Configuration¶

Stowaway is configured through environment variables. This guide covers all available options.

Environment Variables¶

Required Variables¶

Variable	Description	Example
`DATABASE_URL`	SQLite database file path	`file:./dev.db`
`AUTH_SECRET`	Secret key for session encryption	`openssl rand -base64 32`

Optional Variables¶

Variable	Default	Description
`AUTH_URL`	`http://localhost:3000`	Application URL (for OAuth callbacks)
`UPLOAD_DIR`	`./uploads`	Directory for image uploads
`MAX_FILE_SIZE`	`5242880`	Maximum upload size in bytes (5MB)

Example Configuration¶

Development¶

.env

DATABASE_URL="file:./dev.db"
AUTH_SECRET="development-secret-change-in-production"
AUTH_URL="http://localhost:3000"
UPLOAD_DIR="./uploads"
MAX_FILE_SIZE=5242880

Production¶

.env

DATABASE_URL="file:/app/data/stowaway.db"
AUTH_SECRET="your-very-long-secure-random-string-here"
AUTH_URL="https://inventory.yourdomain.com"
UPLOAD_DIR="/app/uploads"
MAX_FILE_SIZE=10485760

Docker Configuration¶

When running with Docker Compose, environment variables can be set in docker-compose.yml:

docker-compose.yml

services:
  stowaway:
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=file:/app/data/stowaway.db
      - AUTH_SECRET=${AUTH_SECRET:-change-this-secret}
      - AUTH_URL=${AUTH_URL:-http://localhost:3000}
      - UPLOAD_DIR=/app/uploads
      - MAX_FILE_SIZE=5242880

Or create a .env file that Docker Compose will automatically load:

.env

AUTH_SECRET=your-production-secret-here
AUTH_URL=https://inventory.yourdomain.com

Security Recommendations¶

Production Security

Always use a strong, unique AUTH_SECRET in production. Never use the default value.

Generating a Secure Secret¶

OpenSSLNode.jsPython

openssl rand -base64 32

node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('base64'))"

python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(32))"

File Upload Settings¶

Supported File Types¶

Stowaway accepts the following image formats:

JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg)
PNG (.png)
GIF (.gif)
WebP (.webp)

Changing Upload Limits¶

To allow larger files, increase MAX_FILE_SIZE:

# 10MB limit
MAX_FILE_SIZE=10485760

# 20MB limit
MAX_FILE_SIZE=20971520

Database¶

Default Location¶

By default, SQLite stores data in ./dev.db in the project root.

Custom Database Location¶

# Absolute path
DATABASE_URL="file:/var/data/stowaway/inventory.db"

# Relative path
DATABASE_URL="file:./data/inventory.db"

Backing Up the Database¶

Simply copy the database file to create a backup:

cp dev.db backups/stowaway-$(date +%Y%m%d).db

Theme Settings¶

Stowaway supports light and dark themes. Users can toggle between themes in the application settings.

The theme preference is stored in the browser and persists across sessions.