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The CLI reads its configuration exclusively from environment variables via src/config.mjs. No configuration files are parsed automatically — you pass variables through your shell environment or an .env file loaded with Node.js’s built-in --env-file flag.

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Required variables

Both of these variables must be set for the CLI to create GitHub issues and HackMD documents.
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GITHUB_TOKEN
string
required
A GitHub Personal Access Token (or a GitHub App installation token) with repo scope. This is used to read agenda-labelled issues and to create the meeting issue in the target repository.
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HACKMD_API_TOKEN
string
required
A HackMD API token used to create and manage meeting notes documents. Generate one from your HackMD account settings under API.

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Optional variables

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MEETINGS_CONFIG_DIR
string
default:"./"
Directory where the CLI looks for meeting_base_* template files. Defaults to the current working directory. Set this if your templates live in a non-standard location.
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MEETINGS_OUTPUT_DIR
string
default:"~/.make-node-meeting"
Directory where the CLI writes generated output files. Defaults to ~/.make-node-meeting (resolved via os.homedir() at runtime).

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The .env.example file

The repository ships with an .env.example you can copy as a starting point:
.env.example
# Required: GitHub Token (Needs "repo" permissions)
# GITHUB_TOKEN=your_personal_access_token_or_org_token

# Required: HackMD Configuration
# HACKMD_API_TOKEN=your_hackmd_api_token
# HACKMD_TEAM_NAME=your_hackmd_team_name_optional # Defaults to your own personal space
Copy it and fill in your values: 
cp .env.example .env
HACKMD_TEAM_NAME appears in .env.example for reference but is actually defined per meeting group inside each meeting_base_* template file, not as a global environment variable. See Meeting base configuration for details.

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Loading variables at runtime

Node.js 20.6+ has built-in support for .env files. You do not need the dotenv package for CLI usage. 
node --env-file=.env create-node-meeting-artifacts.mjs tsc
For scripts and CI, export variables directly in your shell: 
export GITHUB_TOKEN="ghp_..."
export HACKMD_API_TOKEN="..."
node create-node-meeting-artifacts.mjs tsc
In GitHub Actions, store secrets under Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions and reference them with ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}. See GitHub Actions integration for a full workflow example.

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How configuration is loaded

All environment variables are read once at startup in src/config.mjs and exposed as a single configuration object:
src/config.mjs
import { homedir } from 'node:os';
import { join, dirname } from 'node:path';

const defaultMeetingsDirectory = join(homedir(), '.make-node-meeting');

export default {
  githubToken: process.env.GITHUB_TOKEN,
  hackmd: {
    apiToken: process.env.HACKMD_API_TOKEN,
  },
  directories: {
    config: process.env.MEETINGS_CONFIG_DIR || './',
    output: process.env.MEETINGS_OUTPUT_DIR || defaultMeetingsDirectory,
    templates: join(dirname(import.meta.dirname), 'templates'),
  },
};
The templates directory path is always resolved relative to the package itself and cannot be overridden via an environment variable.

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