Environment Variables

Authored by briiian · Last updated April 25, 2026

self-hosted

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These environment variables can be set in your docker-compose.yaml file. All variables are optional.

Name	Type	Default	Description
MUSIC_DIR	string	undefined	Absolute path to your music.
PHOTOS_DIR	string	undefined	Absolute path to your photos.
MOVIES_DIR	string	undefined	Absolute path to your movies.
TV_DIR	string	undefined	Absolute path to your TV shows.
HTTP_LOG_LEVEL	boolean	0	Set the log level¹ for HTTP requests.
EVENTS_LOG_LEVEL	boolean	0	Set the log level¹ for the internal event system.
INDEXING_LOG_LEVEL	boolean	10	Set the log level¹ for the indexing system.
JOBS_LOG_LEVEL	boolean	10	Set the log level¹ for the jobs system.
TRANSCODER_LOG_LEVEL	number	0	Set the log level¹ for the transcoding system.
DATABASE_LOG_LEVEL	number	0	Set the log level¹ for database queries.
MAX_CONCURRENT_JOBS	boolean	3	Max number of jobs that are allowed to run at the same time.
SQLITE_PATH	string	undefined	Absolute path for where the server should store the SQLite database. Set to :memory: to use an in-memory database. When omitted, the server will automatically choose a location based on the operating system. If you change this after the server has already created a database, then you will need to copy the database to the new location manually.
SQLITE_WAL	boolean	false	Enable Write-Ahead Logging (WAL) for SQLite. This is a significant performance optimization that allows for concurrent read/writes, but it cannot be enabled if your database is being used over a network connection (NFS, SMB, etc). Changing this requires a server restart.
CARDINAL_POSTGRES	boolean	false	Use PostgreSQL instead of the default SQLite.
POSTGRES_HOST	string	cardinal-postgres	PostgreSQL host name.
POSTGRES_PORT	number	5432	PostgreSQL port number.
POSTGRES_USER	string	cardinal	The PostgreSQL user.
POSTGRES_PASSWORD	string	cardinal	The PostgreSQL user password.
POSTGRES_DATABASE	number	—	PostgreSQL database name. Uses your Postgres user name if omitted.
POSTGRES_SSL	boolean	false	Enable SSL for the PostgreSQL connection.
SECURE_COOKIES	boolean	false	Allow the Media Server to issue cookies with stricter security settings. See Media Server → Accounts for more information on how sessions work.
SIGNING_SECRET	string	undefined	Secret used to sign authentication tokens. Changing this will revoke all sessions. One is generated automatically if none is provided.
RESET_LOCAL_USER_PW	string	undefined	Set this to the username of a local user to reset their password on the next startup. Their new password will be printed in the console.
INDEXING_SCAN_TIMEOUT	number	120	Number of seconds the scanner will wait for the file system to respond.
HEIF_CONVERSION_TIMEOUT	number	60	Number of seconds before we assume that the conversion failed.

¹ Available log levels are:

• 20 - Debug
• 10 - Info
• 0 - Silent

Higher numbers include logs from lower numbers. Setting 0 does not disable error logging.

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