Configuration

Every setting is read from .env at runtime, so changing a value and restarting the affected containers applies it — no rebuild is needed. This page covers the settings you must set by hand after running ./docker/gen-secrets.sh (which handles the required secrets).

For the full list of variables, see the Environment variables reference. For on/off feature switches, see Feature toggles.

Application

Variable	What it does
APP_URL	The public URL of your instance (e.g. https://chat.example.com).
APP_NAME	The app name shown in the UI and emails (default The Desk).
APP_PORT	Host port the web app is published on (default 80).

APP_NAME and the browser-facing Reverb settings are served to the frontend at runtime, which is why one published image works for any host.

Mail (SMTP)

The Desk sends workspace invitations (and email verification, if you enable it), so SMTP must work. Set the MAIL_* variables to your provider’s credentials:

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.example.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=postmaster@example.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=your-smtp-password
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS="chat@example.com"
MAIL_FROM_NAME="${APP_NAME}"

Reverb (WebSockets) — mind the browser vs. server split

Reverb powers real-time updates. The setting that trips people up is that the container and the browser reach Reverb differently:

• The container speaks plain http on 8080 — REVERB_PORT / REVERB_SCHEME.
• The browser reaches Reverb through your TLS proxy on wss / 443.

So set the browser-facing (*_PUBLIC) values accordingly:

REVERB_PORT_PUBLIC=443
REVERB_SCHEME_PUBLIC=https
# The browser-facing host defaults to your APP_URL host. Override only if you
# serve Reverb from a dedicated WebSocket subdomain:
# REVERB_HOST_PUBLIC=ws.example.com

These are read at runtime, so a restart applies changes — no rebuild.

Caution

Your reverse proxy must forward WebSocket upgrade requests to the reverb service, or real-time features silently stop working. See Reverse proxy & TLS.

Search (Meilisearch)

MEILISEARCH_KEY is a required secret (generated for you). MEILISEARCH_VERSION pins both the image tag and the version-scoped data volume — see Upgrading for why that matters.

Applying changes

After editing .env, restart the stack to pick up the new values:

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