Feature toggles

Several behaviours are switched from .env. Like all settings, they are read at runtime — change the value and restart the stack to apply it, no rebuild needed:

docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d

Open registration

Variable	Default	Effect
REGISTRATION_ENABLED	true	Enables self-service sign-ups.

Public sign-ups are on by default. Set REGISTRATION_ENABLED=false to run a private / invite-only instance: /register returns 404 and the “sign up” links are hidden. Existing users and email invitations still work.

Tip

Create your own account before turning registration off, then invite everyone else. See First user & workspace.

Email verification

Variable	Default	Effect
EMAIL_VERIFICATION_ENABLED	false	Require new accounts to confirm their email before using the app.

A single deploy-time flag for self-hosters. It defaults to off: registration logs the new user straight in, and every account is treated as verified.

Set EMAIL_VERIFICATION_ENABLED=true to require confirmation. New accounts must click the verification link before they can use the app, so your SMTP settings must work or new users will be stuck.

Caution

Turning the flag on re-gates existing accounts that have no verified email on their next request — they’ll be prompted to verify. The verify routes are always registered, so flipping the flag takes effect immediately with no data migration.

Activity logging

The Desk records an activity log (audit trail) of notable actions.

Variable	Default	Effect
ACTIVITYLOG_ENABLED	true	Records activity to the database. Set false to disable logging entirely.
ACTIVITYLOG_BUFFER_ENABLED	false	Buffers log writes and flushes them in a batch (advanced; reduces write volume).

Search analytics

Variable	Default	Effect
MEILISEARCH_NO_ANALYTICS	true	Disables Meilisearch’s anonymous usage analytics.

The production stack sets this to true by default (MEILI_NO_ANALYTICS). Set it to false only if you deliberately want to send Meilisearch usage analytics.

Advanced Reverb options

These are off by default and only relevant for larger or multi-node deployments. Most single-host instances leave them alone.

Variable	Default	Effect
REVERB_SCALING_ENABLED	false	Enables horizontal scaling of Reverb across multiple servers (Redis pub/sub).
REVERB_APP_RATE_LIMITING_ENABLED	false	Enables per-connection message rate limiting.
REVERB_APP_RATE_LIMIT_TERMINATE	false	When rate limiting is on, disconnects clients that exceed the limit rather than just throttling.