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RepoRAGX requires two API keys to function: a GitHub Personal Access Token for fetching repository files and a Groq API Key for the language model.

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Required API keys

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GitHub Personal Access Token

The GitHub Personal Access Token is required to authenticate with GitHub’s API and fetch repository files. RepoRAGX uses this token with LangChain’s GithubFileLoader (src/rag/github_codebase_loader.py:37) to access repository contents.
1

Navigate to GitHub settings

Go to github.com/settings/tokens and click “Generate new token”
2

Choose token type

Select “Fine-grained personal access token” for better security control
3

Configure permissions

Grant the token read-only access with the content:read permission. This allows RepoRAGX to read repository files without write access.
4

Generate and copy

Generate the token and copy it immediately. GitHub will only show it once.

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Groq API Key

The Groq API Key provides access to Groq’s high-speed LLM inference service. RepoRAGX uses this for generating context-aware answers based on retrieved code chunks.
1

Sign up for Groq

Visit console.groq.com and create a free account
2

Navigate to API keys

Go to console.groq.com/keys in the Groq console
3

Generate API key

Click “Create API Key” and give it a descriptive name
4

Copy the key

Copy the generated API key for use with RepoRAGX

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Providing API keys

RepoRAGX supports two methods for providing API keys: When you run python -m src.main, you’ll be prompted to enter your API keys securely: 
GitHub Personal Access Token: ********
Groq API Key: ********
The application uses Python’s getpass module (src/main.py:25-26) to securely read the keys without displaying them in your terminal.

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Environment variables

You can also set environment variables using a .env file:
1

Create .env file

Copy the example file:
cp .env.example .env
2

Add your keys

Edit .env and replace the placeholder values:
GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=ghp_your_actual_token_here
GROQ_API_KEY=gsk_your_actual_key_here
3

Load environment

RepoRAGX automatically loads the .env file using python-dotenv (src/main.py:11)
If keys are provided both via environment variables and interactive prompts, the interactive prompt values will override environment variables (src/main.py:27-28).

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Security best practices

Never commit API keys to version control. Always add .env to your .gitignore file.

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Protecting your keys

  • Never hardcode API keys directly in source code
  • Use .gitignore to exclude .env files from version control
  • Rotate keys regularly if you suspect they may have been exposed
  • Use fine-grained tokens with minimal required permissions
  • Set expiration dates on GitHub tokens when possible
  • Store keys securely using password managers or secret management services

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Key validation

RepoRAGX validates that the Groq API key is present before initializing the LLM: 
api_key = os.getenv("GROQ_API_KEY")
if not api_key:
    raise ValueError("GROQ_API_KEY not found in environment")
If you encounter authentication errors, verify that your GitHub token has the correct permissions and hasn’t expired.

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Testing your configuration

After configuring your API keys, test them by running: 
python -m src.main
If your keys are valid, you’ll see: 
Initializing github loader.....
Fetching files from github....
Initializing Groq LLM...
If there are authentication issues, you’ll receive specific error messages indicating which key is invalid.

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