> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://offthepace.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Configuration: environment variables and the FastF1 cache

> The full ingestion config surface three optional environment variables, no credentials, and how the on-disk FastF1 cache works.

Ingestion needs no credentials. `EnvironmentConfig` exposes exactly three settings, each with a sensible default, each overridable via an environment variable or a `.env` file.

<ParamField path="FASTF1_CACHE_DIR" type="path" default="data/cache">
  Where FastF1 caches downloaded session data on disk. Sized to hold every session you've loaded once see [the cache section](#the-fastf1-cache) below.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="INGESTION_LOG_LEVEL" type="string" default="INFO">
  Default logging verbosity, overridden per-run by `ingest.py`'s `--log-level` flag.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="INGESTION_TIMEOUT_SECONDS" type="float" default="300">
  Per-request timeout passed through to FastF1's network calls. Falls back to 300 with a warning if set to a non-numeric value.
</ParamField>

<Info>
  Neither FastF1 nor Jolpica requires authentication. There is no API key, token, or secret anywhere in the ingestion config surface.
</Info>

## .env discovery

`EnvironmentConfig` searches for a `.env` file up the directory tree the current working directory, then `ingestion/`, then the project root and loads the first one it finds. You don't need to `export` variables manually; dropping a `.env` file at the project root is enough.

```bash .env theme={null}
FASTF1_CACHE_DIR=/custom/path/to/cache
INGESTION_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
```

## The FastF1 cache

Every session FastF1 loads is cached to `FASTF1_CACHE_DIR` (`data/cache/` by default) the first time it's pulled. Subsequent loads of the same session including a `--force` re-ingest read from the local cache instead of hitting the upstream feed again.

<Tip>
  This is why `--force` re-pulls are cheap: the slow part (talking to FastF1's live-timing/archive feed) only happens once per session. Everything after that is a local cache read plus the Bronze write.
</Tip>

The cache directory is created automatically on first run via `fastf1.Cache.enable_cache(...)` there's nothing to set up beyond optionally redirecting where it lives.