dotcom-arcade/docs/09-deployment/environment-variables.md

Environment Variables

Configuration reference for all Dotcom Arcade services.

Backend Variables

Location: backend/.env (local development)

Server:

Variable	Default	Description
NODE_ENV	development	Environment: development, production, test

Note: Port (3100) and bind address (0.0.0.0) are hardcoded in the backend. In Docker, use API_PORT to map a different host port to the container.

Paths:

Variable	Default	Description
FLASHPOINT_PATH	D:/Flashpoint (dev), /data/flashpoint (prod)	Root Flashpoint directory. All other paths auto-derived. Edition (Infinity/Ultimate) auto-detected from version.txt.
FLASHPOINT_GAMES_PATH	<FLASHPOINT_PATH>/Data/Games	Override game ZIP directory (rarely needed).
APP_VERSION	set by the Docker build	Release version the server reports on Settings → Update. Baked into the official image from the release tag; set it by hand for a non-Docker deployment, or update checks stay off.

Authentication & Security:

Variable	Default	Description
JWT_SECRET	auto-generated (dev)	Secret for JWT signing (required in production)
JWT_EXPIRES_IN	1h	Access token expiration (15m, 1h, 7d, etc.)
BCRYPT_SALT_ROUNDS	10	Password hash cost (higher = more secure but slower)
DOMAIN	http://localhost:5173	Allowed CORS origin(s), comma-separated (see below)
COOKIE_SECURE	auto	Secure flag on auth cookies: auto, true, false
UV_THREADPOOL_SIZE	16	Concurrent file I/O threads (Node's own default is 4)
DB_WORKER_COUNT	4	Read-only SQLite query workers (1-16)

Generate secure JWT secret:

openssl rand -hex 64

COOKIE_SECURE — auth cookies over HTTP and HTTPS:

Browsers discard a cookie marked Secure when it arrives over plain HTTP, which logs users straight back out. auto therefore decides per request: cookies are marked Secure only on connections that actually used TLS, so one deployment can serve a LAN over HTTP and the internet over HTTPS at the same time.

Detection reads X-Forwarded-Proto, which is trusted only from a proxy. Set COOKIE_SECURE=true if your TLS-terminating proxy does not send that header, and false only if you deliberately want the flag off everywhere.

DOMAIN — allowed origins:

DOMAIN accepts one origin or a comma-separated list, so a single deployment can be reached over several addresses:

DOMAIN=http://192.168.0.118,https://flashpoint.example.com

The first entry is the primary origin, used where a single value is required. Requests from any listed origin are accepted, as are requests from hostnames in the domains table.

Two notes that save debugging time:

• Same-origin requests are always allowed, so SERVE_FRONTEND=true deployments work at any address without listing it here. You only need DOMAIN when the UI is served from a different origin than the API, or behind a reverse proxy that rewrites the Host header.
• Default ports are normalized away: http://host:80 and http://host are treated as the same origin, as are https://host:443 and https://host. Non-default ports must be written out, for example http://host:8080.

Rate Limiting:

Variable	Default	Description
RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW_MS	60000	Time window (ms)
RATE_LIMIT_MAX_REQUESTS	100	Max requests per window

Logging:

Variable	Default	Description
LOG_LEVEL	info	Level: error, warn, info, debug
LOG_FILE	/app/logs/backend.log (prod)	Log file path (unset in dev = stdout only)

Database Performance:

Variable	Default	Description
ENABLE_LOCAL_DB_COPY	false	Copy flashpoint.sqlite locally (for network storage SMB/NFS)
SQLITE_CACHE_SIZE	-64000	SQLite page cache size (negative = KB, -64000 = 64MB)
SQLITE_MMAP_SIZE	268435456	Memory-mapped I/O size in bytes (256MB)
ENABLE_CACHE_PREWARM	true	Pre-load common queries on startup

Game Content Serving:

Variable	Default	Description
ENABLE_CGI	false	Enable PHP CGI execution for legacy game content

Frontend Serving:

The backend serves the built React UI in the single-image deployment, so the app and API share one origin.

Variable	Default	Description
SERVE_FRONTEND	true in production, else false	Serve the built frontend and SPA fallback from the backend
FRONTEND_DIST_PATH	<backend>/../frontend/dist	Location of the built frontend (rarely needed)
RUFFLE_DATA_PATH	/app/data/ruffle in production	Where Ruffle is installed. Must sit on a mounted volume, or an in-app update is lost when the container is recreated

Images and updates:

Variable	Default	Description
IMAGE_PREFIX	-	Registry path to pull images from, ending in /. Unset builds them from source
IMAGE_TAG	latest	Image tag to build or pull
APP_UPDATE_URL	-	"Latest release" API URL (GitHub or Gitea) that Settings checks for new versions; off when unset

Streaming:

Games that can't run in a browser, such as Java applets and Shockwave, can be streamed by the session manager under streaming/. It runs under the streaming compose profile. See Streaming.

Variable	Default	Description
STREAMING_API_URL	http://session-manager:8080	Session manager's internal API
STREAMING_STREAM_URL	http://session-manager:8081	Where the app proxies /stream/ to
STREAMING_API_TOKEN	-	Token shared with the session manager. Streaming is off without it

Trusted Header Login:

See also Proxy Sign-In.

When a reverse proxy such as Authentik (forward auth) authenticates users in front of flashpoint-web, it can pass the signed-in username in a header so users don't log in twice. The backend believes the header only on connections from TRUSTED_PROXIES, checked against the connection's own address, not X-Forwarded-For. The proxy must always set the header, overwriting anything a client sends, and flashpoint-web must not be reachable from untrusted networks except through it.

Users are matched by username, so an existing account of that name is signed in; otherwise an account is created (the first one as admin, as with registration). New accounts get a random password. While signed in through the proxy, users can set a password from Settings without knowing the current one, then log in with it when reaching flashpoint-web without the proxy, such as on a LAN.

Variable	Default	Description
TRUSTED_HEADER_USERNAME	-	Header holding the username, e.g. X-authentik-username
TRUSTED_HEADER_EMAIL	-	Optional header holding the email used for new accounts
TRUSTED_PROXIES	-	Comma-separated proxy addresses or CIDR ranges allowed to set the header

With nginx and Authentik's forward auth, each protected location needs these lines once. Authentik's generated nginx snippet already includes them; adding them again sends each header twice:

auth_request_set $authentik_username $upstream_http_x_authentik_username;
auth_request_set $authentik_email $upstream_http_x_authentik_email;
proxy_set_header X-authentik-username $authentik_username;
proxy_set_header X-authentik-email $authentik_email;

OpenTelemetry:

Variable	Default	Description
OTEL_ENABLED	false	Enable distributed tracing and metrics
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT	http://localhost:4318	OTLP collector endpoint
OTEL_API_KEY	-	API key for authentication
OTEL_SERVICE_NAME	flashpoint-web	Service name in traces/metrics
OTEL_TRACES_ENABLED	true	Enable trace export (when OTEL enabled)
OTEL_METRICS_ENABLED	true	Enable metrics export (when OTEL enabled)
OTEL_METRICS_EXPORT_INTERVAL	60000	Metrics export interval (ms)
OTEL_LOG_LEVEL	info	OTEL SDK log level

Frontend Variables

The frontend has no environment variables of its own. API calls use relative paths (/api), so they resolve against whatever origin serves the app.

• Development: Vite dev server on port 5173 proxies /api to http://localhost:3100
• Production: The backend serves the built UI and the API from the same origin

Docker Environment Variables

Location: .env in project root (used by docker-compose)

Required:

Variable	Description
FLASHPOINT_HOST_PATH	Host path to Flashpoint installation (bind-mounted as ro)
JWT_SECRET	Secret for JWT signing (generate with openssl rand -hex 64)

Port Mapping:

Variable	Default	Description
WEB_PORT	80	Host port mapped to the container (serves UI + API)

Container Settings:

Variable	Default	Description
PUID	1000	Container user ID (match host user: id -u)
PGID	1000	Container group ID (match host user: id -g)
TZ	UTC	Container timezone
IMAGE_TAG	latest	Docker image tag (production compose only)
DATA_PATH	./data	Host path for persistent data (production compose)
LOGS_PATH	./logs	Host path for log files

All backend variables listed above are also passable via docker-compose. See docker-compose.yml for the full list with defaults.

Docker Compose Setup

Create .env file:

cat > .env << EOF
FLASHPOINT_HOST_PATH=/path/to/flashpoint
JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 64)
DOMAIN=https://flashpoint.example.com
WEB_PORT=80
LOG_LEVEL=warn
EOF

Start services:

docker compose up -d

Environment Templates

Development (backend/.env):

NODE_ENV=development
FLASHPOINT_PATH=D:/Flashpoint
JWT_SECRET=development-secret-change-in-production
DOMAIN=http://localhost:5173
RATE_LIMIT_MAX_REQUESTS=1000
LOG_LEVEL=debug

Production (.env for Docker):

FLASHPOINT_HOST_PATH=/data/flashpoint
JWT_SECRET=CHANGE-THIS-TO-A-RANDOM-64-CHARACTER-STRING
DOMAIN=https://flashpoint.example.com
WEB_PORT=80
LOG_LEVEL=warn

Validation and Defaults

Required Variables:

Backend (local dev):

• FLASHPOINT_PATH (only this is required; others auto-derive)

Docker Production:

• FLASHPOINT_HOST_PATH (must point to Flashpoint installation)
• JWT_SECRET (must be changed from default)

Verify configuration:

cd backend
node -e "require('dotenv').config(); console.log(process.env.FLASHPOINT_PATH)"

Security Best Practices

1. Never commit .env files to version control
2. Use strong JWT secrets (64+ characters) in production
3. Restrict CORS origins to your domain only (no wildcards)
4. Use HTTPS in production (update DOMAIN to https://)
5. Limit exposed ports (don't expose all services)
6. Rotate secrets periodically
7. Use environment-specific files (.env.production, .env.development)
8. Store secrets in secure management system (AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault)
9. Use read-only mounts for Flashpoint data in Docker

Next Steps

• Docker Deployment
• Security Considerations