---
sidebar_position: 7
title: Environment Variable
---

## Environment Variable

| Name | Default Value | Description |
| ----- | ------ | --- |
| PORT | 11000 | Gateway service port number |
| SECRET | tailchat | encryption key, used for JWT |
| STATIC_HOST | "{BACKEND}" | Externally accessible static service host, used for file service access, the default is the dynamic server address inferred from the front-end request, if it is expected to be stored in a third-party OSS, it needs to be modified |
| STATIC_URL | "{BACKEND}/static/" | Externally accessible static service complete address prefix, used for file service access, the default is the dynamic server address inferred from the front-end request, if it is expected to be stored in a third-party OSS Modify, if this variable is set, the above `STATIC_HOST` value is invalid |
| API_URL | http://127.0.0.1:11000 | Externally accessible url address, used for issuer issuance on open platforms or as a fallback for file services |
| MONGO_URL | - | Database service address |
| REDIS_URL | - | Redis service address |
| MINIO_URL | - | File service address (minio) |
| MINIO_USER | - | File service username |
| MINIO_PASS | - | File service password |
| MINIO_BUCKET_NAME | tailchat | file service bucket name |
| MINIO_PATH_STYLE | false | Whether to use path-style s3 communication format, `true` is `Path Style`, `false` is `Virtual hosted style` |
| SMTP_SENDER | - | Mail service sender (example: `"Tailchat" example@163.com`) |
| SMTP_URI | - | mail service connection address (example: `smtp://username:password@smtp.example.com/?pool=true`) |
| FILE_LIMIT | 1048576 | File/image upload size limit, the default is 1m, please enter a number(unit: byte) |
| EMAIL_VERIFY | - | Whether to enable email verification, if it is "1" or "true", add email verification control when registering |
| DISABLE_LOGGER | - | Whether to disable the log output, if "1" or "true" turn off the log on the fly |
| DISABLE_USER_REGISTER | - | Whether to disable the user register, if "1" or "true" turn off this method |
| DISABLE_GUEST_LOGIN | - | Whether to disable the guest login, if "1" or "true" turn off this method |
| DISABLE_CREATE_GROUP | - | Whether to disable user create group, if "1" or "true" turn off this method |
| DISABLE_PLUGIN_STORE | - | Whether to hide user plugin store entry, if "1" or "true" turn off this method |
| DISABLE_ADD_FRIEND | - | Whether to hide user add friend entry, if "1" or "true" turn off this method |

> Some examples of environment variables can be seen: https://github.com/msgbyte/tailchat/blob/master/server/.env.example

### Use files to configure environment variables

- - If starting locally, copy `.env.example` to `.env` and edit
  ```bash
  mv .env.example .env
  vi .env
  ```

- If it is started by `docker-compose`, you can directly edit `docker-compose.env`, and use `docker compose up -d` directly after the modification to take effect

### About the use of environment variables with spaces

If your environment variable value contains spaces, in order for the system to recognize that this is a complete string instead of treating spaces as separators. You need to wrap a double quotes around the outside.

For example:

```bash
SMTP_SENDER="\"Tailchat\" example@163.com" # If there are repeated double quotes, they need to be escaped with an escape character
```


-------------

:::caution
Some environment variable modifications may need to clear the cache to take effect
:::

### How to clear the cache

Changes to some environment variables may involve cache updates, such as `FILE_LIMIT`, because config data needs to be sent to the client.

Therefore, it may appear that after modifying the environment variable, the performance on the client is still the same as before. At this point you need to clear the old cache for the update to take effect.

There are several options for clearing the cache:

- Execute `docker compose down` then run `docker compose up -d`. This is because the data of the `redis` service is not persisted, shutting down and restarting the service is equivalent to a brand new environment
- Manually enter the `redis` service to clean up the cache items whose name contains `config.client`, which contains the configuration items returned to the client
- Enter the cache management page of the `admin` management system. Click the `Clean Configuration Cache` button