info:To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers
type:reference
---
# Environment Variables
# Environment variables
GitLab exposes certain environment variables which can be used to override
their defaults values.
People usually configure GitLab via`/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` for Omnibus
People usually configure GitLab with`/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` for Omnibus
installations, or `gitlab.yml` for installations from source.
Below you will find the supported environment variables which you can use to
override certain values.
You can use the following environment variables to override certain values:
## Supported environment variables
Variable | Type | Description
-------- | ---- | -----------
`ENABLE_BOOTSNAP` | string | Enables Bootsnap for speeding up initial Rails boot (`1` to enable)
`GITLAB_CDN_HOST` | string | Sets the base URL for a CDN to serve static assets (e.g. `//mycdnsubdomain.fictional-cdn.com`)
`GITLAB_ROOT_PASSWORD` | string | Sets the password for the `root` user on installation
`GITLAB_HOST` | string | The full URL of the GitLab server (including `http://` or `https://`)
`RAILS_ENV` | string | The Rails environment; can be one of `production`, `development`, `staging` or `test`
`DATABASE_URL` | string | The database URL; is of the form: `postgresql://localhost/blog_development`
`GITLAB_EMAIL_FROM` | string | The e-mail address used in the "From" field in e-mails sent by GitLab
`GITLAB_EMAIL_DISPLAY_NAME` | string | The name used in the "From" field in e-mails sent by GitLab
`GITLAB_EMAIL_REPLY_TO` | string | The e-mail address used in the "Reply-To" field in e-mails sent by GitLab
`GITLAB_EMAIL_SUBJECT_SUFFIX` | string | The e-mail subject suffix used in e-mails sent by GitLab
`GITLAB_UNICORN_MEMORY_MIN` | integer | The minimum memory threshold (in bytes) for the Unicorn worker killer
`GITLAB_UNICORN_MEMORY_MAX` | integer | The maximum memory threshold (in bytes) for the Unicorn worker killer
`GITLAB_SHARED_RUNNERS_REGISTRATION_TOKEN` | string | Sets the initial registration token used for runners
`UNSTRUCTURED_RAILS_LOG` | string | Enables the unstructured log in addition to JSON logs (defaults to `true`)
| `DATABASE_URL` | string | The database URL; is of the form: `postgresql://localhost/blog_development`. |
| `ENABLE_BOOTSNAP` | string | Enables Bootsnap for speeding up initial Rails boot (`1` to enable). |
| `GITLAB_CDN_HOST` | string | Sets the base URL for a CDN to serve static assets (for example, `//mycdnsubdomain.fictional-cdn.com`). |
| `GITLAB_EMAIL_DISPLAY_NAME` | string | The name used in the **From** field in emails sent by GitLab. |
| `GITLAB_EMAIL_FROM` | string | The email address used in the **From** field in emails sent by GitLab. |
| `GITLAB_EMAIL_REPLY_TO` | string | The email address used in the **Reply-To** field in emails sent by GitLab. |
| `GITLAB_EMAIL_SUBJECT_SUFFIX` | string | The email subject suffix used in emails sent by GitLab. |
| `GITLAB_HOST` | string | The full URL of the GitLab server (including `http://` or `https://`). |
| `GITLAB_ROOT_PASSWORD` | string | Sets the password for the `root` user on installation. |
| `GITLAB_SHARED_RUNNERS_REGISTRATION_TOKEN` | string | Sets the initial registration token used for runners. |
| `GITLAB_UNICORN_MEMORY_MAX` | integer | The maximum memory threshold (in bytes) for the [unicorn-worker-killer](operations/unicorn.md#unicorn-worker-killer). |
| `GITLAB_UNICORN_MEMORY_MIN` | integer | The minimum memory threshold (in bytes) for the [unicorn-worker-killer](operations/unicorn.md#unicorn-worker-killer). |
| `RAILS_ENV` | string | The Rails environment; can be one of `production`, `development`, `staging`, or `test`. |
| `UNSTRUCTURED_RAILS_LOG` | string | Enables the unstructured log in addition to JSON logs (defaults to `true`). |
## Complete database variables
The recommended way of specifying your database connection information is to set
the `DATABASE_URL` environment variable. This variable only holds connection
information (`adapter`, `database`, `username`, `password`, `host` and `port`),
but not behavior information (`encoding`, `pool`). If you don't want to use
`DATABASE_URL` and/or want to set database behavior information, you will have
to either:
The recommended method for specifying your database connection information is
to set the `DATABASE_URL` environment variable. This variable contains
connection information (`adapter`, `database`, `username`, `password`, `host`,
and `port`), but no behavior information (`encoding` or `pool`). If you don't
want to use `DATABASE_URL`, or want to set database behavior information,
either:
-copy our template file: `cp config/database.yml.env config/database.yml`, or
-set a value for some `GITLAB_DATABASE_XXX` variables
-Copy the template file, `cp config/database.yml.env config/database.yml`.
-Set a value for some `GITLAB_DATABASE_XXX` variables.
The list of `GITLAB_DATABASE_XXX` variables that you can set is:
Variable | Default value | Overridden by `DATABASE_URL`?
