Environments

Every port has exactly three adapters. The mode is per practice, resolved through the config cascade, and an unrecognised value is an error rather than a default.

#The three modes

Mode	What it talks to	Used for
`mock`	A deterministic in-process simulator	Development and most evals
`replay`	Cassettes recorded from a vendor sandbox	Contract tests that must not drift
`live`	Real HTTPS to the vendor	Production, behind credentials and a BAA

#An unknown mode is refused

javascript

createEhrAdapter('staging');
// Error: Unknown EHR mode "staging". Expected one of: mock, replay, live.
// There is no default: guessing here means guessing whether payer answers are real.

Every wrong default in this position ends the same way - a simulated answer treated as a real one. So there is no default.

#Live refuses to start without credentials

A live adapter with missing credentials does not fall back to the mock. It throws at construction.

text

The live eligibility adapter needs AVAILITY_CLIENT_ID and AVAILITY_CLIENT_SECRET.
It will not fall back to the mock: a simulated "no authorization required" served as if
it came from a payer is the single most expensive thing this platform could say.

#A cassette miss is a failure

In replay mode, asking for an interaction that was never recorded aborts. It does not synthesise a plausible response. Filling a gap with an invented payer answer would manufacture exactly the thing the rail exists to eliminate, and it would be indistinguishable from a real one downstream.

#Environment variables

Variable	Used by	Notes
`AVAILITY_CLIENT_ID`	Live Availity adapters	OAuth2 client credentials
`AVAILITY_CLIENT_SECRET`	Live Availity adapters	Never logged, never in an audit record
`AVAILITY_SCOPE`	Live Availity adapters	Defaults to `healthcare-hipaa-transactions`
`AVAILITY_CUSTOMER_ID`	Live Availity adapters	Sent as `X-Availity-Customer-Id`
`PLATFORM_MODEL_ID`	The model seam	Which allowlisted model the platform runs; defaults to gemini-2.5-pro
`GOOGLE_VERTEX_PROJECT` / `GOOGLE_VERTEX_LOCATION`	The model seam	Where Gemini runs. One platform project, never one per practice
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL`	The marketing page	Where the console lives

Credentials are held at the channel, never at the practice

One partner app registration serves many practices. A practice never holds vendor credentials, and the platform stores a reference to a secret manager entry rather than the secret itself - secretsmanager://veradigm/unity-app, not the value.