Environment Variables

OctoFarm Server can be configured with environment variables. There's different ways to do this for each setup:

• specify a .env file. This works for these setups:
  • NodeJS with pm2
  • NodeJS with nodemon
• docker - specify each variable separately, this can become tedious:
  • docker: using the -e VARIABLE=value command repeatedly
• docker - all at once
  • docker: using the --env-file ./.env command (Read docker options) (opens new window)
  • docker-compose: using the environment section (Read docker-compose environment) (opens new window)

Required and optional variables

The following variables are read and used by OctoFarm at startup. Always restart your server after a change.

• MONGO (Required) the connection to mongodb. For example:

MONGO=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/octofarm

• OCTOFARM_PORT (Optional, default=4000) the port of the local OctoFarm website. For example:

OCTOFARM_PORT=4000

• OCTOFARM_SITE_TITLE Custom site title for OctoFarm

OCTOFARM_SITE_TITLE=OctoFarm

• LOG_LEVEL **Custom logging level, supports info, debug, silly

LOG_LEVEL=info

The .env file

A very simple text file with a variable per line. The following .env is often already enough to make sure OctoFarm works as you like:

MONGO=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/octofarm
OCTOFARM_PORT=4000

Applying it to your setup

So, you understand the variables to configure OctoFarm now. How do I set this up for my environment? Read below for your specific scenario.

NodeJS with pm2 (or nodemon)

Create a .env file in the folder you cloned (or downloaded and extracted) OctoFarm with the required and/or optional variables! OctoFarm will automatically create this file for you, and if anything is not working a webpage will help you through the basics.

Feel adventurous? Customize the file to your liking, but again ALWAYS make sure the required variables are correctly set.

Docker-compose

With docker-compose you have a great tool to pass environment variables use the environment section. Be aware of the following notes:

• the .env file for docker-compose is not applied to OctoFarm unless you use the variables in your environment section (more on that below)

Entirely up to you!

Here is how the environment section in docker would look.

services:
  octofarm:
    # ... other sections here
    
    # environment using colon syntax
    environment:
      - MONGO: mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/octofarm
      - OCTOFARM_PORT: 4000
    
    # ... alternative (watch for whitespace!!) 
    environment:
      MONGO=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/octofarm
      OCTOFARM_PORT=4000