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Pillow Documentation

Configuration

Pillow’s services are configured primarily through YAML config files and environment variable overrides. This page covers the configuration for each component.

Mill API Configuration

Section titled “Mill API Configuration”

Mill reads its config from a YAML file. For local development, this is mill/config/config-local.yaml. All values can be overridden via environment variables prefixed with MILL_ (e.g. MILL_DATABASE_POSTGRES_HOST).

Database (PostgreSQL)

Section titled “Database (PostgreSQL)”
mill/config/config-local.yaml
database:
  postgres:
    host: "localhost"
    port: 5432
    user: "pillow"
    password: "pillow"
    database: "pillow"
    ssl_mode: "disable"
    max_open_conns: 25
    max_idle_conns: 10
    conn_max_lifetime: "5m"
    query_timeout: "30s"

For production, set credentials via environment variables:

Terminal window
MILL_DATABASE_POSTGRES_HOST=your-db-host
MILL_DATABASE_POSTGRES_PORT=5432
MILL_DATABASE_POSTGRES_USER=your_user
MILL_DATABASE_POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your_password
MILL_DATABASE_POSTGRES_DATABASE=pillow
MILL_DATABASE_POSTGRES_SSL_MODE=require

Redis

Section titled “Redis”
redis:
  host: "localhost"
  port: 6379
  password: ""
  db: 0
  pool_size: 10
  min_idle_conns: 5
  max_retries: 3

Kafka (Redpanda)

Section titled “Kafka (Redpanda)”

Kafka is used for the enrichment pipeline and property ingestion events.

kafka:
  brokers:
    - "localhost:19092"
  consumer_group: "mill-ingestion"
  topics:
    property_ingestion: "property-ingestion"
    property_enrichment: "property-enrichment"
    property_updates: "property-updates"

Set kafka.disabled: true to run Mill without Kafka.

Server

Section titled “Server”
server:
  host: "0.0.0.0"
  port: 4000
  mode: "debug" # "debug" or "release"
  read_timeout: "30s"
  write_timeout: "30s"
  idle_timeout: "60s"

Authentication

Section titled “Authentication”
auth:
  jwt_secret: "change-this-in-production"
  jwt_expiry: "1h"
  refresh_expiry: "24h"
  issuer: "mill-analytics"

Logging

Section titled “Logging”
logging:
  level: "debug" # debug, info, warn, error
  format: "console" # console or json
  output: "stdout"

Libpostal (Geocoding)

Section titled “Libpostal (Geocoding)”

For enhanced address parsing, configure the libpostal integration:

libpostal:
  remote_url: "http://localhost:4400"
  timeout: "30s"
  max_retries: 3

Pillow App Configuration

Section titled “Pillow App Configuration”

The Next.js frontend reads from pillow-app/.env.local:

pillow-app/.env.local
NEXT_PUBLIC_MILL_API=http://localhost:4000
MILL_API=http://localhost:4000
MILL_API_TIMEOUT=10000


# Optional: Mapbox for interactive maps
NEXT_PUBLIC_MAPBOX_TOKEN=your-mapbox-token

Infrastructure (Docker Compose)

Section titled “Infrastructure (Docker Compose)”

Local infrastructure is managed via Docker Compose. The development stack includes PostgreSQL (with PostGIS), Redis, and Redpanda:

Terminal window
# Start all infrastructure
docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up -d


# Stop infrastructure
docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml down


# View logs
docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml logs -f postgres

The Mill also provides a smaller compose file for integration tests:

Terminal window
cd mill
make docker-compose-up    # Start Redis + PostgreSQL
make docker-compose-down  # Stop and clean volumes

Environment-Specific Settings

Section titled “Environment-Specific Settings”

Development

Section titled “Development”

The default config-local.yaml is tuned for local development:

  • Debug logging enabled
  • Rate limiting disabled
  • Sample data loaded on startup
  • Deduplication disabled

Production

Section titled “Production”

For production, use a dedicated config file or override via environment variables:

  • Set MILL_SERVER_MODE=release
  • Set MILL_LOGGING_LEVEL=info and MILL_LOGGING_FORMAT=json
  • Enable rate limiting
  • Use strong JWT secrets
  • Enable SSL for PostgreSQL (ssl_mode: require)

Health Checks

Section titled “Health Checks”

Verify the system is configured correctly:

Terminal window
# Mill API health
curl http://localhost:4000/health


# PostgreSQL connectivity
psql -h localhost -U pillow -d pillow -c "SELECT 1"


# Redis connectivity
redis-cli ping


# Infrastructure status
docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml ps

Database Setup

Section titled “Database Setup”

PostgreSQL is provisioned automatically by Docker Compose. Mill auto-migrates the schema on startup. For a manual reset:

Terminal window
# Connect to PostgreSQL
psql -h localhost -U pillow -d pillow


# Apply schema manually (if needed)
psql -h localhost -U pillow -d pillow < mill/scripts/create_comprehensive_properties_table.sql

Security Best Practices

Section titled “Security Best Practices”
  • Never commit secrets or credentials to version control
  • Use environment variables for sensitive values in production
  • Rotate JWT secrets regularly
  • Enable SSL/TLS for all production database connections
  • Use Kubernetes Secrets or a secrets manager for production deployments

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”