Environments
Configure DEX safely across development, staging, and production.
DEX uses CodeIgniter’s ENVIRONMENT constant (usually driven by CI_ENVIRONMENT) to decide how strict it should be about UI access.
Development and staging
In non-production environments, DEX UI can be enabled (and is allowlisted to localhost by default).
You’ll usually leave these on:
DEX_ENABLED=true
DEX_UI_ENABLED=true
Production
In production, DEX blocks the UI unless you explicitly allow it:
DEX_ALLOW_IN_PRODUCTION=true
Only enable DEX UI in production if you also configure a strict allowlist. See Protecting the Dashboard.
A practical pattern
Most teams run with:
- DEX always enabled (so issues are captured)
- UI only enabled on trusted networks (VPN / office IPs)
Example production env:
DEX_ENABLED=true
DEX_UI_ENABLED=true
DEX_ALLOW_IN_PRODUCTION=true
DEX_UI_ALLOWLIST=10.0.0.0/8,203.0.113.10
Next steps
- Security Overview — Production hardening checklist
- Configuration Reference — All options and env keys