Variables Reference

This page is the complete reference of all available environment variables in tabular format.

Detailed documentation:

Environment Variables Overview → — Varlock, Infisical, architecture
Varlock Schema Format → — annotations, types
Adding a New Variable → — step-by-step

Environment Management

ElyOS uses Varlock for typesafe environment variable management. Varlock validates all configuration values at application startup, so configuration errors are caught immediately.

Bootstrap Credentials

Only bootstrap credentials remain in the .env file:

INFISICAL_CLIENT_ID=machine-identity-client-id
INFISICAL_CLIENT_SECRET=machine-identity-client-secret

All other secrets (database URL, auth secret, SMTP password, etc.) come from Infisical at runtime.

Details: Infisical Integration →

Local Fallback Mode

For offline development or without Infisical:

VARLOCK_FALLBACK=local
NODE_ENV=development
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://elyos:elyos123@localhost:5432/elyos
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=local-secret
BETTER_AUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000
ORIGIN=http://localhost:5173
# ... all other variables

Quick Start

cp .env.example .env

With Varlock + Infisical (recommended):

INFISICAL_CLIENT_ID=machine-identity-client-id
INFISICAL_CLIENT_SECRET=machine-identity-client-secret

Without Infisical (local fallback mode):

VARLOCK_FALLBACK=local
NODE_ENV=development
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://elyos:elyos123@localhost:5432/elyos
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=generated-random-secret
BETTER_AUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000
ORIGIN=http://localhost:5173

Server Configuration

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`NODE_ENV`	Yes	—	`development`, `production`, or `test`
`BODY_SIZE_LIMIT`	No	`10485760`	Maximum request size in bytes (10 MB)
`ELYOS_PORT`	No	`3000`	Application port (Docker host port mapping)
`APP_URL`	Prod	—	Base URL (e.g., `https://elyos.example.com`)
`ORIGIN`	Yes	—	CSRF protection — must match application URL

Database

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	Yes	—	PostgreSQL connection string: `postgresql://USER:PASS@HOST:PORT/DB`
`POSTGRES_USER`	Yes	—	PostgreSQL username
`POSTGRES_PASSWORD`	Yes	—	PostgreSQL password
`POSTGRES_HOST`	Yes	`localhost`	PostgreSQL server address
`POSTGRES_DB`	Yes	—	PostgreSQL database name
`POSTGRES_PORT`	Yes	`5432`	PostgreSQL port

Note: DATABASE_URL is automatically built from POSTGRES_* variables in the schema. When using Docker Compose, POSTGRES_HOST should be postgres (the service name).

Application Branding

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`APP_NAME`	No	`ElyOS`	Displayed application name
`APP_LOGO_URL`	No	—	Logo URL — absolute or relative
`EMAIL_USE_LOGO`	No	`false`	Use logo image in emails instead of text

Authentication

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`BETTER_AUTH_SECRET`	Prod	—	Token signing secret (`openssl rand -base64 32`)
`BETTER_AUTH_URL`	Yes	—	Auth callback base URL
`REGISTRATION_ENABLED`	No	`true`	Enable registration
`SOCIAL_LOGIN_ENABLED`	No	`true`	Enable Google sign-in
`GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID`	No	—	Google OAuth client ID
`GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET`	No	—	Google OAuth client secret

Email

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`EMAIL_PROVIDER`	No	`resend`	`smtp`, `resend`, `sendgrid`, or `ses`
`EMAIL_TEST_MODE`	No	`false`	Log emails to console instead of sending
`EMAIL_OTP_EXPIRES_IN`	No	`10`	OTP expiration time in minutes (1–20)

SMTP

EMAIL_PROVIDER=smtp
SMTP_HOST=smtp.example.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_SECURE=false
SMTP_USERNAME=noreply@example.com
SMTP_PASSWORD=password

Resend

EMAIL_PROVIDER=resend
RESEND_API_KEY=re_...
RESEND_FROM_EMAIL=noreply@example.com

SendGrid

EMAIL_PROVIDER=sendgrid
SENDGRID_API_KEY=SG....
SENDGRID_FROM_EMAIL=noreply@example.com

AWS SES

EMAIL_PROVIDER=ses
AWS_REGION=eu-central-1
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=...
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...

Internationalization

Variable	Default	Description
`SUPPORTED_LOCALES`	`hu,en`	Comma-separated supported languages
`DEFAULT_LOCALE`	`hu`	Default language

Logging

Variable	Default	Description
`LOG_TARGETS`	`console`	`console`, `file`, `database` (comma-separated)
`LOG_LEVEL`	`error`	`debug`, `info`, `warn`, `error`, `fatal`
`LOG_DIR`	`./logs`	Log files directory

Initial Administrator

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`ADMIN_USER_EMAIL`	Yes	—	First admin user email (used during db:init / db:reset)

Developer Mode

Variable	Default	Description
`DEV_MODE`	`false`	Enable plugin loading from localhost URLs

Demo Mode

Variable	Default	Description
`DEMO_MODE`	`false`	Enable demo mode (indicates to users they’re in demo environment)
`DEMO_RESET_HOUR`	`4`	Hour (UTC, 0–23) when demo database resets daily
`DEMO_RESET_UPLOADS_KEEP`	—	Comma-separated upload subdirectories to preserve during reset

Plugin System

Variable	Default	Description
`PLUGIN_PACKAGE_EXTENSION`	`elyospkg`	Plugin package file extension
`PLUGIN_MAX_SIZE`	`10485760`	Maximum plugin size in bytes (max: 100 MB)
`PLUGIN_STORAGE_DIR`	`/var/webos/plugins`	Installed plugin files directory

Docker Configuration

# Start full stack
bun docker:up

# Database only
bun docker:db

# Stop
bun docker:down

# Logs
bun docker:logs

Data Persistence

PostgreSQL data is stored in the elyos-data Docker volume. For complete reset:

docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml down -v

Production Deployment Recommended Settings

NODE_ENV=production
DEV_MODE=false
PUBLIC_SITE_ENABLED=false
REQUIRE_EMAIL_VERIFICATION=true
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=<strong-random-value>
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=<strong-random-value>
ADMIN_USER_EMAIL=admin@example.com
LOG_TARGETS=console,database
LOG_LEVEL=info