Configuration

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)

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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

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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

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Security Recommendations

Danger: Production Security Always use a strong, unique AUTH_SECRET in production. Never use the default value.

Generating a Secure Secret

=== “OpenSSL”

openssl rand -base64 32

=== “Node.js”

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

=== “Python”

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

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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

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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

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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.