In a Nutshell (🌰)

• Environment variables configure SSM server behavior
• Security-related variables control encryption and authentication
• Database connection variables configure MongoDB and Redis
• System paths and telemetry can be configured as needed
• Most variables have sensible defaults but should be customized for production

Overview

Squirrel Servers Manager (SSM) uses environment variables to configure various aspects of the system. These variables can be set in your .env file or provided directly to the containers through Docker Compose or other deployment methods.

Core Environment Variables

These variables control fundamental aspects of SSM:

Variable	Required	Default	Description
NODE_ENV		development	Environment mode (development, production, test)
PORT		3000	Port the SSM server will listen on

Security Variables

These variables control security-related settings:

Variable	Required	Default	Description
SECRET	✓	Dev mode: WLZBQ9UozypQJ8p8LLHIMZ0ZuSyY6uTY	Secret key used for JWT signing and encryption
VAULT_PWD	✓	(empty string)	Password for Ansible vault encryption
SESSION_DURATION		86400000	Session duration in milliseconds (24 hours)

WARNING

Never use the default values in production! Always set strong, unique values for SECRET and VAULT_PWD.

Database Connection Variables

These variables configure database connections:

Variable	Required	Default	Description
DB_HOST		mongo	MongoDB hostname
DB_PORT		27017	MongoDB port
DB_NAME		ssm	MongoDB database name
DB_USER		(empty string)	MongoDB username (if authentication is enabled)
DB_USER_PWD		(empty string)	MongoDB password (if authentication is enabled)
DB_MIN_POOL_SIZE		5	Minimum MongoDB connection pool size
DB_MAX_POOL_SIZE		10	Maximum MongoDB connection pool size
REDIS_HOST		(empty string)	Redis hostname
REDIS_PORT		6379	Redis port

Example configuration:

# MongoDB Configuration
DB_HOST=mongo
DB_NAME=ssm
DB_PORT=27017

# Redis Configuration
REDIS_HOST=redis
REDIS_PORT=6379

System Paths

These variables define where SSM stores its data:

Variable	Required	Default	Description
SSM_INSTALL_PATH		/opt/squirrelserversmanager	Installation path for SSM
SSM_DATA_PATH		/data	Data storage path for SSM

Prometheus Configuration

These variables configure Prometheus metrics integration:

Variable	Required	Default	Description
PROMETHEUS_HOST		http://prometheus:9090	Prometheus server URL
PROMETHEUS_BASE_URL		/api/v1	Prometheus API base path
PROMETHEUS_USERNAME		user	Prometheus basic auth username
PROMETHEUS_PASSWORD		pass	Prometheus basic auth password

Feature Flags

These variables enable or disable specific features:

Variable	Required	Default	Description
TELEMETRY_ENABLED		false	Enable/disable anonymous telemetry

Example Configuration

A typical production .env file might look like this:

# Environment
NODE_ENV=production
PORT=3000

# Security
SECRET=your-very-long-and-secure-random-string
VAULT_PWD=your-secure-vault-password
SESSION_DURATION=86400000

# Database
DB_HOST=mongo
DB_NAME=ssm
DB_PORT=27017
REDIS_HOST=redis
REDIS_PORT=6379

# System Paths
SSM_INSTALL_PATH=/opt/squirrelserversmanager
SSM_DATA_PATH=/data

# Features
TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false

Setting Environment Variables

Docker Compose

In a Docker Compose deployment, set environment variables in your docker-compose.yml file:

services:
  server:
    image: "ghcr.io/squirrelcorporation/squirrelserversmanager-server:latest"
    environment:
      NODE_ENV: production
      SECRET: your-very-long-and-secure-random-string
      VAULT_PWD: your-secure-vault-password
      DB_HOST: mongo
      DB_NAME: ssm
      REDIS_HOST: redis
    # ...

Or use an env file:

services:
  server:
    image: "ghcr.io/squirrelcorporation/squirrelserversmanager-server:latest"
    env_file: .env
    # ...

Manual Deployment

For manual deployments, you can set environment variables in your shell:

# Linux/macOS
export SECRET=your-very-long-and-secure-random-string
export VAULT_PWD=your-secure-vault-password

# Windows (CMD)
set SECRET=your-very-long-and-secure-random-string
set VAULT_PWD=your-secure-vault-password

# Windows (PowerShell)
$env:SECRET="your-very-long-and-secure-random-string"
$env:VAULT_PWD="your-secure-vault-password"