Environment Variables

Configure your application using the following environment variables. Some of them have default values and are not mandatory to set, but you can override them if needed.

Configuration	Variable	Default	Info
Timezone	`TZ`	`UTC`
JWT secret	`JWT_SECRET`		Used for signing JWT tokens. Change this to a strong, random value of at least 32 characters (64 or more recommended).
Database host	`DB_HOST`	`db`
Database port	`DB_PORT`	`5432`
Database name	`DB_NAME`	`boardgametracker`
Database user	`DB_USER`	`dbuser`
Database password	`DB_PASSWORD`		Password used to connect to the database.
Log level	`LOGLEVEL`	`warn`	Sets the logging level for the application. Possible values are `debug`, `info`, `warn`, `error`.
Enable Sentry logging	`STATISTICS_ENABLED`	`false`	Enables or disables the collection of usage statistics. Set to `true` to enable, `false` to disable.
Enable authentication	`AUTH_ENABLED`	`true`	Set to `false` to disable authentication and allow anyone to access the application.
Admin password	`ADMIN_PASSWORD`		Initial password for the default `admin` account, applied when that account is first created. If left empty the default password `admin` is used — change it after your first login.
Trusted proxies	`TRUSTED_PROXIES`		Comma-separated list of reverse-proxy IP addresses to trust, so the real client IP is read from forwarded headers.
CORS origins	`CORS_ORIGINS`		Comma-separated list of extra origins allowed to call the API.
Swagger UI	`SWAGGER_ENABLED`	`false`	Set to `true` to expose the Swagger API UI. Enabled automatically in development.

Email (SMTP)

BoardGameTracker can also send game-night invites and password-reset emails. See the Email (SMTP) page for ports, TLS and a full example.

Configuration	Variable	Default	Info
SMTP host	`SMTP_HOST`		Hostname of your SMTP server. Leave empty to keep email disabled.
SMTP port	`SMTP_PORT`	`587`	Port of your SMTP server. Port `465` (implicit TLS) is detected automatically.
SMTP username	`SMTP_USERNAME`		Username to authenticate with. Leave empty for a server that needs no authentication.
SMTP password	`SMTP_PASSWORD`		Password to authenticate with.
Use TLS	`SMTP_USE_SSL`	`true`	Set to `false` for a server without TLS, such as a local mail catcher.
From address	`SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS`		Address emails are sent from. Required to enable email.
From name	`SMTP_FROM_NAME`	`BoardGameTracker`	Display name shown as the sender.

Rules assistant (RAG)

The optional rules assistant answers questions about your uploaded rulebooks using a local AI model. See that page for hardware guidance and setup.

Configuration	Variable	Default	Info
Enable rules assistant	`RAG_ENABLED`	`false`	Master switch. Set to `true` to enable rulebook Q&A. Requires the Ollama service and enough hardware to run a language model.
AI base URL	`AI_BASE_URL`	`http://ollama:11434`	Endpoint of the Ollama (or OpenAI-compatible) server.
Chat model	`AI_CHAT_MODEL`	`qwen3:4b`	The language model used to write answers. Pick one that fits your hardware.
AI provider	`AI_PROVIDER`	`ollama`	`ollama` for local inference, or `openai` for an OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
AI API key	`AI_API_KEY`		Only needed when `AI_PROVIDER=openai`.