Configuration

You probably need to configure nothing

A self-hosted LiveFolio runs with no .env file, no database, and no account. The defaults are correct for local use out of the box.

There are two things you may want to change: which AI model you use, and where your data lives.

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AI providers

You can supply keys two ways. They're independent — use whichever suits you.

In the app (recommended)

Open Settings → General and paste keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or DeepSeek, or point at a local Ollama.

Keys entered this way are stored in your browser's localStorage and sent only to your own local server with each chat request. They are never written to disk on the server and never leave your machine beyond the provider call itself. Your chat's model menu picks them up immediately.

Via environment variables

Server-side keys work too, and act as a fallback when no browser key is set — handy for a shared machine or a server you start once:

# .env (optional)
GEMINI_API_KEY=...        # https://ai.google.dev
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=...     # https://console.anthropic.com
OPENAI_API_KEY=...        # https://platform.openai.com
DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=...      # https://platform.deepseek.com

Ollama needs no key at all — it runs on your machine.

Full provider setup, including Ollama models and how routing works, is in AI Providers.

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Data directory

Install method	Default location
npx @livefolio-cloud/cli	~/.livefolio/data
From source	./database.json in the repo

With the CLI, move it with --data-dir or the LIVEFOLIO_DATA_DIR environment variable:

LIVEFOLIO_DATA_DIR=~/my-folios npx @livefolio-cloud/cli

See Database for the file layout and backups.

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Port

Command	Port
npm run dev	3001 (pinned, so it sits beside your other projects)
npm start	3000 — set PORT to change it
npx @livefolio-cloud/cli	any free port — or pin one with --port

PORT=8080 npm start
npx @livefolio-cloud/cli --port 3001

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Settings file

Two runtime settings live in settings.json at the project root. Both are managed from the UI — you rarely edit this file by hand:

{
  "mcpKey": "…",
  "customTunnelUrl": "https://my-folios.example.com"
}

Field	Description
mcpKey	The master key MCP clients present to your local server. Generate or rotate it in Settings → Integrations.
customTunnelUrl	Optional fixed domain used instead of the random Cloudflare URL when sharing — Settings → Sharing / Tunnel.

The current MCP key is shown in Settings → Integrations and copied into your agent's mcp.json. Regenerating it invalidates the old one.

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Environment reference

Everything LiveFolio OSS reads. All optional:

# ── AI providers (optional — or set keys in the UI) ──────────
GEMINI_API_KEY=
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=
OPENAI_API_KEY=
DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=

# ── Data location ────────────────────────────────────────────
LIVEFOLIO_DATA_DIR=

# ── Server ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
PORT=

.env.example in the repo lists additional variables — those are for the hosted Cloud edition and are ignored by a local install.