Instance Settings

Instance settings control authentication, storage, and memo policies. Admins can update these settings in the app or via the Instance Settings API.

Common areas include:

• Instance access policy: public or private access, stored independently of the canonical instance URL.
• General access controls: user registration, password auth, username and nickname changes, week start day, and custom instance profile.
• Storage settings: named database, local filesystem, or S3-compatible configurations with stable IDs, a default for new uploads, file path templates, and upload limits.
• Memo-related settings: content length limits, double-click editing, and allowed reaction values.
• Notification settings: SMTP email delivery, sender details, reply-to address, and the email test endpoint.
• AI settings: instance-level OpenAI or Gemini providers and speech-to-text transcription defaults.

Tag colors and content-blur rules are user settings in Memos 0.30 and later, not instance settings. See Tags.

Access policy

In 0.31, the ACCESS setting determines whether anonymous visitors may read public content. MEMOS_INSTANCE_URL supplies the canonical external address and no longer changes an existing access policy. Use deployment-managed access configuration when infrastructure should own this setting.

Active instance admins manage these policies and can read and manage individual memos, including other authors' private and Space-only memos. They do not automatically become Space members, and collection listings still filter by audience. See Users & Roles.

Sensitive settings

Storage, notification, and AI settings can contain credentials. API responses do not return stored S3 secrets, SMTP passwords, or AI provider API keys in plaintext. When updating those settings, submit a new secret only when you intend to replace it.

Related API

• Get Instance Setting
• Batch Get Instance Settings
• Update Instance Setting
• Test Instance Email Setting