Environment Variables

AI/Chat Configuration

Fanar API (Primary)

# Fanar API for chat functionality
export FANAR_API_KEY="your-fanar-api-key"
export FANAR_API_URL="https://api.fanar.qa"  # Default: https://api.fanar.qa

Ollama (Fallback)

# Used if Fanar API key is not set
export MODEL_NAME="llama3.2"                    # Default: llama3.2
export MODEL_API_URL="http://localhost:11434"   # Default: http://localhost:11434

YouTube Configuration

# YouTube API key for video functionality
export YOUTUBE_API_KEY="your-youtube-api-key"

Vector Search Configuration

# Ollama endpoint for semantic vector search (embeddings)
export MODEL_API_URL="http://localhost:11434"   # Default: http://localhost:11434

Note: Vector search requires Ollama with nomic-embed-text model. If unavailable, falls back to keyword search. See Vector Search for installation.

TODO: The Ollama endpoint (http://localhost:11434) and embedding model (nomic-embed-text) are currently hardcoded in data/data.go. Consider making these configurable via MODEL_API_URL and a new EMBEDDING_MODEL environment variable.

Messaging Configuration

Mu has two messaging systems:

• Internal messages - Free, instant delivery between Mu users
• External email - SMTP-based, costs credits, for sending to outside email addresses

# SMTP server port for receiving external email
export MAIL_PORT="2525"              # Default: 2525 (use 25 for production)

# Domain for email addresses
export MAIL_DOMAIN="yourdomain.com"  # Default: localhost

# DKIM signing selector (requires keys in ~/.mu/keys/dkim.key)
export MAIL_SELECTOR="default"       # Default: default

Notes:

• Internal messaging works without any configuration
• SMTP configuration only needed for external email (sending/receiving outside Mu)
• Mu delivers external messages directly to recipient servers via SMTP (no relay needed)
• DKIM signing enables automatically if keys exist at ~/.mu/keys/dkim.key
• External email costs credits (SMTP delivery cost)

Payment Configuration (Optional)

Enable donations to support your instance. All variables are optional - leave empty for a free instance.

# One-time donation URL
export DONATION_URL="https://gocardless.com/your-donation-link"

# Community/support URL (e.g., Discord, forum)
export SUPPORT_URL="https://discord.gg/your-invite"

Notes:

• When empty, donation features are hidden
• Links appear on /donate page

Crypto Wallet Configuration (Credits/Payments)

Enable payments via crypto deposits. When configured, users get 10 free AI queries per day, then can pay-as-you-go by depositing crypto.

When wallet is NOT configured: All quotas are disabled. Users have unlimited free access. This is the default for self-hosted instances.

# Wallet seed (optional - auto-generated if not set)
# If not provided, a new seed is generated and saved to ~/.mu/keys/wallet.seed
export WALLET_SEED="24 word mnemonic phrase here"

# Base RPC endpoint (optional - uses public endpoint by default)
export BASE_RPC_URL="https://mainnet.base.org"

Quota Configuration

# Daily free AI queries (default: 10)
export FREE_DAILY_SEARCHES="10"

# Credit costs per operation (default values shown)
export CREDIT_COST_NEWS="1"        # News search (1p)
export CREDIT_COST_VIDEO="2"       # Video search (2p) - YouTube API cost
export CREDIT_COST_VIDEO_WATCH="0" # Video watch (free) - no value added over YouTube
export CREDIT_COST_CHAT="3"        # Chat AI query (3p) - LLM cost
export CREDIT_COST_EMAIL="4"       # External email (4p) - SMTP delivery cost

Notes:

• 1 credit = £0.01 (1 penny)
• Admins get unlimited access (no quotas)
• Credits never expire
• Users deposit any ERC-20 token on Base network

Wallet Seed Location

The wallet seed is stored in ~/.mu/keys/wallet.seed. If not provided via environment variable, it will be auto-generated on first run.

IMPORTANT: Back up this file! It controls all deposit addresses.

Example Usage

Development (Local Testing)

# Messaging server on port 2525
export MAIL_PORT="2525"
export MAIL_DOMAIN="localhost"

./mu --serve --address :8080

Production

# Messaging server on standard SMTP port 25
export MAIL_PORT="25"

# Your domain and DKIM configuration
export MAIL_DOMAIN="yourdomain.com"
export MAIL_SELECTOR="default"

./mu --serve --address :8080

All Environment Variables

.env File (Optional)

Create a .env file:

# AI/Chat
FANAR_API_KEY=your-fanar-api-key
FANAR_API_URL=https://api.fanar.ai
MODEL_NAME=llama3.2
MODEL_API_URL=http://localhost:11434

# YouTube
YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your-youtube-api-key

# Messaging (uses SMTP protocol)
MAIL_PORT=2525
MAIL_DOMAIN=yourdomain.com
MAIL_SELECTOR=default

# Donations (optional - leave empty for free instance)
DONATION_URL=https://gocardless.com/your-donation-link
SUPPORT_URL=https://discord.gg/your-invite

# Crypto wallet (optional - for payments)
# If not set, seed is auto-generated in ~/.mu/keys/wallet.seed
# WALLET_SEED=your 24 word mnemonic phrase

Load and run:

export $(cat .env | xargs) && ./mu --serve --address :8080

Systemd Service Example

[Unit]
Description=Mu Service
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=mu
WorkingDirectory=/opt/mu

# AI/Chat
Environment="FANAR_API_KEY=your-fanar-api-key"
Environment="FANAR_API_URL=https://api.fanar.ai"

# YouTube
Environment="YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your-youtube-api-key"

# Messaging
Environment="MAIL_PORT=25"
Environment="MAIL_DOMAIN=yourdomain.com"
Environment="MAIL_SELECTOR=default"

# Donations (optional)
Environment="DONATION_URL=https://gocardless.com/your-donation-link"
Environment="SUPPORT_URL=https://discord.gg/your-invite"

# Crypto wallet (optional - auto-generated if not set)
# Environment="WALLET_SEED=your 24 word mnemonic phrase"

ExecStart=/opt/mu/mu --serve --address :8080
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Docker Example

FROM golang:1.24 AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN go build -o mu

FROM debian:bookworm-slim
COPY --from=builder /app/mu /usr/local/bin/
EXPOSE 8080 25
CMD ["mu", "--serve", "--address", ":8080"]

Run with environment variables:

docker run -d \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -p 25:25 \
  -e FANAR_API_KEY=your-fanar-api-key \
  -e YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your-youtube-api-key \
  -e MAIL_PORT=25 \
  -e MAIL_DOMAIN=yourdomain.com \
  -e MAIL_SELECTOR=default \
  -e DONATION_URL=https://gocardless.com/your-donation-link \
  -e SUPPORT_URL=https://discord.gg/your-invite \
  # Wallet seed auto-generated in ~/.mu/keys/wallet.seed if not set
  # -e WALLET_SEED="your 24 word mnemonic" \
  -v ~/.mu:/root/.mu \
  mu:latest

Getting API Keys

Fanar API

• Sign up at Fanar AI
• Get your API key from the dashboard
• Required for chat functionality

YouTube API

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project
3. Enable YouTube Data API v3
4. Create credentials (API Key)
5. Required for video search/playback

Feature Requirements