Setup

Configuration

Complete guide to environment variables and configuration settings for the NotebookLLM frontend.

Overview

The frontend uses environment variables to configure API endpoints, authentication providers, and feature flags. Create a .env.local file in the frontend directory.

Required Variables

Supabase

VariableDescription
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URLYour Supabase project URL (e.g., https://xxx.supabase.co)
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEYSupabase anon key (public, safe to expose)

API Backend

VariableDescription
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URLBackend API URL (default: http://localhost:8000)

Optional Variables

Authentication

VariableDefaultDescription
NEXT_PUBLIC_LOGIN_PAGEfalseShow login page before app
NEXT_PUBLIC_ALLOW_SIGNUPtrueAllow new user registration

Features

VariableDefaultDescription
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_DRIVE_ENABLEDfalseEnable Google Drive integration
NEXT_PUBLIC_NOTE_TAKING_ENABLEDtrueEnable note-taking feature
NEXT_PUBLIC_ASK_ENABLEDtrueEnable ask/chat feature
NEXT_PUBLIC_STUDIO_ENABLEDtrueEnable studio content generation

UI/UX

VariableDefaultDescription
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_NAMENotebookLLMApplication name displayed in UI
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URLhttp://localhost:3000Production URL for OAuth redirects
NEXT_PUBLIC_SHOW_BRANDINGtrueShow NotebookLLM branding

Example Configuration

Development (.env.local)

# Supabase (Required)
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=http://localhost:54321
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=your-anon-key

# Backend API
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:8000

# Features
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_DRIVE_ENABLED=false
NEXT_PUBLIC_NOTE_TAKING_ENABLED=true
NEXT_PUBLIC_ASK_ENABLED=true
NEXT_PUBLIC_STUDIO_ENABLED=true

Production (.env.production)

# Supabase (Required)
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=https://your-project.supabase.co
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=your-anon-key

# Backend API
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://api.yourdomain.com

# Features
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_DRIVE_ENABLED=true
NEXT_PUBLIC_NOTE_TAKING_ENABLED=true
NEXT_PUBLIC_ASK_ENABLED=true
NEXT_PUBLIC_STUDIO_ENABLED=true

# App
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_NAME=NotebookLLM
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=https://app.yourdomain.com
NEXT_PUBLIC_LOGIN_PAGE=false
NEXT_PUBLIC_ALLOW_SIGNUP=true

Backend Configuration

The frontend also needs certain backend environment variables to be configured. See the backend configuration docs for the complete list.

Important Backend Variables

  • DATABASE_URL - PostgreSQL connection string
  • SUPABASE_URL & SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY - Supabase
  • QDRANT_HOST & QDRANT_API_KEY - Vector database
  • GEMINI_API_KEY - Google Gemini API
  • COHERE_API_KEY - Cohere for reranking

AI Provider Configuration

Configure AI providers for the backend. At minimum, you need one LLM provider.

ProviderVariable
Google GeminiGEMINI_API_KEY
OpenAIOPENAI_API_KEY
GroqGROQ_API_KEY
Cohere (Reranking)COHERE_API_KEY

Next Steps