> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.usesentinel.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Environment Variables

> Configure Sentinel using environment variables

## Variables

<ResponseField name="SENTINEL_API_KEY" type="string" required>
  Your Ingest API Key for authenticating requests to the ingestion API. Get this
  from your Sentinel dashboard.
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="SENTINEL_DEBUG" type="boolean">
  Enable debug logging to see logs when events are sent. Useful for verifying
  that events are being tracked correctly. Default: `false`
</ResponseField>

## Example

Create a `.env` file in your project root:

```bash .env theme={null}
SENTINEL_API_KEY=sk_live_abc123...
SENTINEL_DEBUG=false
```

<Warning>
  Never commit `.env` files to version control. Add them to your `.gitignore`.
</Warning>