---
title: 'Environment variables'
description: 'Environment Variables for NocoDB!'
hide_table_of_contents: true
tags: ['Open Source']
keywords : ['NocoDB environment variables', 'NocoDB env variables', 'NocoDB envs', 'NocoDB env']
---

For production use cases, it is **recommended** to set at least:

- `NC_DB`
- `NC_AUTH_JWT_SECRET`
- `NC_PUBLIC_URL`
- `NC_REDIS_URL`

| Variable | Description | If absent |
| -------- | ----------- | --------- |
| `NC_DB` | See our example database URLs [here](https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb#docker). | A local SQLite database is created in root folder if `NC_DB` is not set. |
| `NC_DB_JSON` | Can be used instead of `NC_DB` and value should be valid knex connection JSON string. | |
| `NC_DB_JSON_FILE` | Can be used instead of `NC_DB` and value should be a valid path to knex connection JSON file. | |
| `DATABASE_URL` | Can be used instead of `NC_DB` and value should be a JDBC URL string. | |
| `DATABASE_URL_FILE` | Can be used instead of `NC_DB` and value should be a valid path to a JDBC URL file. | |
| `NC_AUTH_JWT_SECRET` | JWT secret used for auth and storing other secrets. | A random secret is generated. |
| `NC_ADMIN_EMAIL` | Super admin e-mail address. | |
| `NC_ADMIN_PASSWORD` | Super admin password. The password should have at least 8 letters with one uppercase, one number and one special letter. Allowed special characters include `$&+,:;=?@#\|'.^*()%!_-"`. | |
| `PORT` | Network port NocoDB runs on. | Defaults to `8080`. |
| `DB_QUERY_LIMIT_DEFAULT` | Pagination limit. | Defaults to `25`. |
| `DB_QUERY_LIMIT_GROUP_BY_GROUP` | Group per page limit. | Defaults to `10`. |
| `DB_QUERY_LIMIT_GROUP_BY_RECORD` | Record per group limit. | Defaults to `10`. |
| `DB_QUERY_LIMIT_MAX` | Maximum allowed pagination limit. | Defaults to `1000`. |
| `DB_QUERY_LIMIT_MIN` | Minimum allowed pagination limit. | Defaults to `1`. |
| `NC_TOOL_DIR` | App directory to keep metadata and app related files in. | Defaults to the current working directory. In docker, maps to `/usr/app/data/` for mounting volume. |
| `NC_PUBLIC_URL` | Used for sending E-mail invitations. | Best guess from HTTP request params. |
| `NC_JWT_EXPIRES_IN` | JWT token expiry time | Defaults to `10h`. |
| `NC_CONNECT_TO_EXTERNAL_DB_DISABLED` | Disable base creation on external databases. | |
| `NC_MINIMAL_DBS` | Create a new SQLite file for each base. All the SQLite database files are stored in the `nc_minimal_dbs` folder in the current working directory. Enabling this option automatically sets `NC_CONNECT_TO_EXTERNAL_DB_DISABLED`, i.e. disables base creation on external databases. | |
| `NC_INVITE_ONLY_SIGNUP` | Removed since version 0.99.0, and now it's recommended to use the [super admin settings menu](/account-settings/oss-specific-details#enable--disable-signup). Disable public signup and allow signup only via invitations. | |
| `NUXT_PUBLIC_NC_BACKEND_URL` | Custom backend URL. | Defaults to `http://localhost:8080`. |
| `NC_REQUEST_BODY_SIZE` | Request body size [limit](https://expressjs.com/en/resources/middleware/body-parser.html#limit) | Defaults to `1048576`. |
| `NC_EXPORT_MAX_TIMEOUT` | After `NC_EXPORT_MAX_TIMEOUT` (in milliseconds), CSV gets downloaded in batches. | Defaults to `5000` (5 seconds). |
| `NC_DISABLE_TELE` | Disable telemetry. | |
| `NC_DASHBOARD_URL` | Custom dashboard URL path | Defaults to `/dashboard`. |
| `NC_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID` | Google client ID to enable Google authentication. | |
| `NC_GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET` | Google client secret to enable Google authentication. | |
| `NC_MIGRATIONS_DISABLED` | Disable NocoDB migrations. | |
| `NC_MIN` | Disable default splash screen (initial welcome animation) and matrix screensaver. | |
| `NC_SENTRY_DSN` | Data Source Name (DSN) for Sentry monitoring. | |
| `NC_REDIS_URL` | Redis URL. Example: `redis://:authpassword@127.0.0.1:6380/4` | Meta data is stored in memory. |
| `NC_DISABLE_ERR_REPORT` | Disable error reporting. | |
| `NC_DISABLE_CACHE` | Disable cache. To be used only while debugging. If `true`, meta data is fetched from database instead of redis/cache. | Defaults to `false`. |
| `NC_SMTP_FROM` | E-mail sender address for SMTP plugin. | *SMTP plugin is disabled if this variable is not set.* |
| `NC_SMTP_HOST` | E-mail server hostname for SMTP plugin. | *SMTP plugin is disabled if this variable is not set.* |
| `NC_SMTP_PORT` | E-mail server network for SMTP plugin. | *SMTP plugin is disabled if this variable is not set.* |
| `NC_SMTP_USERNAME` | Username for authentication in SMTP plugin. | |
| `NC_SMTP_PASSWORD` | Password for authentication in SMTP plugin. | |
| `NC_SMTP_SECURE` | Enable secure authentication in SMTP plugin. Set to `true` to enable, any other value is treated as `false`. | |
| `NC_SMTP_IGNORE_TLS` | Ignore TLS in SMTP plugin. Set to `true` to ignore TLS, any other value is treated as `false`. For more information, visit [Nodemailer's SMTP documentation](https://nodemailer.com/smtp/). | |
| `NC_S3_BUCKET_NAME` | AWS S3 bucket name for S3 storage plugin. | |
| `NC_S3_REGION` | AWS S3 region for S3 storage plugin. | |
| `NC_S3_ACCESS_KEY` | AWS access key ID for S3 storage plugin. | |
| `NC_S3_ACCESS_SECRET` | AWS access secret for S3 storage plugin. | |
| `NC_ATTACHMENT_FIELD_SIZE` | Maximum file size for [attachments](/fields/field-types/custom-types/attachment/) in bytes. | Defaults to `20971520` (20 MiB). |
| `NC_MAX_ATTACHMENTS_ALLOWED` | Maximum number of attachments per cell. | Defaults to `10`. |
| `NC_SECURE_ATTACHMENTS` | Allow accessing attachments only through pre-signed URLs. Set to `true` to enable, any other value is treated as `false`. (⚠ this will make existing links inaccessible ⚠) | Defaults to `false`. |
| `NC_ATTACHMENT_EXPIRE_SECONDS` | Number of seconds after which pre-signed attachment URLs will begin to expire. The URLs will expire after `NC_ATTACHMENT_EXPIRE_SECONDS` plus 10 minutes at the very latest. | Defaults to `7200` (2 hours). |
| `NC_DISABLE_AUDIT` | Disable audit log. | Defaults to `false`. |
| `NC_AUTOMATION_LOG_LEVEL` | Possible Values: `OFF`, `ERROR`, `ALL`. See [Webhooks](/automation/webhook/create-webhook#call-log) for details. | Defaults to `OFF`. |
| `NC_ALLOW_LOCAL_HOOKS` | ⚠ Allow webhooks to call local links, which can raise security issues. ⚠ Set to `true` to enable, any other value is treated as `false` | Defaults to `false`. |
| `NC_SANITIZE_COLUMN_NAME` | Sanitize the column name during column creation. Set to `true` to enable, any other value is treated as `false` | Defaults to `true`. |
| `NODE_OPTIONS` | Node.js [options](https://nodejs.org/api/cli.html#node_optionsoptions) to pass to instance. | |
| `LITESTREAM_S3_ENDPOINT` | URL of an S3-compatible object storage service endpoint for [Litestream](https://litestream.io/) replication of NocoDB's default SQLite database. Example: `s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com` | *Litestream replication is disabled if this variable is not set.* |
| `LITESTREAM_S3_BUCKET` | Name of the object storage bucket to store the Litestream replication in. | *Litestream replication is disabled if this variable is not set.* |
| `LITESTREAM_S3_PATH` | Directory path to use within the Litestream replication object storage bucket. | Defaults to `nocodb`. |
| `LITESTREAM_S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID` | Authentication key ID for the Litestream replication object storage bucket. | *Litestream replication is disabled if this variable is not set.* |
| `LITESTREAM_S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` | Authentication secret for the Litestream replication object storage bucket. | *Litestream replication is disabled if this variable is not set.* |
| `LITESTREAM_S3_SKIP_VERIFY` | Whether to disable TLS verification for the Litestream replication object storage service. This is useful when testing against a local node such as MinIO and you are using self-signed certificates. | Defaults to `false`. |
| `LITESTREAM_RETENTION` | Amount of time Litestream snapshot and WAL files are kept. After the retention period, a new snapshot is created and the old one is removed. WAL files that exist before the oldest snapshot will also be removed. | Defaults to `1440h` (60 days). |
| `LITESTREAM_RETENTION_CHECK_INTERVAL` | Frequency in which Litestream will check if retention needs to be enforced. | Defaults to `72h` (3 days). |
| `LITESTREAM_SNAPSHOT_INTERVAL` | Frequency in which new Litestream snapshots are created. A higher frequency reduces the time to restore since newer snapshots will have fewer WAL frames to apply. Retention still applies to these snapshots. | Defaults to `24h` (1 day). |
| `LITESTREAM_SYNC_INTERVAL` | Frequency in which frames are pushed to the Litestream replica. Increasing this frequency can increase object storage costs significantly. | Defaults to `60s` (1 minute). |