Configuration

You can choose to configure HedgeDoc with either a config file or with environment variables.

Environment variables take precedence over configurations from the config files. They generally start with CMD_ for our own options, but we also list node-specific options you can configure this way.

• Environment variables are processed in lib/config/environment.js - so this is the first place to look if anything is missing not obvious from this document. The default values are defined in lib/config/default.js, in case you wonder if you even need to override it.

• The config file is processed in lib/config/index.js - so this is the first place to look if anything is missing not obvious from this document. The default values are defined in lib/config/default.js, in case you wonder if you even need to override it. To get started, it is a good idea to take the config.json.example and copy it to config.json before filling in your own details.

Note: Due to the rename process we renamed all HMD_-prefix variables to be CMD_-prefixed. The old ones continue to work.

Node.JS

config file	environment	default and example value	description
	NODE_ENV	production or development	set current environment (will apply corresponding settings in the config.json)
debug	DEBUG	true or false	set debug mode, show more logs

HedgeDoc basics

config file	environment	default and example value	description
	CMD_CONFIG_FILE	no default, /path/to/config.json	optional override for the path to HedgeDoc's config file
db		undefined, { "dialect": "sqlite", "storage": "./db.hedgedoc.sqlite" }	set the db configs, see more here
db.username	CMD_DB_USERNAME	undefined, hedgedoc-db-user	Username used to authenticate to the database (host).
db.password	CMD_DB_PASSWORD	undefined	Password used to authenticate to the database (host).
db.database	CMD_DB_DATABASE	undefined, hedgedoc	Name of the database used to store hedgedoc data.
db.host	CMD_DB_HOST	undefined, db-host.example.com	Hostname used to connect the database server.
db.post	CMD_DB_PORT	undefined, 5432	Port used to connect the database server.
db.dialect	CMD_DB_DIALECT	undefined, postgres, mariadb	Dialect / protocol used to connect to the database.
dbURL	CMD_DB_URL	undefined, postgres://username:password@localhost:5432/hedgedoc or mysql://username:password@localhost:3306/hedgedoc	Set the db in URL style. If set, then the relevant db config entries will be overridden.
loglevel	CMD_LOGLEVEL	info, debug ...	Defines what kind of logs are provided to stdout. Available options: debug, verbose, info, warn, error
forbiddenNoteIDs	CMD_FORBIDDEN_NOTE_IDS	['robots.txt', 'favicon.ico', 'api', 'build', 'css', 'docs', 'fonts', 'js', 'uploads', 'vendor', 'views'], ['robots.txt'] or 'robots.txt'	disallow creation of notes, even if allowFreeUrl or CMD_ALLOW_FREEURL is true
imageUploadType	CMD_IMAGE_UPLOAD_TYPE	filesystem, imgur, s3, minio, azure, lutim	Where to upload images. For S3, see our Image Upload Guides for S3 or Minio, also there's a whole section on their respective env vars below.
sourceURL	CMD_SOURCE_URL	no default, https://github.com/hedgedoc/hedgedoc/tree/<current commit>	Provides the link to the source code of HedgeDoc on the entry page (Please, make sure you change this when you run a modified version)
tooBusyLag	CMD_TOOBUSY_LAG	70	CPU time for one event loop tick until node throttles connections. (milliseconds)
staticCacheTime		1 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000	static file cache time
heartbeatInterval		5000	socket.io heartbeat interval
heartbeatTimeout		10000	socket.io heartbeat timeout
documentMaxLength	CMD_DOCUMENT_MAX_LENGTH	100000	note max length
linkifyHeaderStyle		keep-case, lower-case, gfm	how is a header text converted into a link id

HedgeDoc paths stuff

these are rarely used for various reasons.

config file	environment	default and example values	description
defaultNotePath		./public/default.md	default note file path1, empty notes will be created with this template.
dhParamPath		undefined, ./cert/dhparam.pem	SSL dhparam path1 (only need when you set useSSL)
sslCAPath		undefined, ['./cert/COMODORSAAddTrustCA.crt']	SSL ca chain1 (only need when you set useSSL)
sslCertPath		undefined, ./cert/hedgedoc_io.crt	SSL cert path1 (only need when you set useSSL)
sslKeyPath		undefined, ./cert/client.key	SSL key path1 (only need when you set useSSL)
tmpPath		os.tmpdir(), ./tmp/	temp directory path1
docsPath		./public/docs	docs directory path1
viewPath		./public/views	template directory path1
uploadsPath		./public/uploads	uploads directory1 - needs to be persistent when you use imageUploadType filesystem

Note: relative paths are based on HedgeDoc's base directory

HedgeDoc Location

config file	environment	default and example value	description
domain	CMD_DOMAIN	null, localhost, hedgedoc.org	domain name
urlPath	CMD_URL_PATH	null, hedgedoc	If HedgeDoc is run from a subdirectory like www.example.com/<urlpath>
host	CMD_HOST	0.0.0.0, localhost	interface/ip to listen on
port	CMD_PORT	3000, 80	port to listen on
path	CMD_PATH	no default, /var/run/hedgedoc.sock	path to UNIX domain socket to listen on (if specified, host or CMD_HOST and port or CMD_PORT are ignored)
protocolUseSSL	CMD_PROTOCOL_USESSL	false or true	set to use SSL protocol for resources path (only applied when domain is set)
useSSL		false or true	set to use SSL server (if true, will auto turn on protocolUseSSL)
urlAddPort	CMD_URL_ADDPORT	false or true	set to add port on callback URL (ports 80 or 443 won't be applied) (only applied when domain is set)
allowOrigin	CMD_ALLOW_ORIGIN	['localhost'], ['hedgedoc.org'], ['localhost', 'hedgedoc.org']	domain name whitelist (use comma to separate)

Web security aspects

config file	environment	default and example value	description
hsts		{"enable": true, "maxAgeSeconds": 31536000, "includeSubdomains": true, "preload": true}	HSTS options to use with HTTPS (default is the example value, max age is a year)
	CMD_HSTS_ENABLE	true or false	set to enable HSTS if HTTPS is also enabled (default is true)
	CMD_HSTS_INCLUDE_SUBDOMAINS	true or false	set to include subdomains in HSTS (default is true)
	CMD_HSTS_MAX_AGE	31536000, 60 * 60 * 24 * 365	max duration in seconds to tell clients to keep HSTS status (default is a year)
	CMD_HSTS_PRELOAD	true or false	whether to allow preloading of the site's HSTS status (e.g. into browsers)
csp		{"enable": true, "addDefaults": true}	Nested object to configure the Content Security Policy
csp.enable	CMD_CSP_ENABLE	true or false	Whether to apply a Content-Security-Policy header to responses. We don't recommend disabling this option, as it significantly reduces the security of the application.
csp.addDefaults		true or false	Disable to not include the default CSP. Be careful, this will break the application if the correct directives are not set manually.
csp.directives		no default, {"scriptSrc": "trustworthy-scripts.example.com"}	Custom CSP directives. These are passed to Helmet - see their documentation for more information on the format.
csp.addDisqus	CMD_CSP_ADD_DISQUS	false or true	Enable to allow users to add Disqus comments to their notes or presentations. We don't recommend enabling this option, as it increases the attack surface of XSS attacks.
csp.addGoogleAnalytics	CMD_CSP_ADD_GOOGLE_ANALYTICS	false or true	Enable to allow users to add Google Analytics to their notes. We don't recommend enabling this option, as it increases the attack surface of XSS attacks.
csp.upgradeInsecureRequests		auto or true or false	By default (auto), insecure (HTTP) requests are upgraded to HTTPS via CSP if useSSL is on. To change this behaviour, set to either true or false.
csp.reportUri	CMD_CSP_REPORTURI	undefined, https://<someid>.report-uri.com/r/d/csp/enforce	Allows to add a URL for CSP reports in case of violations.
csp.allowFraming	CMD_CSP_ALLOW_FRAMING	true or false	Disable to disallow embedding of the instance via iframe. We strongly recommend disabling this option, as it increases the attack surface of XSS attacks.
csp.allowPDFEmbed	CMD_CSP_ALLOW_PDF_EMBED	true or false	Disable to disallow embedding PDFs. We recommend disabling this option, as it increases the attack surface of XSS attacks.
cookiePolicy	CMD_COOKIE_POLICY	lax, strict or none	Set a SameSite policy whether cookies are send from cross-origin. Be careful: setting a SameSite value of none without https breaks the editor.

Privacy and External Requests

config file	environment	default and example value	description
allowGravatar	CMD_ALLOW_GRAVATAR	true or false	set to false to disable Libravatar as profile picture source on your instance. Libravatar is a federated open-source alternative to Gravatar.

Users and Privileges

config file	environment	default and example value	description
allowAnonymous	CMD_ALLOW_ANONYMOUS	true or false	Set to allow anonymous usage (default is true).
allowAnonymousEdits	CMD_ALLOW_ANONYMOUS_EDITS	false or true	If allowAnonymous is false: allow users to select freely permission, allowing guests to edit existing notes (default is false).
allowFreeURL	CMD_ALLOW_FREEURL	false or true	Set to allow new note creation by accessing a nonexistent note URL. This is the behavior familiar from Etherpad.
requireFreeURLAuthentication	CMD_REQUIRE_FREEURL_AUTHENTICATION	false or true	Set to require authentication for FreeURL mode style note creation.
defaultPermission	CMD_DEFAULT_PERMISSION	editable, freely, limited, locked, protected or private	Set notes default permission (only applied on signed-in users).
sessionName		connect.sid	Cookie session name.
sessionLife	CMD_SESSION_LIFE	14 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000, 1209600000 (14 days)	Cookie session life time in milliseconds.
sessionSecret	CMD_SESSION_SECRET	secret	Cookie session secret used to sign the session cookie. If none is set, one will randomly generated on each startup, meaning all your users will be logged out. Can be generated with e.g. pwgen -s 64 1.

Login methods

Email (local account)

config file	environment	default and example value	description
email	CMD_EMAIL	true or false	Set to allow email sign-in. The default is true.
allowEmailRegister	CMD_ALLOW_EMAIL_REGISTER	true or false	Set to allow registration of new accounts using an email address. If set to false, you can still create accounts using the command line - see bin/manage_users for details (In production mode, remember to run it with NODE_ENV set as production in the enviroment). This setting has no effect if email or CMD_EMAIL is false. The default for allowEmailRegister or CMD_ALLOW_EMAIL_REGISTER is true.

Dropbox Login

config file	environment	default and example value	description
dropbox		{clientID: ..., clientSecret: ...}	An object containing the client ID and the client secret obtained by the Dropbox developer tools
	CMD_DROPBOX_CLIENTID	no default	Dropbox API client id
	CMD_DROPBOX_CLIENTSECRET	no default	Dropbox API client secret

Facebook Login

config file	environment	default and example value	description
facebook		{clientID: ..., clientSecret: ...}	An object containing the client ID and the client secret obtained by the Facebook app console
	CMD_FACEBOOK_CLIENTID	no default	Facebook API client id
	CMD_FACEBOOK_CLIENTSECRET	no default	Facebook API client secret

GitHub Login

config file	environment	default and example value	description
github		{clientID: ..., clientSecret: ...}	An object containing the client ID and the client secret obtained by the GitHub developer page. For more details have a look at the GitHub auth guide.
	CMD_GITHUB_CLIENTID	no default	GitHub API client id
	CMD_GITHUB_CLIENTSECRET	no default	GitHub API client secret

GitLab Login

config file	environment	default and example value	description
gitlab		{baseURL: ..., scope: ..., version: ..., clientID: ..., clientSecret: ...}	An object containing your GitLab application data. Refer to the GitLab guide for more details!
	CMD_GITLAB_SCOPE	no default, read_user or api	GitLab API requested scope (default is api) (GitLab snippet import/export need api scope)
	CMD_GITLAB_BASEURL	no default	GitLab authentication endpoint, set to use other endpoint than GitLab.com (optional)
	CMD_GITLAB_CLIENTID	no default	GitLab API client id
	CMD_GITLAB_CLIENTSECRET	no default	GitLab API client secret
	CMD_GITLAB_VERSION	v4	GitLab API version (v3 or v4)

Google Login

config file	environment	default and example value	description
google		{clientID: ..., clientSecret: ..., hostedDomain: ...}	An object containing the client ID and the client secret obtained by the Google API console
	CMD_GOOGLE_CLIENTID	no default	Google API client id
	CMD_GOOGLE_CLIENTSECRET	no default	Google API client secret
	CMD_GOOGLE_HOSTEDDOMAIN	no default, example.com	Provided only if the user belongs to a hosted domain. default is undefined

LDAP Login

config file	environment	default and example value	description
ldap		{providerName: ..., url: ..., bindDn: ..., bindCredentials: ..., searchBase: ..., searchFilter: ..., searchAttributes: ..., usernameField: ..., useridField: ..., tlsca: ...}	An object detailing the LDAP connection. Refer to the LDAP-AD guide for more details!
	CMD_LDAP_URL	no default, ldap://example.com	URL of LDAP server
	CMD_LDAP_BINDDN	no default	bindDn for LDAP access
	CMD_LDAP_BINDCREDENTIALS	no default,	bindCredentials for LDAP access
	CMD_LDAP_SEARCHBASE	no default, o=users,dc=example,dc=com	LDAP directory to begin search from
	CMD_LDAP_SEARCHFILTER	no default, (uid={{username}})	LDAP filter to search with
	CMD_LDAP_SEARCHATTRIBUTES	no default, displayName, mail	LDAP attributes to search with (use comma to separate)
	CMD_LDAP_USERIDFIELD	no default, uidNumber or uid or sAMAccountName	The LDAP field which is used uniquely identify a user on HedgeDoc
	CMD_LDAP_USERNAMEFIELD	no default, fallback to userid	The LDAP field which is used as the username on HedgeDoc
	CMD_LDAP_TLS_CA	no default, server-cert.pem, root.pem	Root CA for LDAP TLS in PEM format (use comma to separate)
	CMD_LDAP_PROVIDERNAME	no default, My institution	Optional name to be displayed at login form indicating the LDAP provider

Mattermost Login

config file	environment	default and example value	description
mattermost		{baseURL: ..., clientID: ..., clientSecret: ...}	An object containing the base URL of your Mattermost application data. Refer to the Mattermost guide for more details!
	CMD_MATTERMOST_BASEURL	no default	Mattermost authentication endpoint for versions below 5.0. For Mattermost version 5.0 and above, see guide.
	CMD_MATTERMOST_CLIENTID	no default	Mattermost API client id
	CMD_MATTERMOST_CLIENTSECRET	no default	Mattermost API client secret

OAuth2 Login

config file	environment	default and example value	description
oauth2		{baseURL: ..., userProfileURL: ..., userProfileUsernameAttr: ..., userProfileDisplayNameAttr: ..., userProfileEmailAttr: ..., tokenURL: ..., authorizationURL: ..., clientID: ..., clientSecret: ..., scope: ...}	An object detailing your OAuth2 provider. Refer to the Mattermost or Nextcloud examples for more details!
	CMD_OAUTH2_USER_PROFILE_URL	no default, https://example.com	Where to retrieve information about a user after successful login. Needs to output JSON. (no default value) Refer to the Mattermost or Nextcloud examples for more details on all of the CMD_OAUTH2... options.
	CMD_OAUTH2_USER_PROFILE_USERNAME_ATTR	no default, name	where to find the username in the JSON from the user profile URL. (no default value)
	CMD_OAUTH2_USER_PROFILE_DISPLAY_NAME_ATTR	no default, display-name	where to find the display-name in the JSON from the user profile URL. (no default value)
	CMD_OAUTH2_USER_PROFILE_EMAIL_ATTR	no default, email	where to find the email address in the JSON from the user profile URL. (no default value)
	CMD_OAUTH2_USER_PROFILE_ID_ATTR	no default, user_uuid	where to find the dedicated user ID (optional, overrides CMD_OAUTH2_USER_PROFILE_USERNAME_ATTR)
	CMD_OAUTH2_TOKEN_URL	no default, https://example.com	sometimes called token endpoint, please refer to the documentation of your OAuth2 provider (no default value)
	CMD_OAUTH2_AUTHORIZATION_URL	no default, https://example.com	authorization URL of your provider, please refer to the documentation of your OAuth2 provider (no default value)
	CMD_OAUTH2_CLIENT_ID	no default, afae02fckafd...	you will get this from your OAuth2 provider when you register HedgeDoc as OAuth2-client, (no default value)
	CMD_OAUTH2_CLIENT_SECRET	no default, afae02fckafd...	you will get this from your OAuth2 provider when you register HedgeDoc as OAuth2-client, (no default value)
	CMD_OAUTH2_PROVIDERNAME	no default, My institution	Optional name to be displayed at login form indicating the oAuth2 provider
	CMD_OAUTH2_SCOPE	no default, openid email profile	Scope to request for OIDC (OpenID Connect) providers.
	CMD_OAUTH2_ROLES_CLAIM	no default, roles	ID token claim, which is supposed to provide an array of strings of roles
	CMD_OAUTH2_ACCESS_ROLE	no default, role/hedgedoc	The role which should be included in the ID token roles claim to grant access

Info

If you are using a CA not trusted by Node.js (like Let's Encrypt e.g) for your OAuth2 provider you can set the NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS environment variable to the CA certificate file path of your CA.
Remember to also make the file available inside the Docker container, if you're running HedgeDoc in Docker container.

SAML Login

config file	environment	default and example value	description
saml		{idpSsoUrl: ..., idpCert: ..., clientCert: ..., issuer: ..., identifierFormat: ..., disableRequestedAuthnContext: ..., groupAttribute: ..., externalGroups: [], requiredGroups: [], attribute: {id: ..., username: ..., email: ...}}	An object detailing your SAML provider. Refer to the OneLogin and SAML guides for more details!
	CMD_SAML_IDPSSOURL	no default, https://idp.example.com/sso	authentication endpoint of IdP. for details, see guide.
	CMD_SAML_IDPCERT	no default, /path/to/cert.pem	certificate file path of IdP in PEM format
	CMD_SAML_CLIENTCERT	no default, /path/to/privatecert.pem	certificate file path for the client in PEM format (optional)
	CMD_SAML_ISSUER	no default	Issuer to supply to identity provider (optional, default: serverURL config)"
	CMD_SAML_DISABLEREQUESTEDAUTHNCONTEXT	no default, true or false	true to allow any authentication method, false restricts to password authentication (PasswordProtectedTransport) method (default: false)
	CMD_SAML_IDENTIFIERFORMAT	urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress	name identifier format (optional, default: urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress)
	CMD_SAML_GROUPATTRIBUTE	no default, memberOf	attribute name for group list (optional)
	CMD_SAML_REQUIREDGROUPS	no default, hedgedoc-users	group names that allowed (use vertical bar to separate) (optional)
	CMD_SAML_EXTERNALGROUPS	no default, Temporary-staff	group names that not allowed (use vertical bar to separate) (optional)
	CMD_SAML_ATTRIBUTE_ID	no default, sAMAccountName	attribute map for id (optional, default: NameID of SAML response)
	CMD_SAML_ATTRIBUTE_USERNAME	no default, mailNickname	attribute map for username (optional, default: NameID of SAML response)
	CMD_SAML_ATTRIBUTE_EMAIL	no default, mail	attribute map for email (optional, default: NameID of SAML response if CMD_SAML_IDENTIFIERFORMAT is default)
	CMD_SAML_PROVIDERNAME	no default, My institution	Optional name to be displayed at login form indicating the SAML provider

Twitter Login

config file	environment	default and example value	description
twitter		{consumerKey: ..., consumerSecret: ...}	An object containing the consumer key and secret obtained by the Twitter developer tools. For more details have a look at the Twitter auth guide
	CMD_TWITTER_CONSUMERKEY	no default	Twitter API consumer key
	CMD_TWITTER_CONSUMERSECRET	no default	Twitter API consumer secret

Upload Storage

These are only relevant when they are also configured in sync with their CMD_IMAGE_UPLOAD_TYPE. Also keep in mind, that filesystem is available, so you don't have to use either of these.

Amazon S3

config file	environment	default and example value	description
s3		{ "accessKeyId": "YOUR_S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID", "secretAccessKey": "YOUR_S3_ACCESS_KEY", "region": "YOUR_S3_REGION" }	When imageuploadtype be set to s3, you would also need to setup this key, check our S3 Image Upload Guide
	CMD_S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID	no default	AWS access key id
	CMD_S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	no default	AWS secret key
	CMD_S3_REGION	no default, ap-northeast-1	AWS S3 region
s3bucket	CMD_S3_BUCKET	no default	AWS S3 bucket name
	CMD_S3_ENDPOINT ENV	no default	S3 API endpoint if you don't use AWS name
s3folder	CMD_S3_FOLDER	'uploads'	Folder where the files will be saved inside the bucket
s3publicFiles	CMD_S3_PUBLIC_FILES	false	If se to true set public permissions to files when uploading to s3 storage

Azure Blob Storage

config file	environment	default and example value	description
	CMD_AZURE_CONNECTION_STRING	no default	Azure Blob Storage connection string
	CMD_AZURE_CONTAINER	no default	Azure Blob Storage container name (automatically created if non existent)

imgur

config file	environment	default and example value	description
	CMD_IMGUR_CLIENTID	no default	Imgur API client id

Minio

config file	environment	default and example value	description
minio		{ "accessKey": "YOUR_MINIO_ACCESS_KEY", "secretKey": "YOUR_MINIO_SECRET_KEY", "endpoint": "YOUR_MINIO_HOST", port: 9000, secure: true }	When imageUploadType is set to minio, you need to set this key. Also check out our Minio Image Upload Guide
	CMD_MINIO_ACCESS_KEY	no default	Minio access key
	CMD_MINIO_SECRET_KEY	no default	Minio secret key
	CMD_MINIO_ENDPOINT	no default, minio.example.org	Address of your Minio endpoint/instance
	CMD_MINIO_PORT	no default, 9000	Port that is used for your Minio instance
	CMD_MINIO_SECURE	no default, true	If set to true HTTPS is used for Minio

Lutim

config file	environment	default and example value	description
lutim		{"url": "YOUR_LUTIM_URL"}	When imageUploadType is set to lutim, you can setup the lutim url
	CMD_LUTIM_URL	https://framapic.org/	When CMD_IMAGE_UPLOAD_TYPE is set to lutim, you can setup the lutim url