Environment-Based Configuration

Babulus supports environment-specific configuration to use cheaper/faster providers during development and higher-quality providers for production.

Basic Usage

Set the BABULUS_ENV environment variable to control which providers are used:

# Development (cheap/fast)
BABULUS_ENV=development babulus generate intro.babulus.yml

# Production (high quality)
BABULUS_ENV=production babulus generate intro.babulus.yml

Default: If BABULUS_ENV is not set, defaults to development (cheaper/faster for iteration).

DSL Syntax

Simple (Backward Compatible)

voiceover:
  provider: elevenlabs  # Always use elevenlabs

Environment-Specific (New)

voiceover:
  provider:
    development: openai      # Fast, cheap ($0.015/1K chars)
    staging: aws-polly       # Mid-tier
    production: elevenlabs   # Best quality (~$0.30/1K chars)

Supported Fields

Any DSL field can be environment-specific:

voiceover:
  provider:
    development: dry-run
    production: elevenlabs

  voice:
    development: null          # No specific voice for dry-run
    production: "Rachel"       # ElevenLabs voice

  model:
    development: null
    production: "eleven_multilingual_v2"

  lead_in_seconds:
    development: 0             # Skip for speed
    production: 0.25           # Prevent clipping in prod

audio:
  sfx_provider:
    development: dry-run       # No SFX in dev
    production: elevenlabs

  music_provider:
    development: dry-run       # No music in dev
    production: elevenlabs

Per-Cue Overrides

You can also use environment-specific providers at the cue level:

voiceover:
  provider:
    development: openai
    production: elevenlabs

scenes:
  - id: intro
    cues:
      - id: hook
        voice: "Welcome"  # Uses voiceover.provider

      - id: special
        # Override for this specific cue
        provider:
          development: dry-run
          production: openai  # Use OpenAI even in production
        voice: "Special narration"

Common Patterns

Cost-Optimized Development

voiceover:
  provider:
    development: dry-run      # Free, instant (no API calls)
    production: elevenlabs

audio:
  sfx_provider:
    development: dry-run      # Skip SFX in dev
    production: elevenlabs
  music_provider:
    development: dry-run      # Skip music in dev
    production: elevenlabs

Multi-Tier Quality

voiceover:
  provider:
    development: dry-run                    # Free (silent)
    staging: openai                         # Cheap ($)
    production: elevenlabs                  # Expensive ($$$)

  voice:
    staging: "alloy"                        # OpenAI voice
    production: "Rachel"                    # ElevenLabs voice

Hybrid Approach

voiceover:
  provider:
    development: openai         # OpenAI in dev (cheap)
    production: elevenlabs      # ElevenLabs in prod (quality)

audio:
  # Always use ElevenLabs for SFX/Music (even in dev)
  sfx_provider: elevenlabs
  music_provider: elevenlabs

NPM Scripts Example

{
  "scripts": {
    "babulus:dev": "BABULUS_ENV=development babulus generate --watch",
    "babulus:prod": "BABULUS_ENV=production babulus generate",
    "babulus:staging": "BABULUS_ENV=staging babulus generate"
  }
}

Fallback Behavior

If an environment is not found in the configuration:

  1. Try to use the requested environment (e.g., staging)
  2. Fall back to production if available
  3. If neither exists, treat as a non-environment-specific value

Example:

voiceover:
  provider:
    production: elevenlabs
    # No development or staging keys

Running with BABULUS_ENV=staging will fall back to elevenlabs (production).

Note: If you don't specify development but do specify production, development mode will fall back to production settings.

Benefits

  • Cost Savings: Use free/cheap providers during development
  • Speed: Skip expensive API calls while iterating on structure
  • Quality Control: Reserve high-quality providers for final renders
  • Flexibility: Mix and match providers per environment
  • Backward Compatible: Existing single-value configs still work

See Also