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---
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stage: Enablement
group: Distribution
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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/#assignments
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type: reference
---
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# Environment variables **(FREE SELF)**
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GitLab exposes certain environment variables which can be used to override
their defaults values.
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People usually configure GitLab with `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` for Omnibus
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installations, or `gitlab.yml` for installations from source.
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You can use the following environment variables to override certain values:
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## Supported environment variables
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| Variable | Type | Description |
|--------------------------------------------|---------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `DATABASE_URL` | string | The database URL; is of the form: `postgresql://localhost/blog_development` . |
| `ENABLE_BOOTSNAP` | string | Enables Bootsnap for speeding up initial Rails boot (`1` to enable). |
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| `EXTERNAL_VALIDATION_SERVICE_TIMEOUT` | integer | Timeout, in seconds, for an [external CI/CD pipeline validation service ](external_pipeline_validation.md ). Default is `5` . |
| `EXTERNAL_VALIDATION_SERVICE_URL` | string | URL to an [external CI/CD pipeline validation service ](external_pipeline_validation.md ). |
| `EXTERNAL_VALIDATION_SERVICE_TOKEN` | string | The `X-Gitlab-Token` for authentication with an [external CI/CD pipeline validation service ](external_pipeline_validation.md ). |
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| `GITLAB_CDN_HOST` | string | Sets the base URL for a CDN to serve static assets (for example, `//mycdnsubdomain.fictional-cdn.com` ). |
| `GITLAB_EMAIL_DISPLAY_NAME` | string | The name used in the **From** field in emails sent by GitLab. |
| `GITLAB_EMAIL_FROM` | string | The email address used in the **From** field in emails sent by GitLab. |
| `GITLAB_EMAIL_REPLY_TO` | string | The email address used in the **Reply-To** field in emails sent by GitLab. |
| `GITLAB_EMAIL_SUBJECT_SUFFIX` | string | The email subject suffix used in emails sent by GitLab. |
| `GITLAB_HOST` | string | The full URL of the GitLab server (including `http://` or `https://` ). |
| `GITLAB_ROOT_PASSWORD` | string | Sets the password for the `root` user on installation. |
| `GITLAB_SHARED_RUNNERS_REGISTRATION_TOKEN` | string | Sets the initial registration token used for runners. |
| `RAILS_ENV` | string | The Rails environment; can be one of `production` , `development` , `staging` , or `test` . |
| `UNSTRUCTURED_RAILS_LOG` | string | Enables the unstructured log in addition to JSON logs (defaults to `true` ). |
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## Complete database variables
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The recommended method for specifying your database connection information is
to set the `DATABASE_URL` environment variable. This variable contains
connection information (`adapter`, `database` , `username` , `password` , `host` ,
and `port` ), but no behavior information (`encoding` or `pool` ). If you don't
want to use `DATABASE_URL` , or want to set database behavior information,
either:
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- Copy the template file, `cp config/database.yml.env config/database.yml` .
- Set a value for some `GITLAB_DATABASE_XXX` variables.
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The list of `GITLAB_DATABASE_XXX` variables that you can set is:
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| Variable | Default value | Overridden by `DATABASE_URL` ? |
|-----------------------------|--------------------------------|-------------------------------|
| `GITLAB_DATABASE_ADAPTER` | `postgresql` | ** {check-circle}** Yes |
| `GITLAB_DATABASE_DATABASE` | `gitlab_#{ENV['RAILS_ENV']` | ** {check-circle}** Yes |
| `GITLAB_DATABASE_ENCODING` | `unicode` | ** {dotted-circle}** No |
| `GITLAB_DATABASE_HOST` | `localhost` | ** {check-circle}** Yes |
| `GITLAB_DATABASE_PASSWORD` | _none_ | ** {check-circle}** Yes |
| `GITLAB_DATABASE_POOL` | `10` | ** {dotted-circle}** No |
| `GITLAB_DATABASE_PORT` | `5432` | ** {check-circle}** Yes |
| `GITLAB_DATABASE_USERNAME` | `root` | ** {check-circle}** Yes |
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## Adding more variables
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We welcome merge requests to make more settings configurable by using variables.
Make changes to the `config/initializers/1_settings.rb` file, and use the
naming scheme `GITLAB_#{name in 1_settings.rb in upper case}` .
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## Omnibus configuration
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To set environment variables, follow [these instructions ](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/environment-variables.html ).
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It's possible to preconfigure the GitLab Docker image by adding the environment
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variable `GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG` to the `docker run` command.
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For more information, see the [Pre-configure Docker container ](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/docker/#pre-configure-docker-container )
section of the Omnibus GitLab documentation.