Which environment variables are mandatory?

Hi, I want to deploy Discourse on render.com: Deploy Discourse | Render · Cloud Hosting for Developers. I would like to know which environment variables are mandatory.

Do I need the SMTP variables DISCOURSE_SMTP_ADDRESS, DISCOURSE_SMTP_DOMAIN, DISCOURSE_SMTP_PASSWORD, DISCOURSE_SMTP_PORT or DISCOURSE_SMTP_USER_NAME ?

If I only set DISCOURSE_ADMIN_EMAIL=info@mydomain.com, CUSTOM_DOMAIN=forum.mydomain.com and DISCOURSE_ADMIN_PASSWORD I get the error:

Delivered mail topic/12@forum.mydomain.com (48.6ms)
Job exception: Broken pipe

It looks like Discourse tried to send and email to topic/12@forum.foodplanet.info which does not exist. Does that mean that the SMPT env vars are necessary? Where is the name topic/12 coming from?

Hi Tom, yes, the SMTP variables are required, as Discourse requires outgoing email to work.

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The render install is supported by their team, which you can reach at

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