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Scira offers extensive configuration options to customize the application for your specific requirements. This guide covers application settings, database configuration, search providers, and user preferences.

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Application Settings

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Next.js Configuration

The main application configuration is in next.config.ts: 
const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
  compiler: {
    removeConsole: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' 
      ? { exclude: ['error'] } 
      : false,
  },
  reactCompiler: true,
  experimental: {
    turbopackFileSystemCacheForDev: true,
    turbopackFileSystemCacheForBuild: true,
    optimizePackageImports: [
      '@phosphor-icons/react',
      'lucide-react',
      '@hugeicons/react',
      'date-fns',
    ],
    serverActions: {
      bodySizeLimit: '20mb',
    },
    staleTimes: {
      dynamic: 10,
      static: 30,
    },
  },
};

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Key Configuration Options

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compiler.removeConsole
object
Removes console statements in production builds (except errors)
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reactCompiler
boolean
Enables the React compiler for optimized builds
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experimental.serverActions.bodySizeLimit
string
Maximum size for server action payloads (set to 20MB for file uploads)
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experimental.optimizePackageImports
array
Packages to optimize for faster imports and smaller bundle sizes

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Security Headers

Scira configures security headers automatically: 
async headers() {
  return [
    {
      source: '/(.*)',
      headers: [
        {
          key: 'X-Content-Type-Options',
          value: 'nosniff',
        },
        {
          key: 'X-Frame-Options',
          value: 'DENY',
        },
        {
          key: 'Referrer-Policy',
          value: 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin',
        },
      ],
    },
  ];
}

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Image Configuration

Next.js image optimization is configured for external sources: 
images: {
  qualities: [75, 100],
  dangerouslyAllowSVG: true,
  remotePatterns: [
    {
      protocol: 'https',
      hostname: '**',
    },
  ],
  deviceSizes: [640, 750, 828, 1080, 1200, 1920, 2048, 3840],
  imageSizes: [16, 32, 48, 64, 96, 128, 256, 384],
  formats: ['image/webp'],
  minimumCacheTTL: 60,
}

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Database Configuration

Scira uses Drizzle ORM with PostgreSQL. The configuration is in drizzle.config.ts: 
import { defineConfig } from 'drizzle-kit';

export default defineConfig({
  schema: './lib/db/schema.ts',
  out: './drizzle/migrations',
  dialect: 'postgresql',
  dbCredentials: {
    url: process.env.DATABASE_URL!,
  },
});

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Database Schema

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schema
string
Path to the database schema file (./lib/db/schema.ts)
​
out
string
Directory for generated migrations (./drizzle/migrations)
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dialect
string
Database dialect - PostgreSQL
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dbCredentials.url
string
Database connection URL from DATABASE_URL environment variable

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Connection Pooling

For production, configure connection pooling in your database URL: 
# Example with PgBouncer
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:password@host:6432/database?pgbouncer=true"

# Example with connection pool size
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:password@host:5432/database?pool_size=20"

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Search Provider Preferences

Scira supports multiple search providers. Users can configure their preferred providers through user preferences.

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Available Search Providers

Exa

AI-powered search with semantic understanding

Parallel

High-performance parallel web and Reddit search

Tavily

Web search optimized for AI applications

Firecrawl

Web scraping with structured data extraction

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Provider Configuration

Set your search provider API keys in environment variables: 
EXA_API_KEY=your_exa_api_key
TAVILY_API_KEY=your_tavily_api_key
FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=your_firecrawl_api_key

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Custom Instructions

Users can configure custom instructions to personalize AI responses. Custom instructions are stored per user in the database.

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Custom Instructions Schema

From lib/db/schema.ts: 
export const customInstructions = pgTable('custom_instructions', {
  id: text('id').primaryKey().$defaultFn(() => generateId()),
  userId: text('user_id')
    .notNull()
    .references(() => user.id, { onDelete: 'cascade' }),
  content: text('content').notNull(),
  createdAt: timestamp('created_at').notNull().defaultNow(),
  updatedAt: timestamp('updated_at').notNull().defaultNow(),
});

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Using Custom Instructions

Custom instructions allow users to:
  • Define preferred response formats
  • Set domain-specific context
  • Configure tone and style preferences
  • Add recurring research requirements

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User Preferences Structure

User preferences are stored in the user_preferences table with a flexible JSON structure.

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Preferences Schema

From lib/db/schema.ts: 
export const userPreferences = pgTable('user_preferences', {
  id: text('id').primaryKey().$defaultFn(() => generateId()),
  userId: text('user_id')
    .notNull()
    .unique()
    .references(() => user.id, { onDelete: 'cascade' }),
  preferences: json('preferences')
    .$type<{
      'scira-search-provider'?: 'exa' | 'parallel' | 'tavily' | 'firecrawl';
      'scira-extreme-search-provider'?: 'exa' | 'parallel';
      'scira-group-order'?: string[];
      'scira-model-order-global'?: string[];
      'scira-blur-personal-info'?: boolean;
      'scira-custom-instructions-enabled'?: boolean;
      'scira-location-metadata-enabled'?: boolean;
    }>()
    .notNull()
    .default({}),
  createdAt: timestamp('created_at').notNull().defaultNow(),
  updatedAt: timestamp('updated_at').notNull().defaultNow(),
});

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Available Preferences

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scira-search-provider
enum
Preferred search provider: exa, parallel, tavily, or firecrawl
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scira-extreme-search-provider
enum
Provider for extreme/deep search: exa or parallel
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scira-group-order
array
Custom ordering for search mode groups
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scira-model-order-global
array
Preferred ordering for AI models
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scira-blur-personal-info
boolean
Whether to blur personal information in the UI
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scira-custom-instructions-enabled
boolean
Enable/disable custom instructions for AI responses
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scira-location-metadata-enabled
boolean
Enable/disable location metadata in searches

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Rate Limiting

Scira uses Upstash Redis for rate limiting: 
// From lib/auth.ts
export const auth = betterAuth({
  rateLimit: {
    max: 100,
    window: 60,
  },
  // ... other config
});
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max
number
Maximum number of requests (100)
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window
number
Time window in seconds (60)

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CORS and Trusted Origins

Configure allowed origins for authentication: 
// From lib/auth.ts
trustedOrigins: [
  'http://localhost:3000',
  'https://scira.ai',
  'https://www.scira.ai'
],
allowedOrigins: [
  'http://localhost:3000',
  'https://scira.ai',
  'https://www.scira.ai'
]
Update trustedOrigins and allowedOrigins to include your production domain when deploying.

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Environment-Specific Configuration

Scira uses environment-specific configuration through env/server.ts and env/client.ts: 
import { createJiti } from 'jiti';

const jiti = createJiti(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));

jiti.import('./env/server.ts');
jiti.import('./env/client.ts');
This ensures:
  • Server-only environment variables remain secure
  • Client variables are properly exposed with NEXT_PUBLIC_ prefix
  • Type-safe environment variable access
  • Validation at build time

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Performance Optimization

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Turbopack Configuration

turbopack: {
  resolveAlias: {
    '#default-font/*': '@mathjax/mathjax-newcm-font/mjs/*',
  },
  resolveExtensions: ['.js', '.jsx', '.ts', '.tsx', '.mjs', '.cjs', '.json'],
}

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Package Transpilation

transpilePackages: [
  'geist',
  '@daytonaio/sdk',
  'shiki',
  'resumable-stream',
  '@t3-oss/env-nextjs',
  '@t3-oss/env-core',
  '@mathjax/src',
  '@mathjax/mathjax-newcm-font',
]

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External Server Packages

serverExternalPackages: [
  '@aws-sdk/client-s3',
  'prettier'
]

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Next Steps

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