dokploy-environment-config

name	dokploy-environment-config
description	Environment variable patterns for Dokploy templates including required vs optional syntax, secrets, connection strings, and configuration organization.
version	1.0.0
author	Home Lab Infrastructure Team

Dokploy Environment Configuration

When to Use This Skill

• When defining environment variables for Dokploy templates
• When deciding between required and optional variables
• When configuring database connection strings
• When organizing environment sections
• When user asks about "environment variables" or "secrets"

When NOT to Use This Skill

• For template.toml variables (use dokploy-template-toml)
• For Traefik configuration (use dokploy-traefik-routing)

Prerequisites

• Application documentation (required env vars)
• Understanding of docker-compose variable syntax
• Knowledge of sensitive vs non-sensitive data

---

Core Patterns

Pattern 1: Required Variables (:? syntax)

Variables that MUST be set - deployment fails without them:

environment:
  DOMAIN: ${DOMAIN:?Set your domain (e.g., example.com)}
  DATABASE_PASSWORD: ${DATABASE_PASSWORD:?Set a secure database password}
  SECRET_KEY: ${SECRET_KEY:?Set a secret key for session encryption}

Syntax: ${VAR_NAME:?Error message}

• If VAR_NAME is unset or empty, shows error message and fails
• Use for: domains, passwords, API keys, secrets

Pattern 2: Optional Variables (:- syntax)

Variables with sensible defaults:

environment:
  LOG_LEVEL: ${LOG_LEVEL:-info}
  WORKERS: ${WORKERS:-4}
  CACHE_TTL: ${CACHE_TTL:-3600}
  DEBUG: ${DEBUG:-false}

Syntax: ${VAR_NAME:-default_value}

• If VAR_NAME is unset or empty, uses default_value
• Use for: tuning parameters, feature flags, optional settings

Pattern 3: Internal Constants

Values that shouldn't change:

environment:
  # Database host is always the service name
  PGHOST: postgres
  REDIS_HOST: redis

  # Ports are fixed in the container
  PGPORT: "5432"
  REDIS_PORT: "6379"

Pattern 4: Computed Values

Variables derived from other variables:

environment:
  APP_URL: https://${DOMAIN}
  DATABASE_URL: postgresql://${DB_USER}:${DB_PASS}@postgres:5432/${DB_NAME}
  MONGO_URL: mongodb://mongodb:27017/${MONGO_DB:-appdb}

---

Environment Variable Categories

Category 1: Domain & URLs

environment:
  # Primary domain (required)
  DOMAIN: ${DOMAIN:?Set your domain}

  # Derived URLs
  APP_URL: https://${DOMAIN}
  PUBLIC_URL: https://${DOMAIN}
  CORS_ORIGIN: https://${DOMAIN}
  ALLOWED_HOSTS: ${DOMAIN}

Category 2: Database Configuration

PostgreSQL:

environment:
  POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB:-appdb}
  POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER:-appuser}
  POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:?Set database password}

  # For app service connecting to postgres
  DATABASE_URL: postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER:-appuser}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/${POSTGRES_DB:-appdb}
  # OR individual variables
  DB_HOST: postgres
  DB_PORT: "5432"
  DB_NAME: ${POSTGRES_DB:-appdb}
  DB_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER:-appuser}
  DB_PASS: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}

MongoDB:

environment:
  MONGO_INITDB_DATABASE: ${MONGO_DB:-appdb}

  # For app service
  MONGO_URL: mongodb://mongodb:27017/${MONGO_DB:-appdb}
  MONGO_DB: ${MONGO_DB:-appdb}

Redis:

environment:
  # For app service
  REDIS_URL: redis://redis:6379
  REDIS_HOST: redis
  REDIS_PORT: "6379"

Category 3: Security & Secrets

environment:
  # Session/cookie security
  SECRET_KEY: ${SECRET_KEY:?Set a secret key}
  COOKIE_SECRET: ${COOKIE_SECRET:?Set cookie secret}

  # JWT/Auth
  JWT_SECRET: ${JWT_SECRET:?Set JWT secret}

  # API keys (user-provided)
  API_KEY: ${API_KEY:?Set API key}

Category 4: External Services (Cloudflare R2)

environment:
  # S3-compatible storage (Cloudflare R2)
  S3_ENDPOINT: ${S3_ENDPOINT:?Set Cloudflare R2 endpoint}
  S3_REGION: ${S3_REGION:-auto}
  S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID:?Set R2 access key ID}
  S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY:?Set R2 secret access key}
  S3_BUCKET: ${S3_BUCKET:?Set R2 bucket name}
  S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE: "false"

Category 5: Application Settings

environment:
  # Feature flags
  DEBUG: ${DEBUG:-false}
  ENABLE_FEATURE_X: ${ENABLE_FEATURE_X:-true}

  # Performance tuning
  WORKERS: ${WORKERS:-4}
  MAX_CONNECTIONS: ${MAX_CONNECTIONS:-100}
  CACHE_TTL: ${CACHE_TTL:-3600}

  # Logging
  LOG_LEVEL: ${LOG_LEVEL:-info}
  LOG_FORMAT: ${LOG_FORMAT:-json}

Category 6: Admin User (First Run)

environment:
  ADMIN_USER: ${ADMIN_USER:-admin}
  ADMIN_PASSWORD: ${ADMIN_PASSWORD:?Set admin password}
  ADMIN_EMAIL: ${ADMIN_EMAIL:?Set admin email}

---

Complete Examples

Example 1: Simple Web App (Paaster)

services:
  paaster:
    environment:
      # ===========================================
      # Domain Configuration
      # ===========================================
      PAASTER_DOMAIN: ${PAASTER_DOMAIN:?Set your domain}

      # ===========================================
      # Session Security
      # ===========================================
      COOKIE_SECRET: ${COOKIE_SECRET:?Set a secure random cookie secret}

      # ===========================================
      # MongoDB Connection
      # ===========================================
      MONGO_DB: ${MONGO_DB:-paasterv3}
      MONGO_URL: mongodb://mongodb:27017/${MONGO_DB:-paasterv3}

      # ===========================================
      # S3 Storage (Cloudflare R2)
      # Get from: Cloudflare Dashboard > R2 > Manage R2 API Tokens
      # Endpoint format: https://<ACCOUNT_ID>.r2.cloudflarestorage.com
      # ===========================================
      S3_ENDPOINT: ${S3_ENDPOINT:?Set Cloudflare R2 endpoint}
      S3_REGION: ${S3_REGION:-auto}
      S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID:?Set R2 access key 
           
          
       

  
    
       

Example 2: Complex Stack (Paperless-ngx)

services:
  paperless:
    environment:
      # ===========================================
      # Application Settings
      # ===========================================
      PAPERLESS_SECRET_KEY: ${PAPERLESS_SECRET_KEY:?Set secret key}
      PAPERLESS_URL: https://${PAPERLESS_DOMAIN}
      PAPERLESS_ALLOWED_HOSTS: ${PAPERLESS_DOMAIN}
      PAPERLESS_CORS_ALLOWED_HOSTS: https://${PAPERLESS_DOMAIN}

      # ===========================================
      # Database (PostgreSQL)
      # ===========================================
      PAPERLESS_DBHOST: postgres
      PAPERLESS_DBPORT: "5432"
      PAPERLESS_DBNAME: ${POSTGRES_DB:-paperless}
      PAPERLESS_DBUSER: ${POSTGRES_USER:-paperless}
      PAPERLESS_DBPASS: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:?Set database password}

      # ===========================================
      # Cache (Redis)
      # ===========================================
      PAPERLESS_REDIS: redis://redis:6379

      # ===========================================
      # Document Processing
      # ===========================================
      PAPERLESS_OCR_LANGUAGE: ${OCR_LANGUAGE:-eng}
      PAPERLESS_TIKA_ENABLED: "1"
       
       

      
      
      
       
         
         

  
    
       
       
         

Example 3: Git Service (Forgejo)

services:
  forgejo:
    environment:
      # ===========================================
      # Server Configuration
      # ===========================================
      FORGEJO__server__DOMAIN: ${FORGEJO_DOMAIN}
      FORGEJO__server__ROOT_URL: https://${FORGEJO_DOMAIN}/
      FORGEJO__server__SSH_DOMAIN: ${FORGEJO_DOMAIN}
      FORGEJO__server__SSH_PORT: ${SSH_PORT:-2222}

      # ===========================================
      # Database (PostgreSQL)
      # ===========================================
      FORGEJO__database__DB_TYPE: postgres
      FORGEJO__database__HOST: postgres:5432
      FORGEJO__database__NAME: ${POSTGRES_DB:-forgejo}
      FORGEJO__database__USER: ${POSTGRES_USER:-forgejo}
      FORGEJO__database__PASSWD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:?Set database password}

      # ===========================================
      # Security
      # ===========================================
      FORGEJO__security__SECRET_KEY: ${SECRET_KEY:?Set secret key}
      FORGEJO__security__INTERNAL_TOKEN: ${INTERNAL_TOKEN:?Set internal token}
      FORGEJO__oauth2__JWT_SECRET: ${JWT_SECRET:?Set JWT secret}

      
      
      
       
       

  
    
       
       
         

---

Sensitive Data Guidelines

Always Required (:?)

• Domain names
• Database passwords
• Secret keys / JWT secrets
• API keys and tokens
• Admin passwords
• S3/R2 credentials

Usually Optional (:-)

• Usernames (with sensible default)
• Database names
• Feature flags
• Tuning parameters
• Log levels

Never in Environment

• Private keys (use mounted secrets)
• Large certificates (use volume mounts)
• Multi-line configurations (use file mounts)

---

Quality Standards

Mandatory Requirements

• All required vars use :? with clear error message
• All optional vars use :- with sensible default
• Environment sections have category comments
• Database passwords marked as required
• Secret keys marked as required
• Internal service hosts use service names

Organization Standards

• Group variables by category
• Add comment headers for each category
• Document where to obtain external credentials
• Use consistent naming (UPPER_SNAKE_CASE)

---

Common Pitfalls

Pitfall 1: Missing error message

Issue: ${VAR:?} gives unclear error Solution: Always add descriptive message: ${VAR:?Set your domain}

Pitfall 2: Using IP addresses

Issue: Service IPs change on restart Solution: Use service names: postgres, redis, mongodb

Pitfall 3: Hardcoded secrets

Issue: Secrets visible in repository Solution: Use variables: ${PASSWORD:?Set password}

Pitfall 4: Missing quotes on ports

Issue: YAML interprets as number Solution: Quote port strings: DB_PORT: "5432"

---

Integration

Skills-First Approach (v2.0+)

This skill is part of the skills-first architecture - loaded during Generation phase to configure environment variables before creating template.toml.

Related Skills

• dokploy-template-toml: Variable generation in template.toml
• dokploy-security-hardening: Secret management
• dokploy-cloudflare-integration: R2 credentials

Invoked By

• /dokploy-create command: Phase 3 (Generation) - Step 5

Order in Workflow (Progressive Loading)

1. dokploy-compose-structure: Create base structure
2. dokploy-traefik-routing: Add routing labels
3. dokploy-health-patterns: Add health checks
4. dokploy-cloudflare-integration: Add CF integration (if applicable)
5. This skill: Configure environment variables (Step 5)
6. dokploy-template-toml: Create template.toml

See: .claude/commands/dokploy-create.md for full workflow