Retell AI Multi-Environment Setup

Overview

Configure Retell AI across development, staging, and production environments.

Prerequisites

•Separate Retell AI accounts or API keys per environment
•Secret management solution (Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, etc.)
•CI/CD pipeline with environment variables
•Environment detection in application

Environment Strategy

Environment	Purpose	API Keys	Data
Development	Local dev	Test keys	Sandbox
Staging	Pre-prod validation	Staging keys	Test data
Production	Live traffic	Production keys	Real data

Configuration Structure

code

config/
├── retellai/
│   ├── base.json           # Shared config
│   ├── development.json    # Dev overrides
│   ├── staging.json        # Staging overrides
│   └── production.json     # Prod overrides

base.json

json

{
  "timeout": 30000,
  "retries": 3,
  "cache": {
    "enabled": true,
    "ttlSeconds": 60
  }
}

development.json

json

{
  "apiKey": "${RETELLAI_API_KEY}",
  "baseUrl": "https://api-sandbox.retellai.com",
  "debug": true,
  "cache": {
    "enabled": false
  }
}

staging.json

json

{
  "apiKey": "${RETELLAI_API_KEY_STAGING}",
  "baseUrl": "https://api-staging.retellai.com",
  "debug": false
}

production.json

json

{
  "apiKey": "${RETELLAI_API_KEY_PROD}",
  "baseUrl": "https://api.retellai.com",
  "debug": false,
  "retries": 5
}

Environment Detection

typescript

// src/retellai/config.ts
import baseConfig from '../../config/retellai/base.json';

type Environment = 'development' | 'staging' | 'production';

function detectEnvironment(): Environment {
  const env = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';
  const validEnvs: Environment[] = ['development', 'staging', 'production'];
  return validEnvs.includes(env as Environment)
    ? (env as Environment)
    : 'development';
}

export function getRetell AIConfig() {
  const env = detectEnvironment();
  const envConfig = require(`../../config/retellai/${env}.json`);

  return {
    ...baseConfig,
    ...envConfig,
    environment: env,
  };
}

Secret Management by Environment

Local Development

bash

# .env.local (git-ignored)
RETELLAI_API_KEY=sk_test_dev_***

CI/CD (GitHub Actions)

yaml

env:
  RETELLAI_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.RETELLAI_API_KEY_${{ matrix.environment }} }}

Production (Vault/Secrets Manager)

bash

# AWS Secrets Manager
aws secretsmanager get-secret-value --secret-id retellai/production/api-key

# GCP Secret Manager
gcloud secrets versions access latest --secret=retellai-api-key

# HashiCorp Vault
vault kv get -field=api_key secret/retellai/production

Environment Isolation

typescript

// Prevent production operations in non-prod
function guardProductionOperation(operation: string): void {
  const config = getRetell AIConfig();

  if (config.environment !== 'production') {
    console.warn(`[retellai] ${operation} blocked in ${config.environment}`);
    throw new Error(`${operation} only allowed in production`);
  }
}

// Usage
async function deleteAllData() {
  guardProductionOperation('deleteAllData');
  // Dangerous operation here
}

Feature Flags by Environment

typescript

const featureFlags: Record<Environment, Record<string, boolean>> = {
  development: {
    newFeature: true,
    betaApi: true,
  },
  staging: {
    newFeature: true,
    betaApi: false,
  },
  production: {
    newFeature: false,
    betaApi: false,
  },
};

Instructions

Step 1: Create Config Structure

Set up the base and per-environment configuration files.

Step 2: Implement Environment Detection

Add logic to detect and load environment-specific config.

Step 3: Configure Secrets

Store API keys securely using your secret management solution.

Step 4: Add Environment Guards

Implement safeguards for production-only operations.

Output

•Multi-environment config structure
•Environment detection logic
•Secure secret management
•Production safeguards enabled

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Solution
Wrong environment	Missing NODE_ENV	Set environment variable
Secret not found	Wrong secret path	Verify secret manager config
Config merge fails	Invalid JSON	Validate config files
Production guard triggered	Wrong environment	Check NODE_ENV value

Examples

Quick Environment Check

typescript

const env = getRetell AIConfig();
console.log(`Running in ${env.environment} with ${env.baseUrl}`);

Resources

Next Steps

For observability setup, see retellai-observability.