Configuration

Updated

Assay works with no configuration beyond what the install writes. Everything on this page is optional tuning. Server settings are environment variables on your Assay environment in Laravel Cloud; change them there and redeploy. Settings for the applications that report to Assay live in those applications; see Connecting your apps and Capturing content.

Assay has no settings screen. In-app administration is limited to members, sessions and installation credentials under Settings, and content access overrides at /assay/access.

Values Scalpels and Laravel Cloud manage

Value	Managed by	What it does
`ASSAY_ERASURE_KEY`	Scalpels, generated once at install	The dedicated key for erasure tombstones and subject lookups. Separate from `APP_KEY`. Never replace or remove it: every past erasure depends on it, and Assay refuses subject-bearing telemetry without a valid key.
Database, queue and storage settings	Laravel Cloud	Injected for the Postgres database, managed queue and bucket the install attached. Do not add variables that shadow them.

The erasure journal is written to the application's default filesystem disk under the assay/erasures prefix. On Laravel Cloud that is the bucket the install attached, so the journal survives deploys and database restores.

Retention

Variable	Default	Effect
`ASSAY_RUN_CONTENT_RETENTION_DAYS`	`30`	Days captured run content is kept.
`ASSAY_USAGE_RETENTION_DAYS`	`395`	Days usage metadata is kept.
`ASSAY_DATASET_RETENTION_DAYS`	`365`	The default lifetime of a dataset item, counted from when it was added. Set `no-expiry` to make the default no expiry. A dataset can still choose its own retention when it is created.
`ASSAY_QUEUE_FAILED_RETENTION_HOURS`	`72`	Hours the encrypted residue of failed ingest jobs is kept. It is never kept longer than run content.
`ASSAY_RETENTION_BATCH_SIZE`	`1000`	Rows deleted per batch by the daily pruning job.

Retention pruning runs daily at 02:00. Shortening a period takes effect at the next run.

Ingest limits

Variable	Default	Effect
`ASSAY_INGEST_MAX_BODY_BYTES`	`8388608` (8 MiB)	Largest request body Assay accepts.
`ASSAY_INGEST_MAX_RECORDS`	`500`	Most records in one batch.
`ASSAY_INGEST_MAX_SOURCES`	`16`	Most sources in one batch.
`ASSAY_INGEST_QUEUE`	Cloud's default queue connection	The queue connection accepted batches are processed on.

The client splits a batch and retries when Assay rejects it as too large, so you rarely need to change these. If you lower ASSAY_INGEST_MAX_RECORDS, keep each client's ASSAY_BATCH_SIZE at or below it.

Run reconciliation

Variable	Default	Effect
`ASSAY_STALE_AFTER_MINUTES`	`30`	Minutes after first receipt before a run with no final record is marked `incomplete` (or `failed_or_lost` for a non-agent operation). The same window decides how long content sent for a record that has not arrived yet is held before it is dropped.
`ASSAY_STALE_BATCH_SIZE`	`1000`	Runs reconciled per scheduler pass.
`ASSAY_CONTENT_ATTACH_BATCH_SIZE`	`1000`	Held content records reconciled per scheduler pass.
`ASSAY_ERASURE_BATCH_SIZE`	`1000`	Rows deleted per batch during a subject erasure.

Scheduled work

The install enables Laravel Cloud's scheduler, which runs:

Command	When	What it does
`assay:reconcile-stale-runs`	Every minute	Marks runs that never finished.
`assay:reconcile-content-attaches`	Every minute	Applies held content whose target record has arrived and drops expired orphans.
`assay:queue:prune-residue`	Every minute	Prunes encrypted failed-job residue past its limit.
`assay:retention:prune`	Daily at 02:00	Applies the retention periods above.

Each command can also be run by hand inside the Assay environment to check it. Assay's maintenance commands act on the environment they run in; they have no --local switch and no remote mode.