Apply configuration changes¶

How to change a setting in .env and make the running services pick it up.

Run the commands on each affected host, from the install directory. Save a copy of the current .env somewhere safe before editing it; it contains secrets, so keep the copy out of release archives and version control. Arguments and execution context explains how environment variables and command arguments reach a command.

Single host (Docker)¶

Check the key names, then recreate the services so they read the new environment:

./logstotal env:diff
docker compose up -d --no-build web worker
./logstotal doctor:docker
./logstotal health

./logstotal env:diff compares .env with .env.example: it lists keys your .env sets that LogsTotal does not know (usually a typo, which would otherwise be ignored silently) and documented keys your .env has never mentioned. It prints key names only, never values.

./logstotal docker:restart restarts containers with the environment they already have, so it does not apply .env edits. Changes to published ports, proxy settings, or the database or Redis services need those services recreated too. Use ./logstotal docker:up when you also want to rebuild the application image.

On an offline installation from a bundle, use ./logstotal docker:up: it starts the saved bundle images and never builds or pulls. A missing image is an error to repair from the bundle.

Settings changed on the admin Settings page take effect on the next request and need no restart.

Fleet¶

On the machine you deploy from, the per-host files are in deploy-envs/. Keys you add to those files are kept when they are regenerated; the keys ./logstotal deploy:env manages are rewritten from deploy.env each time, so change those in deploy.env. You can also edit a host's .env directly on that host.

./logstotal deploy:env installs the files. It replaces a host's .env only if that file is unchanged since it was last pushed; a file edited on the host is kept, and the command lists the key names that would be lost. Reconcile the two, then set DEPLOY_ENV_PUSH_FORCE=yes to overwrite. See the Fleet reference for the DEPLOY_* variables.

Recreate the control plane and check its health before restarting the affected workers. On a worker host:

docker compose -f docker-compose.worker.yml up -d --no-build

Changing a password in .env does not change it in PostgreSQL, Redis or Garage. Rotate the credential on the server and update every client that uses it at the same time.

Verify or revert¶

Check /health, /admin/workers, and the behaviour the setting controls. If something is wrong, restore the saved .env and recreate the same services.