Configuration¶

All runtime settings are controlled through environment variables. There is no separate settings_local.py: event_talks/settings.py reads each value from the environment (via django-environ) and applies a sensible default when the variable is unset.

How settings are loaded¶

The project follows the 12-factor convention: operating system environment variables always win. On top of that, the app can optionally read variables from a file.

DJANGO_READ_VARS_FILE (default False). When True, settings are also read from django-vars.env in the project root. OS environment variables still take precedence over file values.
scripts/dev-setup.sh sets this automatically: True when django-vars.env is present, False otherwise. So a normal local checkout reads from the committed file.

READ_VARS_FILE = env.bool("DJANGO_READ_VARS_FILE", default=False)
if READ_VARS_FILE:
    environ.Env.read_env(BASE_DIR / "django-vars.env")

Keep django-vars.env and docker/.env in sync

There are two environment files. django-vars.env drives local development; docker/.env drives the Docker Compose production stack. When you add, rename, or remove a variable in one, you must make the matching change in the other in the same commit. They are intentionally kept aligned so a setting that exists in dev is not silently missing in production.

Never commit real secrets

django-vars.env and docker/.env are tracked, so they may only contain placeholders or safe local defaults. The committed DJANGO_SECRET_KEY is an obvious dev-only placeholder and must be replaced in production. Real tokens (Pretalx, Vimeo, Mailgun, Discord) and the real secret key belong only in the deployment environment, never in a commit.

In the tables below, "Default" is the value settings.py falls back to when the variable is unset. Where the committed django-vars.env differs (because it targets local development), that is noted.

Core Django¶

Variable	Default	Purpose
`DJANGO_DEBUG`	`False`	Debug mode. `django-vars.env` sets `True` for local development.
`DJANGO_SECRET_KEY`	`unsafe-secret-key`	Cryptographic signing key. Must be replaced in production.
`DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS`	empty	Comma-separated hosts Django will serve. Dev file sets `localhost,...`.
`SITE_ID`	`1`	`django.contrib.sites` site id.
`LANGUAGE_CODE`	`en`	Default/source language. One of `settings.LANGUAGES` (`en`, `pt-br`, `de`, `es`).
`TIME_ZONE`	`Europe/Berlin`	Project time zone.
`USE_I18N`	`True`	Enable Django translation machinery.
`USE_TZ`	`True`	Store datetimes as timezone-aware UTC.
`LANGUAGE_COOKIE_SECURE`	`True`	Mark the `django_language` cookie Secure. Set `False` for local dev (no HTTPS).
`DJANGO_ADMIN_URL`	`admin/`	Path prefix for the Django admin site.
`ADMIN_NAMES`	`Admin`	Comma-separated admin display names (zipped with `ADMIN_EMAILS`).
`ADMIN_EMAILS`	`admin@example.com`	Comma-separated admin emails. Used as `ADMINS` / `MANAGERS`.

Static and media files¶

Variable	Default	Purpose
`DJANGO_STATIC_URL`	`static/`	URL prefix for static assets.
`DJANGO_STATIC_ROOT`	`<project>/staticfiles`	Where `collectstatic` writes files.
`DJANGO_STATICFILES_DIRS`	`<project>/static`	Extra source directories for static files.
`DJANGO_STATICFILES_STORAGE`	`StaticFilesStorage`	Set to `ManifestStaticFilesStorage` in prod for hashed names.
`DJANGO_DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE`	`FileSystemStorage`	Default file storage backend.
`DJANGO_MEDIA_URL`	`/media/`	URL prefix for uploaded/generated media.
`DJANGO_MEDIA_ROOT`	`media`	Directory for media files (resolved under the project root).
`DJANGO_SERVE_STATIC_LOCALLY`	`False`	Let Django serve static/media when running without Nginx.

Database¶

The database is configured from a single connection URL.

Variable	Default	Purpose
`DATABASE_URL`	`sqlite:///db.sqlite3`	Connection string. Use a `postgres://...` URL in production.
`DJANGO_CONN_MAX_AGE`	`60`	Seconds to keep a persistent connection open. Ignored when the pool is enabled.
`DJANGO_CONN_HEALTH_CHECKS`	`True`	Detect and replace stale persistent connections.
`DJANGO_DB_POOL`	`False`	Postgres + psycopg3 native connection pool. Leave off on SQLite and under ASGI.

Connection pool vs CONN_MAX_AGE

These are mutually exclusive. With DJANGO_DB_POOL=True (Postgres only), Django manages a pool and DJANGO_CONN_MAX_AGE is ignored. The default keeps a single connection warm per worker for up to CONN_MAX_AGE seconds, which works on any backend including SQLite.

Email¶

Login codes and admin notifications are sent by email. In development this points at Mailpit; in production it uses Mailgun via django-anymail.

Variable	Default	Purpose
`DJANGO_EMAIL_BACKEND`	`django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend`	Email backend. Set to the Mailgun Anymail backend in prod.
`EMAIL_HOST`	`localhost`	SMTP host (Mailpit in dev).
`EMAIL_PORT`	`1025`	SMTP port. The setup script points dev at Mailpit on `1026`.
`EMAIL_TIMEOUT`	`10`	SMTP socket timeout in seconds.
`DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL`	`webmaster@localhost`	Default `From` address.
`SERVER_EMAIL`	`root@localhost`	`From` address for error mail to admins.
`MAILGUN_API_KEY`	empty	Mailgun API key (required when the Anymail backend is used).
`MAILGUN_API_URL`	`https://api.eu.mailgun.net/v3`	Mailgun API base URL.
`MAILGUN_SENDER_DOMAIN`	empty	Mailgun sending domain (required with the Anymail backend).

Mailgun settings are only read when the Anymail backend is active

The MAILGUN_* variables are only consulted when DJANGO_EMAIL_BACKEND is set to anymail.backends.mailgun.EmailBackend. With the default SMTP backend they are ignored.

Authentication and accounts¶

These tune the passwordless email-code login. See Authentication for the full flow.

Variable	Default	Purpose
`LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL`	`home`	Where to send users after a successful login.
`ACCOUNT_LOGIN_BY_CODE_TIMEOUT`	`300`	Seconds a login code stays valid.
`ACCOUNT_EMAIL_SUBJECT_PREFIX`	empty	Prefix added to account email subjects.
`ALLAUTH_TRUSTED_PROXY_COUNT`	`0`	Number of trusted reverse proxies. Set to `1` behind the bundled Nginx.

Set the proxy count correctly behind a proxy

ALLAUTH_TRUSTED_PROXY_COUNT must reflect how many trusted proxy hops sit in front of the app. If it stays 0 behind Nginx, every request looks like 127.0.0.1, so allauth's per-IP rate limits collapse into one global bucket and a single attacker can lock everyone out. The Docker/Nginx deployment sets it to 1.

Email validation API¶

A new attendee's email is checked against an external validation API to confirm a ticket purchase before an account is created. An event can define its own validation_api_url; otherwise the fallback below is used.

Variable	Default	Purpose
`EMAIL_VALIDATION_API_URL_FALLBACK`	empty	Validation API URL used when an event does not define its own.
`EMAIL_VALIDATION_API_TIMEOUT`	`10`	Timeout in seconds for validation API calls.
`AUTHORIZED_EMAILS_WHITELIST`	`ADMIN_EMAILS`	Emails that bypass API validation entirely.
`EMAIL_VALIDATION_API_OAUTH2_CLIENT_ID`	empty	OAuth2 client id for authenticated validation calls.
`EMAIL_VALIDATION_API_OAUTH2_CLIENT_SECRET`	empty	OAuth2 client secret.
`EMAIL_VALIDATION_API_OAUTH2_TOKEN_URL`	empty	OAuth2 token endpoint. All three OAuth2 values are required to enable.

Discord OAuth¶

Optional login with Discord, gated by guild membership and role. See Authentication for how roles map to permissions.

Variable	Default	Purpose
`DISCORD_CLIENT_ID`	empty	Discord OAuth application client id.
`DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET`	empty	Discord OAuth application client secret.
`DISCORD_GUILD_ID`	empty	Numeric id of the Discord server checked for membership.
`DISCORD_API_TIMEOUT`	`5`	Timeout in seconds for Discord API calls.
`DISCORD_ROLES`	`{}`	JSON map of role name to role id (e.g. `{"attendee":"BBBBB"}`).
`DISCORD_ALLOWED_ROLES`	empty	Role names permitted to log in. Empty means no Discord access.
`DISCORD_ADMIN_ROLES`	empty	Role names that grant `is_superuser` and `is_staff`.
`DISCORD_STAFF_ROLES`	empty	Role names that grant `is_staff` only.

An empty DISCORD_ALLOWED_ROLES rejects all Discord logins

Discord access is opt-in. With no allowed roles configured, every Discord login is rejected. Roles in DISCORD_ROLES must use the same names referenced by the allowed/admin/staff lists.

Pretalx sync¶

Talk import from the Pretalx REST API. See Pretalx sync for the importer modes and workflow.

Variable	Default	Purpose
`PRETALX_API_TOKEN`	empty	API token used by `import_pretalx_talks`.
`PICKLE_PRETALX_TALKS`	`False`	Cache fetched Pretalx data to disk to speed up repeated imports.
`PRETALX_DIGEST_RECIPIENTS`	falls back to `ADMINS`	Recipients of the detect-only summary email. Set to `-` to disable the digest.

Livestreams and video¶

Variable	Default	Purpose
`LIVESTREAMS_SHEET_ID`	empty	Google Sheet id used by `import_livestream_urls`.
`LIVESTREAMS_WORKSHEET_NAME`	`Livestreams`	Worksheet name within that sheet.
`VIMEO_ACCESS_TOKEN`	empty	Vimeo API token used by `update_video_links`.
`VIMEO_PROJECT_IDS`	empty	Comma-separated Vimeo project ids to scan for recordings.

Talk social cards are rendered with a configurable font.

Variable	Default	Purpose
`TALK_CARD_FONT`	`assets/fonts/NotoSans.ttf`	Path to the TrueType font used for card text.
`TALK_CARD_FONT_NAME`	`Noto Sans`	Font family name reported in card metadata.

Logging¶

Variable	Default	Purpose
`LOG_LEVEL`	`INFO`	Level for the `event_talks`, `users`, and `talks` loggers.
`AUTH_LOG_LEVEL`	`INFO`	Level for the dedicated `auth` logger (writes to `auth.log`).
`DJANGO_DATABASE_LOG_LEVEL`	`ERROR`	Level for `django.db.backends`.
`DJANGO_LOGS_DIR`	`<project>/logs`	Directory for rotating JSON log files.
`LOG_EMAIL_HASH`	`True`	Hash email addresses in logs instead of writing them in the clear.

Email privacy in logs

With LOG_EMAIL_HASH=True, emails are recorded as a SHA-256 hash rather than plaintext, so log files do not leak attendee addresses. This is described further in Authentication.

Error tracking (Sentry)¶

Sentry is only initialized when a DSN is set, so dev and test stay quiet.

Variable	Default	Purpose
`SENTRY_DSN`	empty	Sentry project DSN. Leave blank to disable Sentry.
`SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT`	`production` (or `development` if debug)	Environment tag reported to Sentry.
`SENTRY_TRACES_SAMPLE_RATE`	`0.0`	Performance trace sampling rate (errors are always captured).
`SENTRY_SEND_DEFAULT_PII`	`False`	Whether to send user identifiers. Off by default for privacy.

Security and cookies¶

These default to safe production values, so the local django-vars.env relaxes them for HTTP development.

Variable	Default	Purpose
`SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE`	`True`	Send the session cookie over HTTPS only. Dev file sets `False`.
`CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE`	`True`	Send the CSRF cookie over HTTPS only. Dev file sets `False`.
`DJANGO_CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS`	`http://localhost,http://127.0.0.1`	Origins trusted for CSRF.
`SECURE_HSTS_SECONDS`	`31536000`	HSTS max-age (1 year). Dev file sets `0` to disable HSTS.
`SECURE_HSTS_INCLUDE_SUBDOMAINS`	`True`	Apply HSTS to subdomains.
`SECURE_HSTS_PRELOAD`	`False`	Opt in to the HSTS preload list. Off by default.
`DATA_UPLOAD_MAX_NUMBER_FIELDS`	`3000`	Max form fields per request (raised to manage many users at once).

Other security headers (X-Frame-Options: DENY, content-type nosniff, referrer policy, the cross-origin opener policy, and the SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER) are set in code and are not environment-configurable.

Feature flags and event behaviour¶

Variable	Default	Purpose
`DEFAULT_EVENT`	empty	Slug of the event pre-selected on the login page and linked on signup.
`SHOW_UPCOMING_TALKS_LINKS`	`False`	Show links to upcoming talks. Dev file sets `True`.
`IMPORT_TALKS_WITHOUT_SPEAKERS`	`True`	Allow Pretalx import of talks that have no speakers yet.
`CHAIR_ROOM_TRANSITION_MINUTES`	`5`	Warn session chairs about room transitions tighter than this.

Multi-event behaviour¶

This instance can host several conferences at once. Each Event has its own slug, branding, talks, and validation API URL, and users are linked to the events they have access to.

DEFAULT_EVENT is the slug shown pre-selected on the login page. The current default is pyconde-pydata-2026. New users authorizing via Discord are linked to this event, and the login view offers it as the default selection.
A regular user only sees the active events they are linked to. Superusers see all active events.
The committed dev defaults set DEFAULT_EVENT=pyconde-pydata-2026, and dev-setup.sh creates the pyconde-pydata-2025, pyconde-pydata-2026, and pydata-berlin-2026 sample events.

For how events relate to talks, users, and the rest of the data model, see Architecture.