Environment Variables

All configuration options for the Rustrak server.

Required

Variable	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	Database connection string. Optional for SQLite (defaults to `sqlite:///data/rustrak.db`). Required for PostgreSQL.

DATABASE_URL

Rustrak supports two database backends selected at compile time.

SQLite:


# Relative file path
DATABASE_URL=sqlite://./rustrak.db
 
# Absolute path
DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///var/lib/rustrak/rustrak.db
 
# In-memory (for testing only — data lost on restart)
DATABASE_URL=sqlite::memory:

PostgreSQL:


# Format
postgres://username:password@host:port/database
 
# Examples
DATABASE_URL=postgres://rustrak:rustrak@localhost:5432/rustrak
DATABASE_URL=postgres://rustrak:rustrak@postgres:5432/rustrak  # Docker
DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:pass@host:5432/rustrak?sslmode=require  # With SSL

Security

Variable	Default	Description
`SSL_PROXY`	`false`	Set to `true` when behind HTTPS proxy (nginx, Cloudflare)
`SESSION_SECRET_KEY`	(random)	64-character hex string for session encryption

SSL_PROXY

Set to true when running behind a reverse proxy that terminates SSL (nginx, Cloudflare, etc.). This enables secure cookies.


SSL_PROXY=true

When SSL_PROXY=true:

Cookies are sent only over HTTPS (Secure flag enabled)
SESSION_SECRET_KEY becomes required

SESSION_SECRET_KEY

Generate with:


openssl rand -hex 32

Development: Optional (a random key is used, sessions don’t persist across restarts)
Production with SSL_PROXY=true: Required

Server

Variable	Default	Description
`HOST`	`0.0.0.0`	Server bind address
`PORT`	`8080`	Server port
`RUST_LOG`	`info`	Log level (trace, debug, info, warn, error)

Database Pool

Variable	Default	Description
`DATABASE_MAX_CONNECTIONS`	`10`	Maximum pool connections
`DATABASE_MIN_CONNECTIONS`	`1`	Minimum pool connections

Rate Limiting

Variable	Default	Description
`MAX_EVENTS_PER_MINUTE`	`1000`	Max events/minute (global)
`MAX_EVENTS_PER_HOUR`	`10000`	Max events/hour (global)
`MAX_EVENTS_PER_PROJECT_PER_MINUTE`	`500`	Max events/minute per project
`MAX_EVENTS_PER_PROJECT_PER_HOUR`	`5000`	Max events/hour per project

Storage

Variable	Default	Description
`INGEST_DIR`	`/tmp/rustrak/ingest`	Temporary event storage

Email Alerts (SMTP)

Global SMTP settings for email notifications. Channels can override these.

Variable	Default	Description
`SMTP_HOST`	-	SMTP server hostname
`SMTP_PORT`	`587`	SMTP port (587 for STARTTLS, 465 for SSL)
`SMTP_USERNAME`	-	SMTP username
`SMTP_PASSWORD`	-	SMTP password
`SMTP_FROM`	`alerts@rustrak.local`	Default sender address

Dashboard URL

Variable	Default	Description
`DASHBOARD_URL`	`http://localhost:3000`	URL for issue links in notifications

Bootstrap

Variable	Description
`CREATE_SUPERUSER`	Create admin user on startup (`email:password`)


CREATE_SUPERUSER="admin@example.com:secure-password"

Only creates user if database is empty.

Dashboard (Next.js)

Variable	Default	Description
`RUSTRAK_API_URL`	`http://localhost:8080`	Backend API URL

Complete Example

SQLite (development / personal)


# .env file (SQLite — image tag: latest)
 
# Required
DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///data/rustrak.db
 
# Server
HOST=0.0.0.0
PORT=8080
RUST_LOG=info
 
# Dashboard
RUSTRAK_API_URL=http://localhost:8080

PostgreSQL (production)


# .env file (PostgreSQL — image tag: postgres)
 
# Required
DATABASE_URL=postgres://rustrak:password@postgres:5432/rustrak
 
# Security (required for production behind HTTPS proxy)
SSL_PROXY=true
SESSION_SECRET_KEY=a1b2c3d4e5f67890a1b2c3d4e5f67890a1b2c3d4e5f67890a1b2c3d4e5f67890
 
# Server
HOST=0.0.0.0
PORT=8080
RUST_LOG=info
 
# Database Pool
DATABASE_MAX_CONNECTIONS=20
 
# Rate Limiting
MAX_EVENTS_PER_MINUTE=1000
MAX_EVENTS_PER_HOUR=10000
 
# Dashboard
RUSTRAK_API_URL=https://rustrak.yourcompany.com
DASHBOARD_URL=https://rustrak.yourcompany.com
 
# Email Alerts (optional - can also configure per-channel)
SMTP_HOST=smtp.yourcompany.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USERNAME=alerts@yourcompany.com
SMTP_PASSWORD=your-smtp-password
SMTP_FROM=alerts@yourcompany.com