Environment Selection

SemanticFed clients and build tools target production by default. You can switch to local or alpha using the BURDENOFF_ENV environment variable.

BURDENOFF_ENV

Value	Effect	Default
prod	Production gateways and web app	Yes
alpha	Alpha (pre-production) gateways and web app	No
local	Local development gateways (localhost)	No

No hardcoded localhost

Production builds never contain localhost references. Local/alpha endpoints are injected only when BURDENOFF_ENV is set at build or run time.

Gateway endpoints

BURDENOFF_ENV	Workspace gateway	Global gateway	Web app
prod (default)	https://graphqlworkspaces.burdenoff.com/workspaces/graphql	https://graphql.burdenoff.com/global/graphql	https://app.semanticfed.com
alpha	https://alphagraphqlworkspaces.burdenoff.com/workspaces/graphql	https://alphagraphql.burdenoff.com/global/graphql	https://alphaapp.semanticfed.com
local	http://127.0.0.1:4003/workspaces/graphql	http://127.0.0.1:4000/global/graphql	http://localhost:5173

Per-client usage

CLI

The CLI reads BURDENOFF_ENV at runtime, or you can override individual endpoints:

# Production (default)
semanticfed auth login

# Alpha
BURDENOFF_ENV=alpha semanticfed auth login

# Local
BURDENOFF_ENV=local semanticfed auth login

Override variables:

• SEMANTICFED_WORKSPACE_ENDPOINT
• SEMANTICFED_GLOBAL_ENDPOINT
• SEMANTICFED_OIDC_ISSUER

Node SDK

import { SemanticFedSDK } from '@semanticfed/sdk';

// Production (default)
const sdk = new SemanticFedSDK();

// Or pass endpoints explicitly
const sdkLocal = new SemanticFedSDK({
  workspaceEndpoint: 'http://127.0.0.1:4003/workspaces/graphql',
  globalEndpoint: 'http://127.0.0.1:4000/global/graphql',
});

Python SDK

from semanticfed_sdk import SemanticfedSDK

# Production (default)
sdk = SemanticfedSDK()

# Local
sdk_local = SemanticfedSDK(
    workspace_endpoint="http://127.0.0.1:4003/workspaces/graphql",
    global_endpoint="http://127.0.0.1:4000/global/graphql",
)

Browser Extension

Set BURDENOFF_ENV at build time:

# Production build (default)
bun run build

# Alpha build
BURDENOFF_ENV=alpha bun run build

# Local development build
BURDENOFF_ENV=local bun run build:dev

VS Code Extension

Set BURDENOFF_ENV before starting VS Code:

# Production (default)
code .

# Local
BURDENOFF_ENV=local code .

You can also override individual endpoints via VS Code settings:

• semanticfed.workspaceEndpoint
• semanticfed.globalEndpoint
• semanticfed.oidcIssuer

MCP Server

Set environment variables in your MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "semanticfed": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bun",
      "args": ["run", "~/products/semanticfed/semanticfed-mcp/src/index.ts"],
      "env": {
        "SEMANTICFED_WORKSPACE_ENDPOINT": "https://graphqlworkspaces.burdenoff.com/workspaces/graphql",
        "SEMANTICFED_GLOBAL_ENDPOINT": "https://graphql.burdenoff.com/global/graphql",
        "LOG_LEVEL": "error"
      }
    }
  }
}

Doctor E2E

# Production (default)
make test-all

# Alpha
make test-all SEMANTICFED_TARGET=alpha

# Local
make test-all SEMANTICFED_TARGET=local

App Shell

The SemanticFed app shell reads gateway URLs from environment files or runtime variables:

# .env.local
VITE_WSPACE_GATEWAY_URL=http://localhost:4003
VITE_GLOBAL_GATEWAY_URL=http://localhost:4000

---

For deployment and infrastructure questions, see Deployment.