Environment Setup

Configuration reference for the Activity Challenge Bot.

Required Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the project root:

# Telegram Bot (required)
BOT_TOKEN=your_bot_token_here

# Database (required)
POSTGRES_USER=postgres
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your_password
POSTGRES_DB=activity_challenge_bot
POSTGRES_HOST=localhost
POSTGRES_PORT=5432
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:your_password@localhost:5432/activity_challenge_bot

# Optional
NODE_ENV=development
WEBAPP_URL=https://your-webapp.com
API_PORT=3001

Getting a Bot Token

1. Message @BotFather on Telegram
2. Send /newbot and follow instructions
3. Copy the token to your .env file

⚠️ Never commit .env to version control

Database Configuration

Variable	Description	Default
POSTGRES_HOST	Database host	localhost or postgres (container)
DATABASE_URL	Full connection string	Constructed from above vars

For containers: Use POSTGRES_HOST=postgres (service name from compose.yaml)

Configuration Files

Competition Period

Competition dates and settings are managed in code for version control and type safety.

See Competition Setup for detailed configuration instructions.

Quick example:

// src/config/competition.ts
export const CURRENT_COMPETITION = {
  name: "Winter 2025-2026 Activity Challenge",
  startDate: new Date("2025-12-24"),
  endDate: new Date("2026-03-31")
}

Guilds

Guild configuration is managed in code.

See Guild Management for detailed configuration instructions.

Quick example:

// src/config/guilds.ts
export const GUILDS = [
  { name: "TiK", totalMembers: 700, isActive: true },
  // Add more guilds...
]

Environment-Specific Setup

Local Development

NODE_ENV=development
POSTGRES_HOST=localhost
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/activity_challenge_bot

Container Development

NODE_ENV=development
POSTGRES_HOST=postgres  # ← Service name from compose.yaml
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@postgres:5432/activity_challenge_bot

Production (Kubernetes)

Environment variables managed via Kubernetes secrets (see deployment docs).

Template

Copy from .env.example:

cp .env.example .env
# Edit with your actual values

Next Steps

• Getting Started - Set up the project
• Local Development - Development workflow
• Competition Setup - Configure competition
• Guild Management - Configure guilds