Reference
Environment variables
Memory Layer reads values from the process environment, from memory-layer.env files next to config files, and from TOML config. Environment overrides use the MEMORY_LAYER__SECTION__KEY shape.
Common variables
| Variable | Required | Used for |
|---|---|---|
MEMORY_LAYER_CONFIG | Optional | Same as --config <path> for commands that load app config. |
MEMORY_LAYER_PROFILE | Optional | Force dev or prod; normally inferred from binary path. |
MEMORY_LAYER_WRITER_ID | Optional | Same as --writer-id / --agent-id for write-capable commands. |
MEMORY_LAYER__SERVICE__API_TOKEN | Usually generated | Service API token when supplied through env instead of TOML. |
MEMORY_LAYER__DATABASE__URL | Sometimes | PostgreSQL URL override. |
OPENAI_API_KEY | When configured | OpenAI or OpenAI-compatible LLM/embedding provider key. |
VOYAGE_API_KEY | When configured | Voyage embedding provider key. |
COHERE_API_KEY | When configured | Cohere embedding provider key. |
GEMINI_API_KEY | When configured | Gemini embedding provider key. |
MEMORY_LAYER_TEST_DATABASE_URL | Test only | Pgvector-backed integration test database. |
MEMORY_LAYER_TEST_REQUIRE_DB | Test only | Make DB-backed tests fail instead of skip when the test DB is unavailable. |
DATABASE_URL is useful for psql commands and some setup snippets, but Memory Layer's own config field is [database].url or MEMORY_LAYER__DATABASE__URL.
Provider variables
Provider keys are indirect. The TOML api_key_env value names the environment variable the service reads:
[[embeddings.backends]]
name = "voyage-code"
provider = "voyage"
api_key_env = "VOYAGE_API_KEY"
model = "voyage-code-3"VOYAGE_API_KEY=pa-...For local Ollama, api_key_env = "" is normally correct.
Config override examples
MEMORY_LAYER_PROFILE=dev cargo run --bin memory -- status --project memory
MEMORY_LAYER__DATABASE__URL='postgres://memory_layer:secret@127.0.0.1:5432/memory_layer' memory doctor
MEMORY_LAYER_WRITER_ID=codex-docs memory remember --project memory --note "Updated reference docs"Diagnostics
memory doctor
memory status --project <project-slug> --json
memory embeddings listmemory doctor is the safest way to discover missing provider variables without printing secret values.
Next
Read Global config.