gitlab-org--gitlab-foss/doc/administration/environment_variables.md

---
stage: Verify
group: Continuous Integration
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers
type: reference
---

# Environment Variables

GitLab exposes certain environment variables which can be used to override
their defaults values.

People usually configure GitLab via `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` for Omnibus
installations, or `gitlab.yml` for installations from source.

Below you will find the supported environment variables which you can use to
override certain values.

## Supported environment variables

Variable | Type | Description
-------- | ---- | -----------
`ENABLE_BOOTSNAP`                          | string  | Enables Bootsnap for speeding up initial Rails boot (`1` to enable)
`GITLAB_CDN_HOST`                          | string  | Sets the base URL for a CDN to serve static assets (e.g. `//mycdnsubdomain.fictional-cdn.com`)
`GITLAB_ROOT_PASSWORD`                     | string  | Sets the password for the `root` user on installation
`GITLAB_HOST`                              | string  | The full URL of the GitLab server (including `http://` or `https://`)
`RAILS_ENV`                                | string  | The Rails environment; can be one of `production`, `development`, `staging` or `test`
`DATABASE_URL`                             | string  | The database URL; is of the form: `postgresql://localhost/blog_development`
`GITLAB_EMAIL_FROM`                        | string  | The e-mail address used in the "From" field in e-mails sent by GitLab
`GITLAB_EMAIL_DISPLAY_NAME`                | string  | The name used in the "From" field in e-mails sent by GitLab
`GITLAB_EMAIL_REPLY_TO`                    | string  | The e-mail address used in the "Reply-To" field in e-mails sent by GitLab
`GITLAB_EMAIL_SUBJECT_SUFFIX`              | string  | The e-mail subject suffix used in e-mails sent by GitLab
`GITLAB_UNICORN_MEMORY_MIN`                | integer | The minimum memory threshold (in bytes) for the Unicorn worker killer
`GITLAB_UNICORN_MEMORY_MAX`                | integer | The maximum memory threshold (in bytes) for the Unicorn worker killer
`GITLAB_SHARED_RUNNERS_REGISTRATION_TOKEN` | string  | Sets the initial registration token used for GitLab Runners

## Complete database variables

The recommended way of specifying your database connection information is to set
the `DATABASE_URL` environment variable. This variable only holds connection
information (`adapter`, `database`, `username`, `password`, `host` and `port`),
but not behavior information (`encoding`, `pool`). If you don't want to use
`DATABASE_URL` and/or want to set database behavior information, you will have
to either:

- copy our template file: `cp config/database.yml.env config/database.yml`, or
- set a value for some `GITLAB_DATABASE_XXX` variables

The list of `GITLAB_DATABASE_XXX` variables that you can set is:

Variable | Default value | Overridden by `DATABASE_URL`?
-------- | ------------- | -----------------------------
`GITLAB_DATABASE_ADAPTER`   | `postgresql`                          | Yes
`GITLAB_DATABASE_DATABASE`  | `gitlab_#{ENV['RAILS_ENV']`           | Yes
`GITLAB_DATABASE_USERNAME`  | `root`                                | Yes
`GITLAB_DATABASE_PASSWORD`  | None                                  | Yes
`GITLAB_DATABASE_HOST`      | `localhost`                           | Yes
`GITLAB_DATABASE_PORT`      | `5432`                                | Yes
`GITLAB_DATABASE_ENCODING`  | `unicode`                             | No
`GITLAB_DATABASE_POOL`      | `10`                                  | No

## Adding more variables

We welcome merge requests to make more settings configurable via variables.
Please make changes in the `config/initializers/1_settings.rb` file and stick
to the naming scheme `GITLAB_#{name in 1_settings.rb in upper case}`.

## Omnibus configuration

To set environment variables, follow [these
instructions](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/environment-variables.html).

It's possible to preconfigure the GitLab Docker image by adding the environment
variable `GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG` to the `docker run` command.
For more information see the [Pre-configure Docker container](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/docker/#pre-configure-docker-container)
section in the Omnibus documentation.
Add latest changes from gitlab-org/gitlab@master 2020-05-29 18:08:26 +00:00			`---`
			`stage: Verify`
			`group: Continuous Integration`
			`info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers`
			`type: reference`
			`---`

Add documentation and example file for environent variables. 2015-12-27 16:36:50 +00:00			`# Environment Variables`

Clean up environment variables doc [ci skip] 2016-02-03 11:56:23 +00:00			`GitLab exposes certain environment variables which can be used to override`
			`their defaults values.`
Add documentation and example file for environent variables. 2015-12-27 16:36:50 +00:00
Clean up environment variables doc [ci skip] 2016-02-03 11:56:23 +00:00			People usually configure GitLab via `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` for Omnibus
			installations, or `gitlab.yml` for installations from source.
Add documentation and example file for environent variables. 2015-12-27 16:36:50 +00:00
Clean up environment variables doc [ci skip] 2016-02-03 11:56:23 +00:00			`Below you will find the supported environment variables which you can use to`
			`override certain values.`
Add documentation and example file for environent variables. 2015-12-27 16:36:50 +00:00
			`## Supported environment variables`

Clean up environment variables doc [ci skip] 2016-02-03 11:56:23 +00:00			`Variable \| Type \| Description`
Added additional config environmental variables to help Debian packaging * GITLAB_EMAIL_FROM * GITLAB_EMAIL_DISPLAY_NAME * GITLAB_EMAIL_REPLY_TO 2015-12-30 14:45:24 +00:00			`-------- \| ---- \| -----------`
Add docs for ENABLE_BOOTSNAP 2019-07-19 20:21:07 +00:00			`ENABLE_BOOTSNAP` \| string \| Enables Bootsnap for speeding up initial Rails boot (`1` to enable)
Document that GITLAB_CDN_HOST takes an base URL Signed-off-by: Bastian Blank <waldi@debian.org> 2018-02-04 12:39:18 +00:00			`GITLAB_CDN_HOST` \| string \| Sets the base URL for a CDN to serve static assets (e.g. `//mycdnsubdomain.fictional-cdn.com`)
Allow users to seed the initial runner registration token using an environment variable This is useful for when runner is bundled with gitlab, like in a kubernetes stack, and we want the runner to be able to register with gitlab as soon as they both come up. 2016-10-02 22:30:44 +00:00			`GITLAB_ROOT_PASSWORD` \| string \| Sets the password for the `root` user on installation
			`GITLAB_HOST` \| string \| The full URL of the GitLab server (including `http://` or `https://`)
			`RAILS_ENV` \| string \| The Rails environment; can be one of `production`, `development`, `staging` or `test`
			`DATABASE_URL` \| string \| The database URL; is of the form: `postgresql://localhost/blog_development`
			`GITLAB_EMAIL_FROM` \| string \| The e-mail address used in the "From" field in e-mails sent by GitLab
			`GITLAB_EMAIL_DISPLAY_NAME` \| string \| The name used in the "From" field in e-mails sent by GitLab
			`GITLAB_EMAIL_REPLY_TO` \| string \| The e-mail address used in the "Reply-To" field in e-mails sent by GitLab
			`GITLAB_EMAIL_SUBJECT_SUFFIX` \| string \| The e-mail subject suffix used in e-mails sent by GitLab
			`GITLAB_UNICORN_MEMORY_MIN` \| integer \| The minimum memory threshold (in bytes) for the Unicorn worker killer
			`GITLAB_UNICORN_MEMORY_MAX` \| integer \| The maximum memory threshold (in bytes) for the Unicorn worker killer
			`GITLAB_SHARED_RUNNERS_REGISTRATION_TOKEN` \| string \| Sets the initial registration token used for GitLab Runners
Add documentation and example file for environent variables. 2015-12-27 16:36:50 +00:00
			`## Complete database variables`

Improving the "Environment variables" administration doc 2016-02-01 18:10:25 +00:00			`The recommended way of specifying your database connection information is to set`
			the `DATABASE_URL` environment variable. This variable only holds connection
Clean up environment variables doc [ci skip] 2016-02-03 11:56:23 +00:00			information (`adapter`, `database`, `username`, `password`, `host` and `port`),
			but not behavior information (`encoding`, `pool`). If you don't want to use
			`DATABASE_URL` and/or want to set database behavior information, you will have
			`to either:`
Add documentation and example file for environent variables. 2015-12-27 16:36:50 +00:00
Clean up environment variables doc [ci skip] 2016-02-03 11:56:23 +00:00			- copy our template file: `cp config/database.yml.env config/database.yml`, or
Improving the "Environment variables" administration doc 2016-02-01 18:10:25 +00:00			- set a value for some `GITLAB_DATABASE_XXX` variables
Add documentation and example file for environent variables. 2015-12-27 16:36:50 +00:00
Clean up environment variables doc [ci skip] 2016-02-03 11:56:23 +00:00			The list of `GITLAB_DATABASE_XXX` variables that you can set is:
Add documentation and example file for environent variables. 2015-12-27 16:36:50 +00:00
Improving the "Environment variables" administration doc 2016-02-01 18:10:25 +00:00			Variable \| Default value \| Overridden by `DATABASE_URL`?
Clean up environment variables doc [ci skip] 2016-02-03 11:56:23 +00:00			`-------- \| ------------- \| -----------------------------`
Update the docs to reflect lack of MySQL support Now MySQL is no longer supported, we need to change the docs 2019-06-19 13:10:07 +00:00			`GITLAB_DATABASE_ADAPTER` \| `postgresql` \| Yes
Clean up environment variables doc [ci skip] 2016-02-03 11:56:23 +00:00			`GITLAB_DATABASE_DATABASE` \| `gitlab_#{ENV['RAILS_ENV']` \| Yes
			`GITLAB_DATABASE_USERNAME` \| `root` \| Yes
			`GITLAB_DATABASE_PASSWORD` \| None \| Yes
			`GITLAB_DATABASE_HOST` \| `localhost` \| Yes
			`GITLAB_DATABASE_PORT` \| `5432` \| Yes
			`GITLAB_DATABASE_ENCODING` \| `unicode` \| No
			`GITLAB_DATABASE_POOL` \| `10` \| No
Add documentation and example file for environent variables. 2015-12-27 16:36:50 +00:00
Fix link, filename and crosslink to omnibus docs. 2015-12-29 11:58:32 +00:00			`## Adding more variables`
Add documentation and example file for environent variables. 2015-12-27 16:36:50 +00:00
			`We welcome merge requests to make more settings configurable via variables.`
Clean up environment variables doc [ci skip] 2016-02-03 11:56:23 +00:00			Please make changes in the `config/initializers/1_settings.rb` file and stick
			to the naming scheme `GITLAB_#{name in 1_settings.rb in upper case}`.
Fix link, filename and crosslink to omnibus docs. 2015-12-29 11:58:32 +00:00
			`## Omnibus configuration`

Add a link to how to set Omnibus environment variables [ci skip] 2017-06-15 19:59:57 +00:00			`To set environment variables, follow [these`
			`instructions](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/environment-variables.html).`

Add latest changes from gitlab-org/gitlab@master 2020-05-27 09:08:30 +00:00			`It's possible to preconfigure the GitLab Docker image by adding the environment`
Clean up environment variables doc [ci skip] 2016-02-03 11:56:23 +00:00			variable `GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG` to the `docker run` command.
Add latest changes from gitlab-org/gitlab@master 2020-05-27 09:08:30 +00:00			`For more information see the [Pre-configure Docker container](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/docker/#pre-configure-docker-container)`
			`section in the Omnibus documentation.`