Deployment Guide

This guide covers the environment variables and configuration needed to deploy HornetHive with all features enabled.

Environment Variables

Required — Core

Variable	Description	Example
`OPENAI_API_KEY`	OpenAI API key for LLM calls	`sk-...`
`SUPABASE_URL`	Supabase project URL	`https://xyz.supabase.co`
`SUPABASE_ANON_KEY`	Supabase anonymous/public key	`eyJ...`
`SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY`	Supabase service role key (server-side)	`eyJ...`

Required — Payments

Variable	Description	Example
`STRIPE_SECRET_KEY`	Stripe secret key	`sk_live_...`
`STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Stripe webhook signing secret	`whsec_...`
`STRIPE_PRICE_STARTER_MONTHLY`	Stripe price ID for Starter plan	`price_...`
`STRIPE_PRICE_GROWTH_MONTHLY`	Stripe price ID for Growth plan	`price_...`
`STRIPE_PRICE_PRO_MONTHLY`	Stripe price ID for Pro plan	`price_...`

Required — Email

Variable	Description	Example
`RESEND_API_KEY`	Resend API key for transactional email	`re_...`
`FROM_EMAIL`	Sender email address	`hello@hornethive.ai`
`SUPPORT_EMAIL`	Support reply-to address	`hello@hornethive.ai`

Optional — Telegram Integration

Variable	Description	How to Get
`TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN`	Bot token from BotFather	Talk to @BotFather on Telegram, `/newbot`
`TELEGRAM_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Random secret for webhook verification	Generate: `openssl rand -hex 32`
`TELEGRAM_BOT_USERNAME`	Bot username (without @)	Set during BotFather setup

Setting Up the Telegram Bot

Message @BotFather on Telegram
Send /newbot and follow the prompts
Copy the bot token → set as TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN
Note the username → set as TELEGRAM_BOT_USERNAME
Generate a webhook secret: openssl rand -hex 32 → set as TELEGRAM_WEBHOOK_SECRET
After deploying, register the webhook:

curl -X POST https://your-api-domain.com/api/messaging/telegram/setup-webhook \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"webhook_url": "https://your-api-domain.com/api/messaging/telegram/webhook"}'

Optional — Slack Integration

Variable	Description
`SLACK_CLIENT_ID`	Slack app OAuth client ID
`SLACK_CLIENT_SECRET`	Slack app OAuth client secret
`SLACK_BOT_TOKEN`	Slack bot token for API calls
`SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET`	Slack request signing secret

Optional — Other

Variable	Description	Default
`ENABLE_BRIEFING_SCHEDULER`	Enable background scheduler for digests/nudges	`false`
`PINECONE_API_KEY`	Pinecone vector DB key	—
`UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY`	Unsplash image suggestions	—
`DEFAULT_MODEL_PROVIDER`	Default LLM provider	`openai`
`DEFAULT_OPENAI_MODEL`	Default OpenAI model	`gpt-5`

Production-Only

Variable	Description	Value
`RAILWAY_ENVIRONMENT`	Deployment environment flag	`production`
`ADDITIONAL_CORS_ORIGINS`	Allowed CORS origins	`https://app.hornethive.ai,...`
`CORS_ALLOW_ALL_ORIGINS`	Allow all origins (must be false in prod)	`false`

Deployment Checklist

Pre-Deploy

All environment variables set in Railway/hosting provider
Supabase migrations applied (check supabase migration list)
Supabase RLS policies verified (get_advisors security check)
Frontend .env has correct VITE_API_URL pointing to production API
Stripe webhooks pointing to production URL

Post-Deploy

ENABLE_BRIEFING_SCHEDULER=true set in production
Telegram webhook registered (POST to /api/messaging/telegram/setup-webhook)
Slack app slash command URL updated to production
Email sending verified (send a test via Resend dashboard)
Run a test crew to verify end-to-end flow
Check Supabase security advisors for any new warnings

Database Migrations

Migrations are applied via the Supabase MCP or dashboard. Key tables added in recent phases:

Migration	Tables	Purpose
016	`assistant_conversations`, `assistant_messages`	Persistent chat history
017	`user_messaging_links`	Platform account linking
018	`messaging_link_tokens`	One-time link tokens
019	— (policy updates)	RLS optimization

Infrastructure

Backend (Railway)

FastAPI application
Python 3.11+
Deployed from hivewriter-backend/

Frontend (Netlify)

React 18 + Vite
Deployed from hivewriter-frontend/
SPA routing with _redirects fallback

Docs Site (Netlify)

Docusaurus 3.8
Deployed from docs-site/
Domain: docs.hornethive.ai

Database (Supabase)

PostgreSQL with RLS
Realtime subscriptions for email queue
Edge Functions (if any)

Vector DB (Pinecone)

Stores crew output embeddings for RAG context
Used by crews for knowledge retrieval

Need help with deployment? Contact support@hornethive.ai.

Environment Variables​

Required — Core​

Required — Payments​

Required — Email​

Optional — Telegram Integration​

Setting Up the Telegram Bot​

Optional — Slack Integration​

Optional — Other​

Production-Only​

Deployment Checklist​

Pre-Deploy​

Post-Deploy​

Database Migrations​

Infrastructure​

Backend (Railway)​

Frontend (Netlify)​

Docs Site (Netlify)​

Database (Supabase)​

Vector DB (Pinecone)​