Environment variables

This is a reference for the environment variables a self-hosted forum reads. For how they combine, see Configuration.

The BLUSET_ prefix and value parsing

Only a small fixed set of names is read without a prefix (DATABASE_URL, SECRET_KEY, API_KEY, JWT_SECRET, and a few platform values). Every other Flask setting must be provided with the BLUSET_ prefix — the prefix is stripped and the value is parsed as a Python literal before it’s set. So BLUSET_DEBUG=True sets DEBUG to the boolean True, and mail/Redis settings are BLUSET_MAIL_* / BLUSET_REDIS_*, not the bare names. Spell booleans True/False. BLUSET_-prefixed values also override a bluset.cfg file.

Application (contract)

Variable	Default	Notes
DATABASE_URL	—	PostgreSQL URL. Presence = production mode.
SECRET_KEY	—	Required in production; app won’t start without it.
API_KEY	—	Platform API bootstrap key (if API enabled).
JWT_SECRET	—	JWT signing secret (if token auth used).
BLUSET_REDIS_URL	—	Redis URL for cache, rate-limiting, and Celery. Not a canonical name — it must carry the BLUSET_ prefix.
BLUSET_REDIS_ENABLED	False	Set True to actually use Redis (otherwise cache falls back to in-process and the rate-limiter to memory).
BLUSET_PRODUCTION	unset	Force production mode either way.
BLUSET_DEBUG	False	Never enable in production.
BLUSET_AUTO_MIGRATE	True	Migrations run on container start by default; set False to manage them yourself.
BLUSET_SETTINGS	—	Path to a Python config file to load.
BLUSET_SENTRY_DSN	—	Error tracking (optional).
BLUSET_SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT	production	Sentry environment tag.
BLUSET_STATIC_DIR	image path	Static assets directory.
BLUSET_THEMES_DIR	image path	Themes directory.
BLUSET_SOCKET_DIR	/run/bluset	Socket directory when binding a socket.

Feature flags (tiering)

Variable	Default	Notes
FORUM_ENABLED	true	Enable the web interface (forum, auth, admin, user, help-desk web).
API_ENABLED	true	Enable the API interface (forum/CMS/auth/help-desk APIs).
FEATURE_SET	—	Comma-separated allowlist of child features to enable. When present, it is authoritative each boot.

Initial admin (bootstrap)

Variable	Notes
ADMIN_USERNAME	Bootstrap admin username. Change immediately.
ADMIN_EMAIL	Bootstrap admin email.
ADMIN_PASSWORD	Bootstrap admin password. Never keep the sample value.

Prefer creating the admin explicitly with bluset create-admin (see the CLI reference) so credentials never sit in the environment.

Email (SMTP)

These are Flask-Mail settings, so they take the BLUSET_ prefix.

Variable	Default	Notes
BLUSET_MAIL_SERVER	localhost	SMTP host.
BLUSET_MAIL_PORT	25	SMTP port.
BLUSET_MAIL_USE_TLS	False	STARTTLS (set True for port 587).
BLUSET_MAIL_USE_SSL	False	Implicit TLS (set True for port 465).
BLUSET_MAIL_USERNAME / BLUSET_MAIL_PASSWORD	—	SMTP credentials.
BLUSET_MAIL_DEFAULT_SENDER	—	From address.

Web server (Gunicorn)

Variable	Default	Notes
GUNICORN_BIND	unix:/runtime/bluset.sock	Set 0.0.0.0:8000 for TCP behind a proxy.
WEB_CONCURRENCY	2	Workers; a good start is (cores × 2) + 1.
PYTHON_MAX_THREADS	1	Threads per worker.
WEB_TIMEOUT	120	Worker timeout (seconds).
WEB_RELOAD	false	Development only.
GUNICORN_LOG_LEVEL	info	Log level.

Background worker (Celery)

Variable	Default	Notes
CELERY_LOG_LEVEL	info	Worker log level (container/entrypoint var).
BLUSET_CELERY_BEAT_ENABLED	False	Enable scheduled tasks.
BLUSET_CELERY_CONFIG	Redis on localhost	Override the whole Celery config dict (broker/result backend) — e.g. to point at a separate Redis.

Database & Docker stack

Variable	Default	Notes
POSTGRES_USER / POSTGRES_PASSWORD / POSTGRES_DB	sample values	Change for production.
POSTGRES_VERSION	alpine	Postgres image tag.
REDIS_VERSION	alpine	Redis image tag.
COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME	bluset	Compose project name.
TAG	latest	Image tag to run.
UID / GID	2000	Non-root run user.
DOCKER_RESTART_POLICY	unless-stopped	Container restart policy.

Help desk email channel

See Connect a support inbox for BLUSET_HELPDESK_INBOUND_SECRET, BLUSET_HELPDESK_SUPPORT_EMAIL, and related keys.