Environment variables | Citadel Documentation

Reference the production settings exposed by Citadel's Docker Compose environment template.

Citadel uses environment variable names with double underscores between sections. The .env downloaded in the installation guide contains the settings needed to start Citadel. Add optional settings from this reference as needed. The defaults are for local HTTP; configure TLS before sharing an installation.

Setting	Required when	Purpose
`CITADEL_IMAGE`	Optional	Blank or unset uses `ghcr.io/citadel-p/citadel:latest`; set a complete image address to override
`CITADEL_BIND_ADDRESS`	Optional	Host bind address; defaults to `127.0.0.1`
`CITADEL_HTTP_PORT`, `CITADEL_EDGE_PORT`	Optional	Host ports; default to `18000` and `18001`
`PG_HOST`	External or renamed PostgreSQL	PostgreSQL hostname; Compose defaults to `pg_db`
`PG_USER`, `PG_PASSWORD`, `PG_DATABASE`	Always	PostgreSQL credentials and database
`Transport__Mode`	Always	`ReverseProxy`, `Direct`, or development-only `Disabled`
`Transport__PublicUrl`	Always	Canonical browser and API origin
`EdgeAgent__PublicGrpcUrl`	Edge Agent use	Public Edge gRPC address
`AllowedHosts`	Always	Hostnames accepted by Core
`Transport__ForwardedHeaders__KnownProxies`	Reverse proxy	Immediate trusted proxy address
`Transport__ForwardedHeaders__KnownNetworks`	Reverse proxy alternative	Immediate trusted proxy network
`Transport__Certificate__Path`	Direct TLS	PEM certificate chain inside Core
`Transport__Certificate__PrivateKeyPath`	Direct TLS	PEM private key inside Core
`Jwt__Issuer`, `Jwt__Audience`	Optional override	Token validation identities; otherwise derived from the public URL
`Jwt__Key`	Optional	Explicit signing key; otherwise persisted in `citadel_data`
`Secrets__EncryptionKey`	Optional	Explicit 32-byte base64 key; otherwise persisted in `citadel_data`
`Mfa__Policy`	Optional	`Optional`, `RequiredForAdministrators`, or `RequiredForAllUsers`
`Passwords__MinimumLength`	Optional	Minimum password length, default 15; accepts 8–128, with a fixed maximum password length of 128
`EnableSwagger`	Optional	Exposes Swagger and the full/public OpenAPI documents; false by default

See Docker Compose configuration for defaults, bootstrap settings, automation, monitoring intervals, and safe key handling.