Context Platform

Context settings reference

Every environment variable of the Context Platform, with defaults, bounds and what happens when a value is invalid.

The Context Platform is configured on the Govern server with environment variables. All are optional. A configuration error never stops the server: retrieval answers 503 context.misconfigured, or only the affected feature's routes answer 503, as noted below. GET /api/v1/context/status (organisation administrators) shows configurationValid.

Embeddings and search

No embeddings endpoint is configured by default: search is full-text only.

Variable	Default	Meaning
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EMBEDDINGS_URL`	unset	OpenAI-compatible base URL (`.../v1`); unset means full-text only
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EMBEDDINGS_MODEL`	none	Model name; required with the URL
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EMBEDDINGS_DIMENSIONS`	none	Vector size, 1 to 65536; required with the URL; every response is checked
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EMBEDDINGS_API_KEY`	unset	Bearer key
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EMBEDDINGS_SEND_DIMENSIONS`		`true` sends `dimensions` in the request
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EMBEDDINGS_EXTERNAL`	automatic	`true`: the endpoint is outside the deployment; `false`: inside. Unset: external unless the host is loopback or in the internal hosts list
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EMBEDDINGS_INTERNAL_HOSTS`	empty	Hosts that count as inside the deployment: names, `*.suffix`, IPs or CIDRs, comma-separated
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EMBEDDINGS_BATCH_SIZE`	64	Inputs per request, 1 to 2048
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EMBEDDINGS_MAX_RETRIES`	4	Retries after `429`, `5xx` or a transport error, 0 to 10
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_SEARCH_BACKEND`	`sql`	`sql` (exact cosine in SQL) or `pgvector` (needs the extension; missing, retrieval fails closed)
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_IVFFLAT_PROBES`	10	Probes of the `pgvector` backend, 1 to 100
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_LEVEL_WEIGHTS`	built-in	Default level weights, `level=weight,...` (subproject, project, team, department, bu, org, group, user)

Confidential and restricted content is never sent to an external endpoint, whatever these settings say. See Retrieval.

Indexing and GitHub

Variable	Default	Meaning
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_CHUNK_MAX_TOKENS`	400	Chunk size; `0` turns the indexer off (adding or re-indexing content then answers `503 context.indexer.not_configured`)
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_DEFAULT_EXCLUDES`	built-in list	Path patterns excluded from every codebase source; replaces the default list; `none` for no default exclusions
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_GITHUB_HOSTS`	`github.com`	Allowed GitHub hosts, comma-separated; add your GitHub Enterprise host
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_GITHUB_APP_SECRET_PATH`	`secret/data/keystone/context/github-app`	Keystone Vault KV version 2 path of the organisation's GitHub App secret

Collaboration

Variable	Default	Meaning
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_LENSES_PER_OWNER`	500	Live lenses one person owns (1 to 100,000)
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_LENSES_PER_ORG`	20,000	Live lenses of one organisation, system lenses excluded (1 to 1,000,000)
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_SNAPSHOTS_PER_HOUR`	200	Snapshots one person creates per hour (1 to 10,000)
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_PENDING_SHARE_TTL`	14 days	Lifetime of a share waiting for approval, 1 hour to 30 days; a malformed value turns pending shares off
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_TARGETS_PER_MINUTE`	30	Share target lookups per person
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_PROJECT_LOOKUPS_PER_MINUTE`	60	Project lookups per person (1 to 600); a malformed value keeps the default

Team memory

Variable	Default
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_MEMORY_MAX_UPDATE_BYTES`	65536
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_MEMORY_MAX_TEXT_BYTES`	65536
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_MEMORY_MAX_UNITS`	262144
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_MEMORY_MAX_UPDATES_PER_ENTRY`	50000
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_MEMORY_UPDATES_PER_MINUTE`	240
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_MEMORY_ENTRIES_PER_SPACE`	5000
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_MEMORY_COMPACT_AFTER`	256

Meanings are on Team memory.

Real-time feed

A malformed value turns only the feed and presence routes into 503 context.events.unavailable. Durations use Go syntax (30s, 15m).

Variable	Default	Meaning
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EVENTS_MAX_CONNS_PER_USER`	5	Open streams per user and replica
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EVENTS_MAX_CONNS_PER_ORG`	200	Open streams per organisation and replica
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EVENTS_BACKLOG_MAX`	1000	Most events a resume replays
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EVENTS_RETENTION`	`24h`	How long events stay replayable (1m to 720h)
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EVENTS_KEEPALIVE`	`10s`	Keep-alive comment interval
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EVENTS_HEARTBEAT`	`30s`	Heartbeat event interval
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EVENTS_REFRESH`	`10s`	Authorisation re-check interval (the revocation bound)
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EVENTS_BUFFER`	1024	Events queued per stream before a slow client is dropped
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EVENTS_WRITE_TIMEOUT`	`10s`	Longest a write to a client may block
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EVENTS_MAX_AGE`	`15m`	Lifetime of one stream
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_EVENTS_POLL`	`2s`	Fallback poll interval
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_PRESENCE_TTL`	`30s`	Lifetime of a presence entry between heartbeats

Work registry

A malformed value turns only the registry's routes into 503 context.work.unavailable.

Variable	Default
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_WORK_TTL`	`15m`
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_WORK_PAUSED_TTL`	`24h`
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_WORK_MAX_ITEMS_PER_USER`	25
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_WORK_MAX_ITEMS_PER_ORG`	5000
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_WORK_MAX_AREAS`	200
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_WORK_CHECKS_PER_MINUTE`	60
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_WORK_RETENTION_DAYS`	400
`KEYSTONE_CONTEXT_WORK_RECONCILE`	`@every 1m` (`off` disables the abandonment job)

Variable	Meaning
`NI_OBSERVABILITY_SIGNING_KEY`	Keys the HMAC evidence chain that holds retrieval attributions. Required; keep it stable
`KEYSTONE_MODELS_CONTEXT_LINK_WAIT_MS`	How long the model gateway waits for a retrieval's attribution record before answering `not_found` (default 750, 0 to 10000)

Last reviewed 17 October 2026View as Markdown