mealie/docs/docs/documentation/getting-started/installation/backend-config.md

Backend Configuration

API Environment Variables

General

Variables	Default	Description
PUID	911	UserID permissions between host OS and container
PGID	911	GroupID permissions between host OS and container
DEFAULT_GROUP	Home	The default group for users
BASE_URL	http://localhost:8080	Used for Notifications
TOKEN_TIME	48	The time in hours that a login/auth token is valid
API_PORT	9000	The port exposed by backend API. Do not change this if you're running in Docker
API_DOCS	True	Turns on/off access to the API documentation locally
TZ	UTC	Must be set to get correct date/time on the server
ALLOW_SIGNUP*	false	Allow user sign-up without token
LOG_CONFIG_OVERRIDE		Override the config for logging with a custom path
LOG_LEVEL	info	Logging level (e.g. critical, error, warning, info, debug, trace)
DAILY_SCHEDULE_TIME	23:45	The time of day to run daily server tasks, in HH:MM format. Use the server's local time, not UTC

* Starting in v1.4.0 this was changed to default to false as part of a security review of the application.

Security

Variables	Default	Description
SECURITY_MAX_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS	5	Maximum times a user can provide an invalid password before their account is locked
SECURITY_USER_LOCKOUT_TIME	24	Time in hours for how long a users account is locked

Database

Variables	Default	Description
DB_ENGINE	sqlite	Optional: 'sqlite', 'postgres'
POSTGRES_USER	mealie	Postgres database user
POSTGRES_PASSWORD	mealie	Postgres database password
POSTGRES_SERVER	postgres	Postgres database server address
POSTGRES_PORT	5432	Postgres database port
POSTGRES_DB	mealie	Postgres database name
POSTGRES_URL_OVERRIDE	None	Optional Postgres URL override to use instead of POSTGRES_* variables

Email

Variables	Default	Description
SMTP_HOST	None	Required For email
SMTP_PORT	587	Required For email
SMTP_FROM_NAME	Mealie	Required For email
SMTP_AUTH_STRATEGY	TLS	Required For email, Options: 'TLS', 'SSL', 'NONE'
SMTP_FROM_EMAIL	None	Required For email
SMTP_USER	None	Required if SMTP_AUTH_STRATEGY is 'TLS' or 'SSL'
SMTP_PASSWORD	None	Required if SMTP_AUTH_STRATEGY is 'TLS' or 'SSL'

Webworker

Changing the webworker settings may cause unforeseen memory leak issues with Mealie. It's best to leave these at the defaults unless you begin to experience issues with multiple users. Exercise caution when changing these settings

Variables	Default	Description
UVICORN_WORKERS	1	Sets the number of works for the web server more info here

LDAP

Variables	Default	Description
LDAP_AUTH_ENABLED	False	Authenticate via an external LDAP server in addidion to built-in Mealie auth
LDAP_SERVER_URL	None	LDAP server URL (e.g. ldap://ldap.example.com)
LDAP_TLS_INSECURE	False	Do not verify server certificate when using secure LDAP
LDAP_TLS_CACERTFILE	None	File path to Certificate Authority used to verify server certificate (e.g. /path/to/ca.crt)
LDAP_ENABLE_STARTTLS	False	Optional. Use STARTTLS to connect to the server
LDAP_BASE_DN	None	Starting point when searching for users authentication (e.g. CN=Users,DC=xx,DC=yy,DC=de)
LDAP_QUERY_BIND	None	Optional bind user for LDAP search queries (e.g. cn=admin,cn=users,dc=example,dc=com). If None then anonymous bind will be used
LDAP_QUERY_PASSWORD	None	Optional password for the bind user used in LDAP_QUERY_BIND
LDAP_USER_FILTER	None	Optional LDAP filter to narrow down eligible users (e.g. (memberOf=cn=mealie_user,dc=example,dc=com))
LDAP_ADMIN_FILTER	None	Optional LDAP filter, which tells Mealie the LDAP user is an admin (e.g. (memberOf=cn=admins,dc=example,dc=com))
LDAP_ID_ATTRIBUTE	uid	The LDAP attribute that maps to the user's id
LDAP_NAME_ATTRIBUTE	name	The LDAP attribute that maps to the user's name
LDAP_MAIL_ATTRIBUTE	mail	The LDAP attribute that maps to the user's email

OpenID Connect (OIDC)

:octicons-tag-24: v1.4.0

For usage, see Usage - OpenID Connect

Variables	Default	Description
OIDC_AUTH_ENABLED	False	Enables authentication via OpenID Connect
OIDC_SIGNUP_ENABLED	True	Enables new users to be created when signing in for the first time with OIDC
OIDC_CONFIGURATION_URL	None	The URL to the OIDC configuration of your provider. This is usually something like https://auth.example.com/.well-known/openid-configuration
OIDC_CLIENT_ID	None	The client id of your configured client in your provider
OIDC_USER_GROUP	None	If specified, only users belonging to this group will be able to successfully authenticate, regardless of the OIDC_ADMIN_GROUP. For more information see this page
OIDC_ADMIN_GROUP	None	If specified, users belonging to this group will be made an admin. For more information see this page
OIDC_AUTO_REDIRECT	False	If True, then the login page will be bypassed an you will be sent directly to your Identity Provider. You can still get to the login page by adding ?direct=1 to the login URL
OIDC_PROVIDER_NAME	OAuth	The provider name is shown in SSO login button. "Login with <OIDC_PROVIDER_NAME>"
OIDC_REMEMBER_ME	False	Because redirects bypass the login screen, you cant extend your session by clicking the "Remember Me" checkbox. By setting this value to true, a session will be extended as if "Remember Me" was checked
OIDC_SIGNING_ALGORITHM	RS256	The algorithm used to sign the id token (examples: RS256, HS256)
OIDC_USER_CLAIM	email	This is the claim which Mealie will use to look up an existing user by (e.g. "email", "preferred_username")
OIDC_GROUPS_CLAIM	groups	Optional if not using OIDC_USER_GROUP or OIDC_ADMIN_GROUP. This is the claim Mealie will request from your IdP and will use to compare to OIDC_USER_GROUP or OIDC_ADMIN_GROUP to allow the user to log in to Mealie or is set as an admin. Your IdP must be configured to grant this claim
OIDC_TLS_CACERTFILE	None	File path to Certificate Authority used to verify server certificate (e.g. /path/to/ca.crt)

OpenAI

:octicons-tag-24: v1.7.0

Mealie supports various integrations using OpenAI. To enable OpenAI, you must provide your OpenAI API key. You can tweak how OpenAI is used using these backend settings. Please note that while OpenAI usage is optimized to reduce API costs, you're unlikely to be able to use OpenAI features with the free tier limits.

Variables	Default	Description
OPENAI_BASE_URL	None	The base URL for the OpenAI API. If you're not sure, leave this empty to use the standard OpenAI platform
OPENAI_API_KEY	None	Your OpenAI API Key. Enables OpenAI-related features
OPENAI_MODEL	gpt-4o	Which OpenAI model to use. If you're not sure, leave this empty
OPENAI_ENABLE_IMAGE_SERVICES	True	Whether to enable OpenAI image services, such as creating recipes via image. Leave this enabled unless your custom model doesn't support it, or you want to reduce costs
OPENAI_WORKERS	2	Number of OpenAI workers per request. Higher values may increase processing speed, but will incur additional API costs
OPENAI_SEND_DATABASE_DATA	True	Whether to send Mealie data to OpenAI to improve request accuracy. This will incur additional API costs
OPENAI_REQUEST_TIMEOUT	60	The number of seconds to wait for an OpenAI request to complete before cancelling the request. Leave this empty unless you're running into timeout issues on slower hardware

Themeing

Setting the following environmental variables will change the theme of the frontend. Note that the themes are the same for all users. This is a break-change when migration from v0.x.x -> 1.x.x.

Variables	Default	Description
THEME_LIGHT_PRIMARY	#E58325	Light Theme Config Variable
THEME_LIGHT_ACCENT	#007A99	Light Theme Config Variable
THEME_LIGHT_SECONDARY	#973542	Light Theme Config Variable
THEME_LIGHT_SUCCESS	#43A047	Light Theme Config Variable
THEME_LIGHT_INFO	#1976D2	Light Theme Config Variable
THEME_LIGHT_WARNING	#FF6D00	Light Theme Config Variable
THEME_LIGHT_ERROR	#EF5350	Light Theme Config Variable
THEME_DARK_PRIMARY	#E58325	Dark Theme Config Variable
THEME_DARK_ACCENT	#007A99	Dark Theme Config Variable
THEME_DARK_SECONDARY	#973542	Dark Theme Config Variable
THEME_DARK_SUCCESS	#43A047	Dark Theme Config Variable
THEME_DARK_INFO	#1976D2	Dark Theme Config Variable
THEME_DARK_WARNING	#FF6D00	Dark Theme Config Variable
THEME_DARK_ERROR	#EF5350	Dark Theme Config Variable

Docker Secrets

Setting a credential can be done using secrets when running in a Docker container. This can be used to avoid leaking passwords through compose files, environment variables, or command-line history. For example, to configure the Postgres database password in Docker compose, create a file on the host that contains only the password, and expose that file to the Mealie service as a secret with the correct name. Note that environment variables take priority over secrets, so any previously defined environment variables should be removed when migrating to secrets.

services:
  mealie:
    ...
    environment:
      ...
      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
    secrets:
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD

secrets:
  POSTGRES_PASSWORD:
    file: postgrespassword.txt