Environment Variables

Memos maps runtime flags to environment variables with the MEMOS_ prefix. In production, environment variables are usually the cleanest way to keep deployment config explicit and repeatable.

Reference

All flags and their corresponding environment variables:

Data directory defaults

MEMOS_DATA resolves automatically when not set:

• Windows: %ProgramData%\memos
• Docker: /var/opt/memos (when writable)
• Linux / macOS: current directory (.)

DSN defaults

When MEMOS_DRIVER=sqlite and MEMOS_DSN is empty, the database file defaults to {MEMOS_DATA}/memos_prod.db. For MySQL and PostgreSQL, MEMOS_DSN is required.

Public and private mode

Since Memos 0.30, an empty MEMOS_INSTANCE_URL puts the instance in private mode. Anonymous visitors are redirected to sign-in, RSS is unavailable, and anonymous API access is limited to setup, authentication, registration when allowed, and shared-memo routes.

Set MEMOS_INSTANCE_URL to the canonical external URL when you intentionally want public profiles, public memos, Explore, RSS, and other anonymous reads. The value must include the scheme, for example https://memos.example.com.

Priority order

1. Command-line flags (highest)
2. Environment variables
3. Default values (lowest)

An explicit flag always wins over the environment variable for the same setting.

Practical guidance

• leave MEMOS_INSTANCE_URL empty for a private-only instance
• set it to the canonical public URL when you want anonymous public access or when the app sits behind a proxy
• prefer explicit MEMOS_DRIVER and MEMOS_DSN when you are not using SQLite defaults
• leave MEMOS_ALLOW_PRIVATE_WEBHOOKS disabled unless your webhook targets intentionally live on a trusted private network
• keep secrets such as database credentials outside committed compose files
• treat these values as part of deployment config and back them up accordingly

Common patterns

SQLite with explicit data directory:

export MEMOS_DRIVER=sqlite
export MEMOS_DATA=/var/opt/memos
./memos

External PostgreSQL:

export MEMOS_DRIVER=postgres
export MEMOS_DSN="postgres://user:password@db:5432/memos?sslmode=disable"
export MEMOS_INSTANCE_URL=https://memos.example.com
./memos

Unix socket with Nginx (useful for local reverse proxy):

export MEMOS_UNIX_SOCK=/var/run/memos.sock
export MEMOS_DATA=/var/lib/memos
export MEMOS_INSTANCE_URL=https://memos.example.com
./memos

Nginx upstream for the socket:

upstream memos {
    server unix:/var/run/memos.sock;
}