hedgedoc/docs/content/config/index.md

HedgeDoc can be configured via environment variables either directly or via an .env file.

The .env file

The .env file should be placed in the root of the project and contains key-value pairs of environment variables and their corresponding value. This can for example look like this:

HD_BASE_URL="http://localhost:8080"
HD_SESSION_SECRET="change_me_in_production"
HD_DATABASE_TYPE="sqlite"
HD_DATABASE_NAME="./hedgedoc.sqlite"
HD_MEDIA_BACKEND="filesystem"
HD_MEDIA_BACKEND_FILESYSTEM_UPLOAD_PATH="uploads/"

We also provide an .env.example file containing a minimal configuration in the root of the project. This should help you to write your own configuration.

!!! warning
The minimal configuration provided in .env.example is exactly that: minimal.
It will let you start HedgeDoc for local development, but it is not meant to be used in production without prior changes.

General

environment variable	default	example	description
HD_BASE_URL	-	https://md.example.com	The URL the HedgeDoc instance is accessed with, like it is entered in the browser
HD_BACKEND_PORT	3000		The port the backend process listens on.
HD_FRONTEND_PORT	3001		The port the frontend process listens on.
HD_RENDERER_BASE_URL	Content of HD_BASE_URL		The URL the renderer runs on. If omitted this will be the same as HD_BASE_URL.
HD_LOGLEVEL	warn		The loglevel that should be used. Options are error, warn, info, debug or trace.
HD_FORBIDDEN_NOTE_IDS	-	notAllowed,alsoNotAllowed	A list of note ids (separated by ,), that are not allowed to be created or requested by anyone.
HD_MAX_DOCUMENT_LENGTH	100000		The maximum length of any one document. Changes to this will impact performance for your users.
HD_PERSIST_INTERVAL	10	0, 5, 10, 20	The time interval in minutes for the periodic note revision creation during realtime editing. 0 deactivates the periodic note revision creation.

Why should I want to run my renderer on a different (sub-)domain?

If the renderer is provided by another domain, it's way harder to manipulate HedgeDoc or steal credentials from the rendered note content, because renderer and editor are more isolated. This increases the security of the software and greatly mitigates XSS attacks. However, you can run HedgeDoc without this extra security, but we recommend using it if possible.

!!! note When you want to use a separate domain for HD_RENDERER_BASE_URL, your reverse proxy config needs to be adjusted to direct requests for this domain to the frontend.

Notes

environment variable	default	example	description
HD_FORBIDDEN_NOTE_IDS	-	notAllowed, alsoNotAllowed	A list of note ids (separated by ,), that are not allowed to be created or requested by anyone.
HD_MAX_DOCUMENT_LENGTH	100000		The maximum length of any one document. Changes to this will impact performance for your users.
HD_GUEST_ACCESS	write	deny, read, write, create	Defines the maximum access level for guest users to the instance. If guest access is set lower than the "everyone" permission of a note then the note permission will be overridden.
HD_PERMISSION_LOGGED_IN_DEFAULT_ACCESS	write	none, read, write	The default permission for the "logged-in" group that is set on new notes.
HD_PERMISSION_EVERYONE_DEFAULT_ACCESS	read	none, read, write	The default permission for the "everyone" group (logged-in & guest users), that is set on new notes created by logged-in users. Notes created by guests always set this to "write".

Authentication

!!! info HedgeDoc 2 does not yet support all authentication backends from HedgeDoc 1. You can follow this issue for details.

Local

HedgeDoc provides local accounts, handled internally. This feature only provides basic functionality, so for most environments we recommend using an external authentication mechanism, which also enable more secure authentication like 2FA or WebAuthn.

environment variable	default	example	description
HD_AUTH_LOCAL_ENABLE_LOGIN	false	true, false	This makes it possible to use the local accounts in HedgeDoc.
HD_AUTH_LOCAL_ENABLE_REGISTER	false	true, false	This makes it possible to register new local accounts in HedgeDoc.
HD_AUTH_LOCAL_MINIMAL_PASSWORD_STRENGTH	2	0, 1, 2, 3, 4	The minimum zxcvbn-ts password score, that passwords need to have.

Password score (zxcvbn-ts)

score	meaning	minimum number of guesses required (approximated)
0	All passwords are allowed	-
1	Only too guessable passwords are disallowed	1.000
2	too guessable and very guessable passwords are disallowed	1.000.000
3	safely unguessable and very unguessable passwords are allowed	100.000.000
4	Only very unguessable passwords are allowed	10.000.000.000

ToDo: Add other authentication methods.

Customization

HedgeDoc allows you to set a name or logo for your organization. How this looks and where this is used, can be seen below. You can also provide a privacy policy, terms of use or an imprint url for your HedgeDoc instance.

environment variable	default	example	description
HD_CUSTOM_NAME	-	DEMO Corp	The text will be shown in the top right corner in the editor and on the intro page. If you also configure a custom logo, this will be used as the alt text of the logo.
HD_CUSTOM_LOGO	-	https://md.example.com/logo.png	The logo will be shown in the top right corner in the editor and on the intro page.
HD_PRIVACY_URL	-	https://md.example.com/privacy	The URL that should be linked as the privacy notice in the footer.
HD_TERMS_OF_USE_URL	-	https://md.example.com/terms	The URL that should be linked as the terms of user in the footer.
HD_IMPRINT_URL	-	https://md.example.com/imprint	The URL that should be linked as the imprint in the footer.

Example

Links

links for the privacy policy, terms of use and imprint on the front page

Logo

For this demo we use this image:

logo used on the front page

logo used in the editor

Name

For this demo we use the name DEMO Corp

name used on the front page

name used in the editor

Database

We officially support and test these databases:

• SQLite (for development and smaller instances)
• PostgreSQL
• MariaDB

environment variable	default	example	description
HD_DATABASE_TYPE	-	postgres	The database type you want to use. This can be postgres, mysql, mariadb or sqlite.
HD_DATABASE_NAME	-	hedgedoc	The name of the database to use. When using SQLite, this is the path to the database file.
HD_DATABASE_HOST	-	db.example.com	The host, where the database runs. Only if you're not using sqlite.
HD_DATABASE_PORT	-	5432	The port, where the database runs. Only if you're not using sqlite.
HD_DATABASE_USER	-	hedgedoc	The user that logs in the database. Only if you're not using sqlite.
HD_DATABASE_PASS	-	password	The password to log into the database. Only if you're not using sqlite.

External services

environment variable	default	example	description
HD_PLANTUML_SERVER	-	https://www.plantuml.com/plantuml	The PlantUML server that HedgeDoc uses to render PlantUML diagrams. If this is not configured, PlantUML diagrams won't be rendered.
HD_IMAGE_PROXY	-	https://image-proxy.example.com	ToDo: Add description

Media

There are a couple of different backends that can be used to host your images for HedgeDoc.

• Azure
• Local filesystem
• Imgur
• S3-compatible
• WebDAV