Configuration

SafariDesk reads configuration from the .env file located in Core/. Tip: make a copy of .env.example as .env and edit with your editor. Keep secrets safe.

Required settings (basic install)

Database (Postgres container in Docker Compose):

DB_ENGINE=django.db.backends.postgresql
DB_NAME=safaridesk
DB_USER=postgres
DB_PASSWORD=your-password
DB_HOST=db
DB_PORT=5432

Redis and Celery (required for background jobs):

REDIS_HOST=redis
REDIS_PORT=6379
CELERY_BROKER_URL=redis://redis:6379/0
CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND=redis://redis:6379/0

Superuser (used for first login):

SUPERUSER_USERNAME=admin
SUPERUSER_PASSWORD=your-password
SUPERUSER_EMAIL=[email protected]

Recommended settings (email, URLs)

Email (required if you need outgoing mail):

EMAIL_HOST=smtp.yourprovider.com
EMAIL_PORT=587
EMAIL_USE_TLS=True
EMAIL_HOST_USER=[email protected]
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD=your-password
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL=[email protected]
DEFAULT_FROM_NAME=SafariDesk

Public URLs (update when using a domain or reverse proxy):

FRONTEND_URL=https://helpdesk.yourdomain.com
DOMAIN_NAME=yourdomain.com
VITE_API_URL=https://api.yourdomain.com/api/v1

Optional: AI and embeddings

If you plan to enable AI features, set keys and models:

GEMINI_API_KEY=your-gemini-api-key
GEMINI_MODEL=gemini-flash-latest
EMBEDDING_MODEL=gemini-embedding-001

Enterprise licensing settings

If you are using the self-hosted enterprise edition, you must configure licensing during setup. Common values required for enterprise activation:

License key
Stable instance ID
Deployment type (self_hosted)
Edition (enterprise)
Hostname
Response signing secret used to verify license responses

The architecture and validation flow are documented in Architecture. If SafariDesk support provided specific environment variable names for your build, add them to .env and restart the stack:

docker compose up -d --build

Then validate by checking API logs:

docker compose logs --tail 200 api

Notes

For production, use strong random SECRET_KEY and secure passwords
Keep backups of .env but never commit it to source control
After changing .env, restart the stack: docker compose up -d --build

Get started

Operations

Self-hosting

Configuration

Configuration

Required settings (basic install)

Recommended settings (email, URLs)

Optional: AI and embeddings

Enterprise licensing settings

Notes

​Configuration

​Required settings (basic install)

​Recommended settings (email, URLs)

​Optional: AI and embeddings

​Enterprise licensing settings

​Notes

Configuration

Required settings (basic install)

Recommended settings (email, URLs)

Optional: AI and embeddings

Enterprise licensing settings

Notes