Self-Hosting Keila: Configuration

When self-hosting Keila, you can configure most aspects of the application with environment variables.

Database

Configure the PostgreSQL database used by Keila:

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`DB_URL`	yes	-	URL following the schema `postgres://user:password@host/database`
`DB_ENABLE_SSL`	no	false	Use SSL/TLS for the database connection
`DB_VERIFY_SSL_HOST`	no	true	Enable SSL hostname verification (disable if connecting to an IP directly)
`DB_CA_CERT`	no	-	SSL certificate (PEM) for connecting to the database

Root User

When you start Keila for the first time, a root user is created. If you don’t specify otherwise, a user with a random password is created printed to stdout.

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`KEILA_USER`		`root@localhost`	Email address for the root user
`KEILA_PASSWORD`		random	Password for the root user. At least 10 characters

URL

Configure publicly-visible URLs generated by Keila with the following variables:

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`URL_HOST`	yes	-	Domain of your Keila instance
`URL_PATH`		`/`	Path of your Keila instance
`URL_SCHEMA`		`https` if `URL_PORT` is `443`. Else: `http`	`http` or `https`. URL scheme of your Keila instance
`URL_PORT`		`443` if `URL_SCHEMA` is `https`. Else: `PORT`	Port of your Keila instance

Deployment

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`PORT`		`4000`	Port on which Keila will listen
`SECRET_KEY_BASE`	yes	-	Strong secret with at least 64 characters. Can be generated with `head -c 48 /dev/urandom \| base64`
`HASHID_SALT`		derived from `SECRET_KEY_BASE`	Salt for creating Hashids. More information
`DISABLE_PRECEDENCE_HEADER`		`false`	Disable the `Precedence: Bulk` header by settings this variable to `true`
`DISABLE_REGISTRATION`		`false`	Disable user registration by setting this variable to `true`
`DISABLE_TZDATA_UPDATES`		`false`	Disable automatic timezone database updates by settings this to variable to `true`.
`DISABLE_UPDATE_CHECKS`		`false`	Disable the automatic checks for updates by setting this variable to `true`
`USER_CONTENT_DIR`		`./uploads`	Path to a directory where user uploads will be stored. When deploying using containers, this should point to the path of a volume to make sure uploads are persisted.
`USER_CONTENT_BASE_URL`		-	Base URL at which files in `USER_CONTENT_DIR` are available on the web. It’s recommended to set up a separate server (such as Nginx or Apache) to serve user content. If not set, Keila wil serve user content files directly.
`LOG_LEVEL`		`info`	Sets the verbosity of the application logger. Possible values: `debug`, `info`, `warning`

System mailer

Keila needs to be able to send system emails, e.g. for registration and password reset emails. Configure an SMTP sender for this purpose with the following variables:

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`MAILER_TYPE`		`smtp`	Currently only `smtp` is supported
`MAILER_SMTP_FROM_EMAIL`	yes	-	FROM email address
`MAILER_SMTP_HOST`	yes	-	Hostname of the SMTP server
`MAILER_SMTP_PORT`		`587`	Port of the SMTP server
`MAILER_SMTP_USER`		`MAILER_SMTP_FROM_EMAIL`	Username for the SMTP server
`MAILER_SMTP_PASSWORD`	yes	-	Password for the SMTP server
`MAILER_ENABLE_SSL`		`false`	Enable SSL/TLS by setting to `true`
`MAILER_ENABLE_STARTTLS`		`false`	Enable STARTTLS by setting to `true`

Captcha

Keila can use hCaptcha or Friendly Captcha to protect your sign-up forms. Configure the captcha provider with the following variables:

Variable	Default	Description
`CAPTCHA_PROVIDER`	`hcaptcha`	Captcha provider, one of `hcaptcha` or `friendly_captcha`
`CAPTCHA_SITE_KEY`	-	Captcha provider site key
`CAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY`	-	Captcha provider secret key
`CAPTCHA_URL`	variable	Captcha provider verification URL, defaults to `https://hcaptcha.com/siteverify` for `hcaptcha` and `https://api.friendlycaptcha.com/api/v1/siteverify` for `friendly_captcha`