api key integration

.env.local

@@ -66,3 +66,20 @@ REDIS_DB=0
 POS_TOKEN_SECRET=local-dev-signing-secret-not-real
 JWT_SECRET_KEY=
 USER_CONTEXT_KEY=
+
+# ── Nearle Buddy ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+#
+# The model behind the assistant. Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint: Groq here,
+# Ollama at http://localhost:11434/v1 with no key, or api.openai.com/v1.
+#
+# ASSISTANT_API_KEY is DELIBERATELY ABSENT. This file is tracked by git, so a
+# key written here is a key pushed to the remote. Supply it from the real
+# environment, which wins over both env files:
+#
+#   ASSISTANT_API_KEY=gsk_... go run .
+#
+# On the deployed host there is no env file at all — every value comes from the
+# platform's environment settings, which is where the key belongs.
+ASSISTANT_PROVIDER=openai
+ASSISTANT_BASE_URL=https://api.groq.com/openai/v1
+ASSISTANT_MODEL=openai/gpt-oss-120b