Environment Variables

CloakMail is configured entirely through environment variables, making it easy to customize for different environments.

Required Variables

These variables must be set for CloakMail to function properly:

Variable	Description	Example
`DOMAIN`	Your email domain for receiving emails	`mail.example.com`

Optional Variables

These variables have sensible defaults but can be customized:

Variable	Description	Default
`APP_NAME`	Application name shown in the UI	`CloakMail`
`EMAIL_TTL_SECONDS`	Time until emails expire (in seconds)	`3600` (1 hour)
`SMTP_PORT`	Port for the SMTP server	`25`
`API_PORT`	Port for the REST API	`3000`

Complete Example

Here's a complete .env file with all available options:

.env

# ================================
# Domain Configuration
# ================================

# Your email domain (required)
DOMAIN=mail.example.com

# Application name shown in UI
APP_NAME=CloakMail

# ================================
# Email Settings
# ================================

# Time until emails are automatically deleted (in seconds)
# Default: 3600 (1 hour)
# Examples:
#   - 1800 = 30 minutes
#   - 3600 = 1 hour
#   - 86400 = 24 hours
EMAIL_TTL_SECONDS=3600

# ================================
# Server Ports
# ================================

# SMTP server port (for receiving emails)
SMTP_PORT=25

# REST API port
API_PORT=3000

Environment-Specific Configuration

Development

.env.development

DOMAIN=localhost
APP_NAME=CloakMail Dev
EMAIL_TTL_SECONDS=300
SMTP_PORT=2525
API_PORT=3000

Production

.env.production

DOMAIN=mail.yourcompany.com
APP_NAME=YourCompany Mail
EMAIL_TTL_SECONDS=86400
SMTP_PORT=25
API_PORT=3000

Docker Compose Override

You can override environment variables in your docker-compose.yml:

services:
  server:
    environment:
      - DOMAIN=mail.example.com
      - EMAIL_TTL_SECONDS=7200

Or use an env file:

services:
  server:
    env_file:
      - .env
      - .env.local

Variables in .env.local will override those in .env, allowing you to keep sensitive values separate.

Next Steps

SMTP Settings — Configure the SMTP server
TTL Settings — Configure email expiration

Environment Variables

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