Configuration reference

Arkivra reads configuration from environment variables. Start with the standard variables below. Most deployments should not need the advanced overrides.

The root .env.example contains the source-development configuration. Public Compose deployments should start from the deliberately small compose.env.example; the Compose generator creates the basic settings and three required secret values locally in the browser. Add advanced variables only when the deployment needs them.

Standard configuration

Variable	Purpose	Default
ARKIVRA_PUBLIC_URL	Public browser origin for Arkivra. API URL, web URL, CORS, and auth trusted origins are derived from this value.	local API and dashboard origins when unset
ARKIVRA_DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL connection URL	postgres://arkivra:arkivra@localhost:5432/arkivra
ARKIVRA_DOCLING_URL	Reachable Docling Serve HTTP API URL used for document parsing	required; no default
ARKIVRA_DATA_PATH	Root runtime data path. Document storage, upload staging, and backups are derived below this path.	./var/default
ARKIVRA_ENCRYPTION_KEYS	Comma-separated key-encryption keys in version:hex-key format	required; no default
ARKIVRA_AUTH_SECRET	Better Auth session secret. Required in production. Use a strong, stable value.	development placeholder outside production

Caution

Docling is required for normal document parsing and full-text search even when AI is disabled. It can run in the same Compose stack, as a separate Docker or bare-metal service, or remotely; ARKIVRA_DOCLING_URL must be reachable from the Arkivra process.

Basic Compose environment

The public Compose bootstrap uses these non-secret settings:

Variable	Basic value or purpose
COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME	arkivra; namespaces containers and named volumes
POSTGRES_DB_NAME	arkivra; database created by bundled PostgreSQL
ARKIVRA_PUBLIC_URL	Required exact browser-facing origin
ARKIVRA_PORT	3210; published host port
ARKIVRA_AUTH_REGISTRATION_ENABLED	true initially
ARKIVRA_AUTH_EMAIL_VERIFICATION_REQUIRED	false until SMTP is configured
ARKIVRA_DOCLING_URL	Required; generated as http://docling:5001 when bundled
ARKIVRA_DATA_DIR	Optional absolute host bind-mount path for Arkivra files
ARKIVRA_GOTENBERG_URL	Optional office-preview endpoint
ARKIVRA_OLLAMA_HOST	Optional Ollama endpoint; does not enable AI by itself

The same file needs POSTGRES_PASSWORD in addition to ARKIVRA_AUTH_SECRET and ARKIVRA_ENCRYPTION_KEYS. ARKIVRA_DATABASE_URL is assembled inside Compose from the PostgreSQL values and should not be duplicated in the bootstrap file.

Generate an encryption key with:

openssl rand -hex 32

Use it as:

ARKIVRA_ENCRYPTION_KEYS=1:<generated-64-hex-character-key>

For key rotation, keep old versions available and add a higher version for new files, for example 1:<old>,2:<new>. Removing a version that was used to encrypt stored files prevents those files from being decrypted.

Docker host storage

ARKIVRA_DATA_DIR is interpreted by the public Compose file, not by the Arkivra application. Leave it unset to use the Docker-managed arkivra-data volume. Set it to an absolute host path to bind-mount that directory at the container’s fixed /app/data path.

On Linux, the bind-mounted directory must be writable by the rootless container user, UID/GID 10001:10001. Create a new private directory with sudo install -d -m 0700 -o 10001 -g 10001 <path>. Avoid chmod 777. See Using Docker Compose for Linux, network-filesystem, and macOS guidance.

Derived paths

When only ARKIVRA_DATA_PATH is set, Arkivra derives:

Runtime data	Derived path
Document storage	<ARKIVRA_DATA_PATH>/documents
Upload staging	<ARKIVRA_DATA_PATH>/upload-staging
Backup archives	<ARKIVRA_DATA_PATH>/backups

If APP_INSTANCE is set and ARKIVRA_DATA_PATH is not set, the data root becomes ./var/<APP_INSTANCE>. This is mainly useful for local secondary worktrees.

Optional features

Restore

Variable	Purpose	Default
ARKIVRA_RESTORE_BOOTSTRAP_TOKEN	Token that enables bootstrap restore API routes before an active admin account exists	unset

Bootstrap restore API routes are disabled automatically once an active admin exists. The current dashboard does not provide a /restore page.

Email

Variable	Purpose	Default
ARKIVRA_SMTP_URL	SMTP connection URL such as smtp://user:password@smtp.example.com:587?starttls=true or smtps://user:password@smtp.example.com:465	unset
ARKIVRA_EMAIL_FROM	Sender email address	noreply@localhost
ARKIVRA_EMAIL_FROM_NAME	Sender display name	Arkivra
ARKIVRA_AUTH_EMAIL_VERIFICATION_REQUIRED	Require email verification after signup	false
ARKIVRA_AUTH_REGISTRATION_ENABLED	Whether open registration remains enabled	true

When ARKIVRA_SMTP_URL is unset, auth emails are printed to the API logs. Production deployments that require email verification must configure SMTP.

OAuth

OAuth variables are optional. Set a provider only when you want that sign-in method enabled.

Variable	Purpose	Default
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID	Google OAuth client ID	unset
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET	Google OAuth secret	unset
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID	GitHub OAuth client ID	unset
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET	GitHub OAuth secret	unset

Redirect URLs are derived from the public URL as /api/auth/callback/google and /api/auth/callback/github. Use the advanced redirect URI variables only for unusual split-origin deployments.

AI

AI features are disabled until configured by an admin in Arkivra. Core document ingestion and full-text search do not require AI.

Variable	Purpose	Default
GEMINI_API_KEY	Default environment secret reference for Gemini chat, translation, and embeddings	unset

Admins can also configure provider settings that reference other environment variable names. Store provider credentials outside the database and reference them by name from the admin AI settings page.

Runtime variables

These variables are useful for local development, process managers, or containers. They are not usually part of product configuration.

Variable	Purpose	Default
NODE_ENV	development, production, or test	development
ARKIVRA_PROCESS_ROLE	Process role: web, worker, or all for both API and worker	all
ARKIVRA_PORT	API listen port	1221
ARKIVRA_WEB_PORT	Dashboard dev server port	5173
ARKIVRA_HOSTNAME	API bind hostname	0.0.0.0
APP_INSTANCE	Optional namespace for local runtime state	unset

Advanced overrides

Use these only when the standard variables do not match your deployment. They remain supported for split-origin deployments, legacy migration, troubleshooting, or operational tuning.

Split-origin URL overrides

Variable	Purpose	Default derived from
ARKIVRA_SERVER_BASE_URL	Public API/Auth base URL	ARKIVRA_PUBLIC_URL
ARKIVRA_WEB_BASE_URL	Public dashboard base URL	ARKIVRA_PUBLIC_URL
ARKIVRA_CORS_ORIGINS	Comma-separated allowed web origins	ARKIVRA_WEB_BASE_URL
ARKIVRA_AUTH_TRUSTED_ORIGINS	Comma-separated Better Auth trusted origins	web and API origins
BETTER_AUTH_URL	Better Auth base URL for OAuth callbacks	API base URL
GOOGLE_REDIRECT_URI	Explicit Google OAuth redirect URI	derived callback URI
GITHUB_REDIRECT_URI	Explicit GitHub OAuth redirect URI	derived callback URI

Path overrides

Variable	Purpose	Default derived from
ARKIVRA_STORAGE_FS_PATH	Filesystem document storage path	ARKIVRA_DATA_PATH
ARKIVRA_UPLOAD_STAGING_PATH	Temporary multipart upload staging path	ARKIVRA_DATA_PATH
ARKIVRA_BACKUPS_PATH	Backup archive directory	ARKIVRA_DATA_PATH

Uploads and backups

Variable	Purpose	Default
ARKIVRA_UPLOAD_PART_SIZE_BYTES	Multipart upload part size	5242880
ARKIVRA_UPLOAD_MAX_FILE_SIZE_BYTES	Maximum upload session file size	524288000
ARKIVRA_UPLOAD_SESSION_TTL_HOURS	Resumable upload session TTL	24
ARKIVRA_BACKUP_PART_SIZE_BYTES	Maximum encrypted backup part size	17179869184
ARKIVRA_BACKUPS_MAINTENANCE_FLAG_FILE	Backup and restore maintenance marker filename	.maintenance-mode

New backup archives are encrypted with the active key version from ARKIVRA_ENCRYPTION_KEYS using backup-specific key derivation. Restore fails when the required key version is not configured.

ARKIVRA_BACKUP_ENCRYPTION_KEY is deprecated. It is only needed to restore older backup sets that were created before backup encryption used ARKIVRA_ENCRYPTION_KEYS.

Parsing and processing

Variable	Purpose	Default
ARKIVRA_DOCUMENT_WORKER_CONCURRENCY	Documents processed in parallel by the worker	1
ARKIVRA_DOCLING_VLM_PIPELINE	enabled routes scan-heavy PDFs and image files through Docling VLM	disabled
ARKIVRA_DOCLING_VLM_MODEL	Docling VLM model or preset. Only valid when VLM pipeline is enabled.	Docling default
ARKIVRA_DOCLING_ENGINE_VERSION	Docling version recorded for parser provenance	v1
ARKIVRA_GOTENBERG_URL	Optional Gotenberg base URL for derived office-document PDF previews	unset
ARKIVRA_PDF_SCAN_DETECTION_MAX_SAMPLED_PAGES	PDF pages sampled for scanned/digital classification	8
ARKIVRA_PDF_SCAN_DETECTION_MIN_TEXT_ITEMS	Text objects required for a sampled page to count as digital	20
ARKIVRA_PDF_SCAN_DETECTION_MIN_ALNUM_CHARS	Alphanumeric characters required for a sampled page to count as digital	120
ARKIVRA_PDF_SCAN_DETECTION_SCAN_HEAVY_RATIO	Scanned-page ratio for scan-heavy classification	0.7
ARKIVRA_PDF_SCAN_DETECTION_MIXED_RATIO	Scanned-page ratio for mixed classification	0.2

Retention and jobs

Variable	Purpose	Default
ARKIVRA_DOCUMENT_RETENTION_DAYS	Days soft-deleted documents are retained before hard deletion	30
ARKIVRA_HARD_DELETE_EXPIRED_DOCUMENTS_CRON	Cron pattern for expired document hard deletion	0 3 * * *

AI defaults and debugging

Variable	Purpose	Default
ARKIVRA_OLLAMA_HOST	Ollama-compatible endpoint. AI provider remains unconfigured when unset	unset
ARKIVRA_OLLAMA_IMAGE_CAPTIONING_ENABLED	Caption extracted document images for text search and embeddings	false
ARKIVRA_OLLAMA_IMAGE_CAPTIONING_MODEL	Ollama vision-capable model used for image captions	unset
ARKIVRA_OLLAMA_EMBEDDING_BATCH_SIZE	Embedding batch size	16
ARKIVRA_OLLAMA_LOG_REQUESTS	Log Ollama requests and responses for debugging	false

Do not enable provider request logging with sensitive documents unless you have a deliberate redacted logging plan.

Internal metadata

Variable	Purpose	Default
ARKIVRA_VERSION	Application version metadata	dev
ARKIVRA_POSTGRES_PORT	Host port used by the repository Docker Compose PostgreSQL service	5432

ARKIVRA_STORAGE_DRIVER is intentionally omitted from normal configuration. Filesystem storage is the only implemented storage backend today.