---
title: Configuration
---

# Configuration

We currently use the following gems for configuring the application:

- [dotenv](https://github.com/bkeepers/dotenv)
- [rails-settings-cached](https://github.com/huacnlee/rails-settings-cached)
- [vault](https://github.com/hashicorp/vault-ruby)

## dotenv

This gem is used for configuring environment variables for test and development
environments. Examples:

- `REDIS_URL`
- `FASTLY_API_KEY`
- `STRIPE_SECRET_KEY`

Settings managed via your ENV can be found in
[Configuring Environment Variables](/getting-started/config-env)) and viewed at
`/admin/customization/config` (see [the Admin guide](/admin)):

![Screenshot of env variable admin interface](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/47985/73627243-67d41f80-467e-11ea-9121-221275ff8a89.png)

## rails-settings-cached

We use this gem for managing settings used within the app's business logic.
Examples:

- `Settings::General.main_social_image`
- `Settings::RateLimit.follow_count_daily`
- `Settings::Authentication.twitter_secret`

These settings can be accessed via the
[`Settings::General`](https://github.com/forem/forem/blob/master/app/models/settins/general.rb)
object and various models in the `Settings::` namespace and viewed / modified
via `/admin/customization/config` (see [the Admin guide](/admin)).

![Screenshot of settings admin interface](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/47985/73627238-6276d500-467e-11ea-8724-afb703f056bc.png)

## Vault

The vault Ruby gem allows us to interact with
[Vault](https://www.vaultproject.io/docs/what-is-vault). In a nutshell, Vault is
a tool for securely storing and accessing secrets. It is completely optional for
running a Forem. To access it we use the wrapper `AppSecrets`.

```ruby
class AppSecrets
  def self.[](key)
    result = Vault.kv(namespace).read(key)&.data&.fetch(:value) if ENV["VAULT_TOKEN"].present?
    result ||= ApplicationConfig[key]

    result
  rescue Vault::VaultError
    ApplicationConfig[key]
  end

  def self.[]=(key, value)
    Vault.kv(namespace).write(key, value: value)
  end

  def self.namespace
    ENV["VAULT_SECRET_NAMESPACE"]
  end
  private_class_method :namespace
end
```

We attempt to access a secret from Vault if it is enabled, i.e. if the
`VAULT_TOKEN` is present. If Vault is not enabled or if we cannot find the
secret in it, then we fallback to fetching the secret from the
`ApplicationConfig`.

One advantage of using Vault with Forem is that it allows you to update your
secrets easily through the application rather than having to mess with ENV
files. If you would like to try out Vault, follow our
[installation guide for setting it up locally](/installation/vault).