how to use the env-file with docker compose

[Piepe6213]

Hello,

I'm new to vaultwarden and attempting my first vault with docker. I read a lot about configuration. Most articles about setting up use very few configuration options. There is always a reference between the docker compose an the env-file like that:

`environment:

• "ADMIN_TOKEN=$(ADMIN_TOKEN)"`

There a lot of configuration values in the env.template. Is it necessary to put in a "reference" like mentioned above in the docker compose or is it possible/recommended to "generally" reference the env-file?
Thanks!

[smile2008]

yes, you can put a reference in yaml to .env, or just write key="value" in yaml

[Piepe6213]

Thanks, that helps also. But what I really meant: if I want to set about 20 values, is there a need to reference every single value or is there a reference like "just take everything in the env-file"?

[smile2008]

I think you need to set all 20 key-value entries anyway

[stefan0xC]

As mentioned in the configuration overview you can also pass an env_file instead of setting everything in the compose file.

[smile2008]

Yes but as I know, it is mandatory to set all keys in .yaml file. For me if I set only .env - it fails to work( Please share some example.

[bytebone]

In Docker Compose, there are two ways to define environment variables:

1. You can set them directly in the compose file under the env property
2. Or you can refer to a separate file (conventially called .env but you can do whatever you like) where you store all the data you want.

An example for approach 1:

services:
  vaultwarden:
    env:
      - ADMIN_TOKEN="yourtokenhere"

And an example for approach 2:

services:
  vaultwarden:
    env_file: .env

with the .env file being a plain text file like this:

ADMIN_TOKEN="yourtokenhere"

The .env file, in this case, would have to be saved in the same place as the compose.yml file. As you can see, the syntax between defining in the compose file and in a separate file is the same. You can also use both properties for the same service, in which case keys defined in the compose file will override ones set in the .env file.

You can read more about the two properties in the compose specification: https://docs.docker.com/reference/compose-file/services/#env_file

This is also where the .env.template file provided in the Vaultwarden code comes into play. Everything you see here is commented out and pre-written with the default value:

vaultwarden/.env.template

Lines 2 to 3 in 2903a3a

	## Vaultwarden Configuration File
	## Uncomment any of the following lines to change the defaults

You're free to copy&paste the entire file into your project folder and then uncomment anything you want to adjust with your own settings. If you're fine with the default values, you can simply ignore them in the .env file.

In this specific case, I would recommend to change as little as possible via environment variables unless specifically instructed by the installation guide. Nearly all values can be adjusted via the admin panel, which is easier to do down the road than changing the env variables.

[smile2008]

here is my .env:

EXPERIMENTAL_CLIENT_FEATURE_FLAGS=ssh-key-vault-item,ssh-agent
ORG_GROUPS_ENABLED=true
SIGNUPS_ALLOWED=false

and it doesnt work with:
services:
vaultwarden:
env_file: .env

until I do this in compose.yaml:
environment:
EXPERIMENTAL_CLIENT_FEATURE_FLAGS: '${EXPERIMENTAL_CLIENT_FEATURE_FLAGS}'
ORG_GROUPS_ENABLED: '${ORG_GROUPS_ENABLED}'
SIGNUPS_ALLOWED: '${SIGNUPS_ALLOWED}'
SMTP_HOST: "smtp.gmail.com"

My be I do something wrong(
Thank you for advice

[bytebone]

If you want to check the environment variables that are set in a container, you can use the following command:
docker compose exec <name of service> printenv
which in your case should translate to
docker compose exec vaultwarden printenv
To check if your .env file is properly loaded into the container, replace the environment section with the env_file: .env one, recreate the containers, then run the above command and confirm if your set variables are part of the list.

Should the variables not appear in the list, it's gonna get tough for me to diagnose as it should work (thats exactly how i do it in countless projects), so you're gonna have to either layout step by step what you're doing (the full files, the commands you run, the setup you have), or read about docker basics on their documentation.