhook Server

✅ CADENCE_WEBHOOK_ENABLED=true
✅ CADENCE_WEBHOOK_SECRET (must be set)

For AI Analysis

✅ CADENCE_AI_ENABLED=true
✅ CADENCE_AI_PROVIDER (openai or anthropic)
✅ CADENCE_AI_KEY (provider API key)
⚠️ CADENCE_AI_MODEL (optional, uses provider default)