Configuration Reference

Complete reference for RustChat configuration options.

Environment Variables

All configuration is done via environment variables with the RUSTCHAT_ prefix.

Core Settings

Variable	Required	Default	Description
RUSTCHAT_ENVIRONMENT	No	production	Runtime mode: development or production
RUSTCHAT_SITE_URL	Yes	-	Public URL of your RustChat instance
RUSTCHAT_JWT_SECRET	Yes	-	Secret key for JWT signing (min 32 chars)
RUSTCHAT_JWT_ISSUER	Yes	-	JWT issuer claim
RUSTCHAT_JWT_AUDIENCE	Yes	-	JWT audience claim
RUSTCHAT_ENCRYPTION_KEY	Yes	-	32-byte key for sensitive data encryption

Database

Variable	Required	Default	Description
RUSTCHAT_DATABASE_URL	Yes	-	PostgreSQL connection string

Example:

RUSTCHAT_DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/rustchat

Redis

Variable	Required	Default	Description
RUSTCHAT_REDIS_URL	Yes	-	Redis connection string

Example:

RUSTCHAT_REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379/

File Storage (S3-compatible)

Variable	Required	Default	Description
RUSTCHAT_S3_ENDPOINT	Yes	-	S3 endpoint URL
RUSTCHAT_S3_BUCKET	Yes	-	S3 bucket name
RUSTCHAT_S3_ACCESS_KEY	Yes	-	S3 access key
RUSTCHAT_S3_SECRET_KEY	Yes	-	S3 secret key
RUSTCHAT_S3_REGION	No	us-east-1	S3 region
RUSTCHAT_S3_PUBLIC_ENDPOINT	No	-	Public endpoint used when file URLs must be rewritten for clients

CORS

Variable	Required	Default	Description
RUSTCHAT_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS	Production	-	Comma-separated allowed origins
RUSTCHAT_ALLOW_DEV_CORS	No	false	Danger: enables permissive CORS (*). Only for local development.

Example:

RUSTCHAT_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://chat.example.com,https://app.example.com

Cross-origin requests are denied by default. For local development you must either set RUSTCHAT_ALLOW_DEV_CORS=true (never in production) or configure RUSTCHAT_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS with the exact origins your frontend uses (e.g. http://localhost:8080,http://localhost:5173).

Email (SMTP)

Variable	Required	Default	Description
RUSTCHAT_SMTP_HOST	No	-	SMTP server hostname
RUSTCHAT_SMTP_PORT	No	587	SMTP server port
RUSTCHAT_SMTP_USER	No	-	SMTP username
RUSTCHAT_SMTP_PASSWORD	No	-	SMTP password
RUSTCHAT_SMTP_FROM	No	-	From address for emails
RUSTCHAT_SMTP_TLS	No	true	Use TLS for SMTP

Push Notifications

Variable	Required	Default	Description
RUSTCHAT_PUSH_PROXY_URL	No	-	URL of push proxy service

Security

Variable	Required	Default	Description
RUSTCHAT_SECURITY_OAUTH_TOKEN_DELIVERY	No	cookie	OAuth token delivery. Only cookie is accepted.
RUSTCHAT_SECURITY_RATE_LIMIT_ENABLED	No	true	Enable rate limiting
RUSTCHAT_SECURITY_RATE_LIMIT_AUTH_PER_MINUTE	No	10	Auth endpoint rate limit
RUSTCHAT_SECURITY_RATE_LIMIT_WS_PER_MINUTE	No	30	WebSocket rate limit

Logging

Variable	Required	Default	Description
RUST_LOG	No	info	Log level (error, warn, info, debug, trace)
RUSTCHAT_LOG_FORMAT	No	json	Log format: json or pretty

Production Configuration

For production deployments, ensure:

# Environment
RUSTCHAT_ENVIRONMENT=production

# Security
RUSTCHAT_JWT_SECRET=<long-random-string-min-32-chars>
RUSTCHAT_ENCRYPTION_KEY=<32-byte-key>
RUSTCHAT_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://your-domain.com

# Security hardening
RUSTCHAT_SECURITY_OAUTH_TOKEN_DELIVERY=cookie
RUSTCHAT_SECURITY_RATE_LIMIT_ENABLED=true

Docker Compose Example

See Installation Guide for complete Docker Compose configuration.

Configuration Validation

The backend validates configuration at startup and will fail fast with clear error messages if required variables are missing or invalid.

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For security best practices: See Security Guide