openreader/docs-site/docs/reference/environment-variables.md

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Environment Variables	3

This is the single reference page for OpenReader WebUI environment variables.

Quick Reference Table

Variable	Area	Default	When to set
NEXT_PUBLIC_NODE_ENV	Runtime mode	treated as development unless production	Set production for production client behavior
NEXT_PUBLIC_ENABLE_AUDIOBOOK_EXPORT	Client feature flags	true unless set to false	Set false to hide audiobook export UI
NEXT_PUBLIC_ENABLE_WORD_HIGHLIGHT	Client feature flags	false unless set to true	Set true to enable word highlight + alignment
API_BASE	TTS provider	none	Point to your OpenAI-compatible TTS base URL
API_KEY	TTS provider	none fallback in TTS route	Set when provider requires auth
TTS_CACHE_MAX_SIZE_BYTES	TTS caching	268435456 (256 MB)	Tune in-memory TTS cache size
TTS_CACHE_TTL_MS	TTS caching	1800000 (30 min)	Tune in-memory TTS cache TTL
TTS_MAX_RETRIES	TTS retry	2	Tune retry attempts for upstream 429/5xx
TTS_RETRY_INITIAL_MS	TTS retry	250	Tune initial retry delay
TTS_RETRY_MAX_MS	TTS retry	2000	Tune max retry delay
TTS_RETRY_BACKOFF	TTS retry	2	Tune exponential backoff factor
TTS_ENABLE_RATE_LIMIT	Rate limiting	false	Set true to enable TTS per-user/IP daily character limits
TTS_DAILY_LIMIT_ANONYMOUS	Rate limiting	50000	Override anonymous per-user daily character limit
TTS_DAILY_LIMIT_AUTHENTICATED	Rate limiting	500000	Override authenticated per-user daily character limit
TTS_IP_DAILY_LIMIT_ANONYMOUS	Rate limiting	100000	Override anonymous IP backstop daily limit
TTS_IP_DAILY_LIMIT_AUTHENTICATED	Rate limiting	1000000	Override authenticated IP backstop daily limit
BASE_URL	Auth	unset	Required (with AUTH_SECRET) to enable auth
AUTH_SECRET	Auth	unset	Required (with BASE_URL) to enable auth
AUTH_TRUSTED_ORIGINS	Auth	empty	Add extra allowed origins
USE_ANONYMOUS_AUTH_SESSIONS	Auth	false	Set true to enable anonymous auth sessions
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID	Auth/OAuth	unset	Set with GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET to enable GitHub sign-in
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET	Auth/OAuth	unset	Set with GITHUB_CLIENT_ID to enable GitHub sign-in
DISABLE_AUTH_RATE_LIMIT	Rate limiting	false	Set true to disable auth-layer rate limiting
POSTGRES_URL	Database	unset (SQLite mode)	Set to switch metadata/auth DB to Postgres
USE_EMBEDDED_WEED_MINI	Storage	true when unset	Set false to use external S3-compatible storage only
WEED_MINI_DIR	Storage	docstore/seaweedfs	Override embedded SeaweedFS data directory
WEED_MINI_WAIT_SEC	Storage	20	Tune SeaweedFS startup wait timeout
S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID	Storage	auto-generated in embedded mode	Set explicitly for stable/external credentials
S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	Storage	auto-generated in embedded mode	Set explicitly for stable/external credentials
S3_BUCKET	Storage	openreader-documents in embedded mode	Required for external S3-compatible storage
S3_REGION	Storage	us-east-1 in embedded mode	Required for external S3-compatible storage
S3_ENDPOINT	Storage	derived in embedded mode	Set for S3-compatible providers (MinIO/SeaweedFS/R2/etc.)
S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE	Storage	true in embedded mode	Set per provider requirement
S3_PREFIX	Storage	openreader	Customize object key prefix
RUN_DRIZZLE_MIGRATIONS	Database migrations	true	Set false to skip startup Drizzle schema migrations
RUN_FS_MIGRATIONS	Storage migrations	true	Set false to skip startup filesystem -> S3/DB migration pass
IMPORT_LIBRARY_DIR	Library import	docstore/library fallback	Set a single server library root
IMPORT_LIBRARY_DIRS	Library import	unset	Set multiple roots (comma/colon/semicolon separated)
WHISPER_CPP_BIN	Word timing	unset	Set to enable whisper.cpp timestamps
FFMPEG_BIN	Audio runtime	auto-detected (ffmpeg-static)	Override ffmpeg binary path
FFPROBE_BIN	Audio runtime	auto-detected (ffprobe-static)	Override ffprobe binary path

Client Runtime and Feature Flags

NEXT_PUBLIC_NODE_ENV

Controls development vs production behavior in client/server code paths.

• Typical values: development, production
• OpenReader isDev checks rely on this variable directly
• If this is not production, OpenReader treats the client as development mode
• In deployed environments, set NEXT_PUBLIC_NODE_ENV=production explicitly for predictable production behavior
• Affects:
  • Footer visibility in the app shell
  • DOCX upload/conversion availability in upload UI
  • Default provider/model behavior for first-run TTS config
  • DeepInfra model picker restrictions when no API key is set
  • Privacy modal wording (hosted-service vs local/dev wording)
  • Dev-only destructive document actions in settings

NEXT_PUBLIC_ENABLE_AUDIOBOOK_EXPORT

Controls whether audiobook export UI/actions are shown in the client.

• Default behavior: enabled unless explicitly set to false
• Applies in both development and production
• Affects export entry points in PDF/EPUB pages and document settings UI

NEXT_PUBLIC_ENABLE_WORD_HIGHLIGHT

Controls word-by-word highlighting UI and timestamp-alignment behavior.

• Default behavior: disabled unless set to true
• Applies in both development and production
• Requires working timestamp generation (for example WHISPER_CPP_BIN)
• Affects:
  • Word-highlight toggles in document settings
  • Alignment requests during TTS playback

TTS Provider and Request Behavior

API_BASE

Base URL for OpenAI-compatible TTS API requests.

• Example: http://host.docker.internal:8880/v1
• Can be overridden per request from UI settings
• Related docs: TTS Providers

API_KEY

Default API key for TTS provider requests.

• Example: none or your provider token
• Can be overridden by request headers from app settings
• Related docs: TTS Providers

TTS_CACHE_MAX_SIZE_BYTES

Maximum in-memory TTS audio cache size in bytes.

• Default: 268435456 (256 MB)

TTS_CACHE_TTL_MS

In-memory TTS audio cache TTL in milliseconds.

• Default: 1800000 (30 minutes)

TTS_MAX_RETRIES

Maximum retries for upstream TTS failures (429/5xx).

• Default: 2

TTS_RETRY_INITIAL_MS

Initial retry delay in milliseconds for TTS upstream requests.

• Default: 250

TTS_RETRY_MAX_MS

Maximum retry delay in milliseconds.

• Default: 2000

TTS_RETRY_BACKOFF

Exponential backoff multiplier between retries.

• Default: 2

TTS_ENABLE_RATE_LIMIT

Controls TTS character rate limiting in the TTS API.

• Default: false (TTS char limits disabled)
• Set to true to enforce TTS_DAILY_LIMIT_* and TTS_IP_DAILY_LIMIT_*
• For behavior details and examples, see TTS Rate Limiting

TTS_DAILY_LIMIT_ANONYMOUS

Anonymous per-user daily character limit.

• Default: 50000

TTS_DAILY_LIMIT_AUTHENTICATED

Authenticated per-user daily character limit.

• Default: 500000

TTS_IP_DAILY_LIMIT_ANONYMOUS

Anonymous IP backstop daily character limit.

• Default: 100000

TTS_IP_DAILY_LIMIT_AUTHENTICATED

Authenticated IP backstop daily character limit.

• Default: 1000000

Auth and Identity

BASE_URL

External base URL for this OpenReader instance.

• Required with AUTH_SECRET to enable auth
• Example: http://localhost:3003 or https://reader.example.com
• Related docs: Auth

AUTH_SECRET

Secret key used by auth/session handling.

• Required with BASE_URL to enable auth
• Generate with openssl rand -base64 32
• Related docs: Auth

AUTH_TRUSTED_ORIGINS

Additional allowed origins for auth requests.

• Comma-separated list
• BASE_URL origin is always trusted automatically
• Related docs: Auth

USE_ANONYMOUS_AUTH_SESSIONS

Controls whether auth-enabled deployments can create/use anonymous sessions.

• Default: false (anonymous sessions disabled)
• Set true to allow anonymous sessions and guest-style flows
• When false, users must sign in or sign up with an account
• Related docs: Auth

GITHUB_CLIENT_ID

GitHub OAuth client ID.

• Enable only with GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET

GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET

GitHub OAuth client secret.

• Enable only with GITHUB_CLIENT_ID

DISABLE_AUTH_RATE_LIMIT

Controls Better Auth rate limiting.

• Default behavior: auth-layer rate limiting enabled
• Set to true to disable auth-layer rate limiting
• This does not affect TTS character rate limiting
• Related docs: Auth

Database and Object Blob Storage

POSTGRES_URL

Switches metadata/auth storage from SQLite to Postgres.

• Unset: SQLite at docstore/sqlite3.db
• Set: Postgres mode
• Related docs: Database

USE_EMBEDDED_WEED_MINI

Controls embedded SeaweedFS startup.

• Default behavior: treated as enabled when unset
• Set false to rely on external S3-compatible storage
• Related docs: Object / Blob Storage

WEED_MINI_DIR

Data directory for embedded SeaweedFS (weed mini).

• Default: docstore/seaweedfs
• Related docs: Object / Blob Storage

WEED_MINI_WAIT_SEC

Maximum seconds to wait for embedded SeaweedFS startup.

• Default: 20
• Related docs: Object / Blob Storage

S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID

Access key for S3-compatible storage.

• Auto-generated in embedded mode if unset
• Set explicitly for stable credentials or external providers
• Related docs: Object / Blob Storage

S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

Secret key for S3-compatible storage.

• Auto-generated in embedded mode if unset
• Set explicitly for stable credentials or external providers
• Related docs: Object / Blob Storage

S3_BUCKET

Bucket name used for document blobs.

• Default in embedded mode: openreader-documents
• Required for external S3-compatible storage
• Related docs: Object / Blob Storage

S3_REGION

Region used by the S3 client.

• Default in embedded mode: us-east-1
• Related docs: Object / Blob Storage

S3_ENDPOINT

Endpoint URL for S3-compatible storage.

• In embedded mode, defaults to http://<BASE_URL host>:8333 (or detected host)
• For AWS S3, usually leave unset
• For MinIO/SeaweedFS/R2/B2-style APIs, typically set explicitly
• Related docs: Object / Blob Storage

S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE

Path-style S3 addressing toggle.

• Default in embedded mode: true
• Set according to provider requirements
• Related docs: Object / Blob Storage

S3_PREFIX

Prefix prepended to stored object keys.

• Default: openreader
• Related docs: Object / Blob Storage

Migration Controls

RUN_DRIZZLE_MIGRATIONS

Controls startup migration execution in shared entrypoint.

• Default: true
• Set false to skip automatic startup Drizzle schema migrations
• Related docs: Migrations, Database

RUN_FS_MIGRATIONS

Controls startup filesystem-to-object-store migration execution in shared entrypoint.

• Default: true
• Runs scripts/migrate-fs-v2.mjs at startup after DB migrations
• Set false to skip automatic storage migration pass
• Related docs: Migrations, Database, Object / Blob Storage

Library Import

IMPORT_LIBRARY_DIR

Single directory root for server library import.

• Used when IMPORT_LIBRARY_DIRS is unset
• Default fallback root: docstore/library
• Related docs: Server Library Import

IMPORT_LIBRARY_DIRS

Multiple library roots for server library import.

• Separator: comma, colon, or semicolon
• Takes precedence over IMPORT_LIBRARY_DIR
• Related docs: Server Library Import

Audio Tooling and Alignment

WHISPER_CPP_BIN

Absolute path to compiled whisper.cpp binary for word-level timestamps.

• Example: /whisper.cpp/build/bin/whisper-cli
• Required only for optional word-by-word highlighting

FFMPEG_BIN

Absolute path or executable name for the ffmpeg binary used by audiobook/processing routes.

• Resolution order: FFMPEG_BIN -> ffmpeg-static
• Example: /var/task/node_modules/ffmpeg-static/ffmpeg

FFPROBE_BIN

Absolute path or executable name for the ffprobe binary used for audio probing.

• Resolution order: FFPROBE_BIN -> ffprobe-static
• Example: /var/task/node_modules/ffprobe-static/bin/linux/x64/ffprobe