feat: add configurable user_env persistence to database (Chainlit#2397)

From Chainlit#2335 
Simple clear of user env before writing to db with .chainlit/config.toml
default parameter

**Also changed:** API key fields in frontend are now masked for improved
security.

---------

Co-authored-by: Matthias Vogler <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Josh Hayes <[email protected]>

Author: 3 people

backend/chainlit/config.py

@@ -78,6 +78,14 @@
 # Enable third parties caching (e.g., LangChain cache)
 cache = false
 
+# Whether to persist user environment variables (API keys) to the database
+# Set to true to store user env vars in DB, false to exclude them for security
+persist_user_env = false
+
+# Whether to mask user environment variables (API keys) in the UI with password type
+# Set to true to show API keys as ***, false to show them as plain text
+mask_user_env = false
+
 # Authorized origins
 allow_origins = ["*"]
 
@@ -399,6 +407,10 @@ class ProjectSettings(BaseModel):
     user_session_timeout: int = 1296000  # 15 days
     # Enable third parties caching (e.g LangChain cache)
     cache: bool = False
+    # Whether to persist user environment variables (API keys) to the database
+    persist_user_env: Optional[bool] = False
+    # Whether to mask user environment variables (API keys) in the UI with password type
+    mask_user_env: Optional[bool] = False
 
 
 class ChainlitConfigOverrides(BaseModel):

backend/chainlit/server.py

@@ -838,6 +838,7 @@ async def project_settings(
             "ui": cfg.ui.model_dump(),
             "features": cfg.features.model_dump(),
             "userEnv": cfg.project.user_env,
+            "maskUserEnv": cfg.project.mask_user_env,
             "dataPersistence": data_layer is not None,
             "threadResumable": bool(config.code.on_chat_resume),
             "markdown": markdown,

backend/chainlit/session.py

@@ -141,13 +141,21 @@ async def persist_file(
         return {"id": file_id}
 
     def to_persistable(self) -> Dict:
+        from chainlit.config import config
         from chainlit.user_session import user_sessions
 
         user_session = user_sessions.get(self.id) or {}  # type: Dict
         user_session["chat_settings"] = self.chat_settings
         user_session["chat_profile"] = self.chat_profile
         user_session["client_type"] = self.client_type
-        metadata = clean_metadata(user_session)
+
+        # Check config setting for whether to persist user environment variables
+        user_session_copy = user_session.copy()
+        if not config.project.persist_user_env:
+            # Remove user environment variables (API keys) before persisting to database
+            user_session_copy["env"] = {}
+
+        metadata = clean_metadata(user_session_copy)
         return metadata
 
 

frontend/src/pages/Env.tsx

@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ const Env = () => {
                   <Label htmlFor={key}>{key}</Label>
                   <Input
                     id={key}
+                    type={config?.maskUserEnv !== false ? "password" : "text"}
                     {...register(key)}
                     className={
                       touchedFields[key] && errors[key] ? 'border-red-500' : ''

libs/react-client/src/types/config.ts

@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ export interface IChainlitConfig {
   };
   debugUrl?: string;
   userEnv: string[];
+  maskUserEnv?: boolean;
   dataPersistence: boolean;
   threadResumable: boolean;
   chatProfiles: ChatProfile[];