Configuration

Rowbird is configured with environment variables, flags or a config file. When a setting comes from more than one place, the first of these wins:

1. command-line flags (--listen-addr :9090)
2. environment variables (ROWBIRD_LISTEN_ADDR=:9090)
3. the server section of a config file
4. built-in defaults

Config file

Pass the path with --config or ROWBIRD_CONFIG_FILE. Keys are the variable names in lower case without the ROWBIRD_ prefix; the S3 groups are nested:

server:
  base_url: https://rowbird.example.com
  listen_addr: ":8080"
  workers: 8
  log_format: json
  trusted_proxies: ["10.0.0.0/8"]
  backup_schedule: "0 3 * * *"
  storage_backend: s3
  storage_s3:
    endpoint: https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com
    region: eu-central-1
    bucket: acme-rowbird

Keep secrets (keys, passwords, the database URL) in the environment or in files, not in the config file.

Variables

Core

Variable	Default	Description
ROWBIRD_BASE_URL	none	The public URL of Rowbird, such as https://rowbird.example.com. Links in messages (reports, runs, shared files), passkeys and secure cookies need it. Without it messages carry no links, the link mode is refused and attachments that would fall back to a link fail with delivery.base_url_missing. Rowbird warns at startup when it is unset.
ROWBIRD_LISTEN_ADDR	:8080	The HTTP listen address.
ROWBIRD_DATA_DIR	/data	The SQLite store, local artifacts (artifacts/), the generated master key, run spools (spool/, kept 24 hours) and scheduled backups.
ROWBIRD_DATABASE_URL	sqlite://$ROWBIRD_DATA_DIR/rowbird.db	The internal store: sqlite://path or postgres://user:password@host/db. See Scaling.
ROWBIRD_CONFIG_FILE	none	Path of a config file whose server section is loaded (also --config).
ROWBIRD_SETUP_TOKEN	none	When set, the setup wizard asks for this value, so only you can create the first admin.
ROWBIRD_LOG_LEVEL	info	debug, info, warn or error.
ROWBIRD_LOG_FORMAT	text	text or json.
ROWBIRD_UPDATE_CHECK	true	Check GitHub once a day for a newer release. Admins can also turn it off in Settings > About.

Master key

The master key encrypts every stored secret (AES-256-GCM): connection and channel passwords, TOTP secrets, AI keys, secret settings. It is 32 random bytes, base64 encoded (openssl rand -base64 32). When you provide none, Rowbird generates one into $ROWBIRD_DATA_DIR/master.key and logs a warning to back it up.

Variable	Default	Description
ROWBIRD_MASTER_KEY	generated	The key itself.
ROWBIRD_MASTER_KEY_FILE	none	A file holding the key, for Docker and Kubernetes secrets.
ROWBIRD_MASTER_KEY_PREVIOUS	none	An older key accepted for decryption only, while a rotation reaches every instance.
ROWBIRD_MASTER_KEY_PREVIOUS_FILE	none	The same, from a file.

Scheduler and workers

Variable	Default	Description
ROWBIRD_WORKERS	4	Runs executed at the same time by this instance.
ROWBIRD_SCHEDULER_TICK	5s	How often the scheduler looks for due reports. It also paces heartbeats and the recovery of runs left by a lost instance.
ROWBIRD_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT	30s	How long running runs may take to finish when Rowbird stops.
ROWBIRD_NO_SCHEDULER	false	Do not schedule reports on this instance (also --no-scheduler).
ROWBIRD_NO_WORKERS	false	Do not execute runs on this instance (also --no-workers).

Artifact storage

Files generated for deliveries (and served by download links) are kept in one place for the whole instance.

Variable	Default	Description
ROWBIRD_STORAGE_BACKEND	local	local (under $ROWBIRD_DATA_DIR/artifacts) or s3.
ROWBIRD_STORAGE_S3_ENDPOINT	none	The S3-compatible endpoint, such as https://s3.amazonaws.com or http://minio:9000. The scheme decides TLS. Required for s3.
ROWBIRD_STORAGE_S3_REGION	none	The bucket's region.
ROWBIRD_STORAGE_S3_BUCKET	none	The bucket. Required for s3.
ROWBIRD_STORAGE_S3_ACCESS_KEY	none	Access key id.
ROWBIRD_STORAGE_S3_SECRET_KEY	none	Secret access key.
ROWBIRD_STORAGE_S3_PATH_STYLE	false	Path-style URLs, for MinIO and similar servers.
ROWBIRD_STORAGE_S3_PREFIX	none	Keep objects under this folder of a shared bucket.

Artifacts record their backend, but only the configured one is read: changing the backend makes earlier files unreachable, and their links answer 410 Gone.

Backups

Scheduled backups cover a SQLite store. See Backups and restore.

Variable	Default	Description
ROWBIRD_BACKUP_SCHEDULE	none	A cron expression in UTC, such as 0 3 * * *. Empty turns scheduled backups off.
ROWBIRD_BACKUP_DIR	$ROWBIRD_DATA_DIR/backups	Where backups are written.
ROWBIRD_BACKUP_KEEP	7	How many backups to keep, in the directory and in the bucket.
ROWBIRD_BACKUP_WITH_ARTIFACTS	false	Include local artifacts in each backup.
ROWBIRD_BACKUP_S3_ENDPOINT	none	Also upload each backup to this S3-compatible endpoint.
ROWBIRD_BACKUP_S3_REGION	none	Region of the backup bucket.
ROWBIRD_BACKUP_S3_BUCKET	none	The backup bucket. Uploads happen only when it is set.
ROWBIRD_BACKUP_S3_ACCESS_KEY	none	Access key id.
ROWBIRD_BACKUP_S3_SECRET_KEY	none	Secret access key.
ROWBIRD_BACKUP_S3_PATH_STYLE	false	Path-style URLs.
ROWBIRD_BACKUP_S3_PREFIX	none	Folder for the backups inside the bucket.

Network and security

Variable	Default	Description
ROWBIRD_TRUSTED_PROXIES	none	Comma-separated CIDRs allowed to set X-Forwarded-For and X-Forwarded-Proto. Set it to your reverse proxy's address, or client IPs (used for rate limits and the security log) will be the proxy's.
ROWBIRD_NETWORK_POLICY	open	open, or block-private to stop connections, channels and AI providers from reaching private, loopback, link-local and cloud metadata addresses. See Hardening.
ROWBIRD_SQLITE_DIRS	$ROWBIRD_DATA_DIR/sqlite	Comma-separated absolute directories that SQLite connections may read.
ROWBIRD_METRICS_TOKEN	none	When set, /metrics requires Authorization: Bearer <token>.

GitOps

Variable	Default	Description
ROWBIRD_CONFIG_DIR	none	A directory of YAML documents applied at startup, or right after setup. See Config as code.

CLI

Variable	Default	Description
ROWBIRD_API_KEY	none	The API key rowbird apply and rowbird export use with --server.

Settings in the UI

Some settings belong to the workspace rather than the instance and are changed by admins in the UI: the system mailer, alert channels and heartbeat, retention of runs and files, requiring 2FA, OIDC sign-in, the AI assistant and the update check.