Environment variables

Every .env key MagicPost reads, grouped by purpose, with defaults and the admin screens that write to the file.

The .env file sits in the application root, next to artisan. It holds server-level settings: the site address, the database, and the cache, queue and mail drivers. Everything an owner changes day to day, such as channel keys, AI keys, payment gateways and SMTP, lives in the admin panel and is stored in the database instead.

.env contains secrets. Keep it out of the public web folder, out of shared backups and out of version control.

​

Edit the file

1. Open the file

   Open .env with your hosting file manager or over SSH. Do not rename it or move it.

2. Change the value

   Put a value in quotes when it contains spaces or a #. Leave a key out entirely to use its default.

3. Reload the configuration

   If you ever ran php artisan config:cache on the server, run php artisan config:clear afterwards. Otherwise the change applies on the next request.

​

Screens that write to .env

Three places in MagicPost change the file for you, so PHP must be able to write to it. The installer checks this on its Permissions step.

Where	Keys it writes
Installer, Database step and the step after it	DB_HOST, DB_PORT, DB_DATABASE, DB_USERNAME, DB_PASSWORD, then SESSION_DRIVER=database
Admin → Backend Settings → Global Settings, Save	APP_NAME, APP_URL, APP_TIMEZONE
Admin → Update, Install Update	APP_VERSION

​

Application

Key	Default	What it does
APP_NAME	Laravel in .env.example	The site name. Global Settings → Website Name writes it. It also seeds the default session cookie name and the cache prefix.
APP_ENV	production	Environment name. In production MagicPost requires strong passwords (at least 12 characters with upper and lower case, a number, a symbol, and not found in a known data breach) and switches on Laravel’s protection against destructive database commands such as migrate:fresh. local and testing relax the Debug mode health check.
APP_KEY	empty	The encryption key. Generate it once with php artisan key:generate. It encrypts cookies and the secrets saved under Admin → Publishing → Platforms, so changing it later makes those saved values unreadable.
APP_PREVIOUS_KEYS	empty	Comma-separated older keys that Laravel still accepts when decrypting.
APP_DEBUG	false	Shows full error pages. Keep it false on a live site. System health warns when it is on outside a local or testing environment.
APP_URL	http://localhost	The public address of the site, with https:// and no trailing slash. Channel redirect URIs, webhook addresses, media links and email links are built from it, and every generated link is forced to https when it starts with https://. Global Settings → Website URL writes it.
APP_VERSION	not in .env.example	The installed version, written by the updater. Leave it alone.
APP_TIMEZONE	not in .env.example	Written by Global Settings → Time Zone. config/app.php fixes the application time zone at UTC, so this key does not change it. Scheduling time zones come from Admin → Publishing → Settings → Default timezone and each person’s Time and date setting.
APP_LOCALE	en	Default language code.
APP_FALLBACK_LOCALE	en	Language used when a translation is missing.
APP_FAKER_LOCALE	en_US	Locale for generated sample data. Leave it.
APP_MAINTENANCE_DRIVER	file	Where php artisan down keeps the maintenance state. database also needs APP_MAINTENANCE_STORE.
BCRYPT_ROUNDS	12	Password hashing cost.

The address you type in a browser must match APP_URL. System health shows a Site address warning when the page was opened at one host while APP_URL names another, because posts sent in the background and links in emails use APP_URL.

​

Database

Key	Default	What it does
DB_CONNECTION	mysql in .env.example, sqlite if unset	The driver. The installer tests its connection with MySQL, so use mysql (MariaDB also works through the mariadb driver).
DB_HOST	127.0.0.1	Database server.
DB_PORT	3306	Database port.
DB_DATABASE	laravel	Database name.
DB_USERNAME	root	Database user.
DB_PASSWORD	empty	Database password.
DB_SOCKET	empty	Unix socket path, if your host uses one.
DB_CHARSET / DB_COLLATION	utf8mb4 / utf8mb4_unicode_ci	Character set and collation.
DB_ENGINE	InnoDB	Storage engine for MySQL.
DB_URL	empty	A single connection URL that replaces the keys above.
MYSQL_ATTR_SSL_CA	empty	Path to a CA certificate for an encrypted MySQL connection.

The installer saves your answers by replacing the existing DB_* lines, so those lines must already exist in .env. See Installation problems.

​

Sessions

Key	Default	What it does
SESSION_DRIVER	database	Keep it on database. The Accounts Dashboard counts online users from the sessions table, and the installer sets this value.
SESSION_LIFETIME	120	Minutes of inactivity before a session ends.
SESSION_ENCRYPT	false	Encrypts stored session data.
SESSION_PATH	/	Cookie path.
SESSION_DOMAIN	null	Cookie domain.
SESSION_SECURE_COOKIE	unset	Set true to send the cookie only over HTTPS.
SESSION_SAME_SITE	lax	Cookie same-site policy.
SESSION_HTTP_ONLY	true	Hides the cookie from scripts.
SESSION_EXPIRE_ON_CLOSE	false	Ends the session when the browser closes.
SESSION_COOKIE, SESSION_TABLE, SESSION_CONNECTION, SESSION_STORE, SESSION_PARTITIONED_COOKIE	derived from APP_NAME or unset	Cookie name, session table, connection, store and partitioned-cookie options.

​

Cache and locks

Key	Default	What it does
CACHE_STORE	database	Where cached data and locks live. Use database or file. The scheduler uses cache locks to stop overlapping passes, and System health warns when the store is array or null.
CACHE_PREFIX	slug of APP_NAME plus -cache-	Prefix for every cache key.
DB_CACHE_CONNECTION, DB_CACHE_TABLE, DB_CACHE_LOCK_CONNECTION, DB_CACHE_LOCK_TABLE	cache table	Database cache connection and tables.
MEMCACHED_HOST, MEMCACHED_PORT, MEMCACHED_PERSISTENT_ID, MEMCACHED_USERNAME, MEMCACHED_PASSWORD	127.0.0.1, 11211	Only used when CACHE_STORE=memcached.
REDIS_CACHE_CONNECTION, REDIS_CACHE_LOCK_CONNECTION	cache, default	Only used when CACHE_STORE=redis.

See Cache and optimisation.

​

Queue

Key	Default	What it does
QUEUE_CONNECTION	database	Where background jobs wait. Use database. System health reports null as a failure because it throws jobs away, and sync as a warning because every post is then sent inside the request that queued it.
DB_QUEUE_CONNECTION, DB_QUEUE_TABLE, DB_QUEUE	jobs table, default queue	Database queue settings.
DB_QUEUE_RETRY_AFTER	960	Seconds before a job that has not finished is handed out again. Publishing jobs time out at 840 seconds, so keep this above that.
REDIS_QUEUE_CONNECTION, REDIS_QUEUE, REDIS_QUEUE_RETRY_AFTER	default, default, 960	Only used when QUEUE_CONNECTION=redis.
BEANSTALKD_QUEUE_HOST, BEANSTALKD_QUEUE, BEANSTALKD_QUEUE_RETRY_AFTER	localhost, default, 90	Only used with Beanstalkd.
SQS_PREFIX, SQS_QUEUE, SQS_SUFFIX	see config/queue.php	Only used with Amazon SQS, together with the AWS_* keys.
QUEUE_FAILED_DRIVER	database-uuids	Where failed jobs are recorded, in the failed_jobs table.

How the scheduler and the queue work together is covered in Cron and queue.

​

Mail

These values are the fallback. Once a host is saved under Admin → Backend Settings → SMTP Settings, that saved row overrides them for every email. See Email and SMTP.

Key	Default	What it does
MAIL_MAILER	log	log writes emails to the log file instead of sending them. System health warns about this on the Email line. Use smtp for real delivery.
MAIL_SCHEME	null	smtp or smtps.
MAIL_HOST	127.0.0.1	SMTP host.
MAIL_PORT	2525	SMTP port.
MAIL_USERNAME / MAIL_PASSWORD	null	SMTP credentials.
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS	[e-mail]	Sender address.
MAIL_FROM_NAME	${APP_NAME}	Sender name.
MAIL_URL, MAIL_EHLO_DOMAIN, MAIL_SENDMAIL_PATH, MAIL_LOG_CHANNEL	unset	Optional transport settings from config/mail.php.

​

Files and storage

Key	Default	What it does
FILESYSTEM_DISK	local	The framework default disk. Keep it local: Livewire uses the default disk for temporary uploads.
LIVEWIRE_TEMPORARY_FILE_UPLOAD_DISK	unset	Disk for Livewire temporary uploads.
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_DEFAULT_REGION, AWS_BUCKET, AWS_USE_PATH_STYLE_ENDPOINT, AWS_URL, AWS_ENDPOINT	empty	Feed the s3 disk defined in config/filesystems.php.

Read File storage before relying on the s3 disk.

​

Video processing

Key	Default	What it does
FFMPEG_BINARIES	ffmpeg	Full path to the ffmpeg program.
FFPROBE_BINARIES	ffprobe	Full path to the ffprobe program.
FFMPEG_THREADS	2	Threads ffmpeg may use.
FFMPEG_TEMPORARY_FILES_ROOT	storage/framework/ffmpeg	Working folder for ffmpeg.
FFMPEG_TEMPORARY_ENCRYPTED_HLS	FFMPEG_TEMPORARY_FILES_ROOT if set, otherwise the system temp folder	Working folder for encrypted HLS output.

See Video processing.

​

Logging

Key	Default	What it does
LOG_CHANNEL	stack	The logging channel.
LOG_STACK	single	Channels in the stack. single writes to storage/logs/laravel.log.
LOG_LEVEL	debug	Lowest level written.
LOG_DEPRECATIONS_CHANNEL	null	Channel for deprecation notices.
LOG_DAILY_DAYS	14	Days of files kept by the daily channel.
LOG_SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL, LOG_SLACK_USERNAME, LOG_SLACK_EMOJI, PAPERTRAIL_URL, PAPERTRAIL_PORT, LOG_PAPERTRAIL_HANDLER, LOG_STDERR_FORMATTER, LOG_SYSLOG_FACILITY	unset	Options for the optional Slack, Papertrail, stderr and syslog channels.

​

Redis

Only needed if you choose redis for the cache or the queue.

Key	Default
REDIS_CLIENT	phpredis
REDIS_HOST	127.0.0.1
REDIS_PORT	6379
REDIS_PASSWORD, REDIS_USERNAME, REDIS_URL	unset
REDIS_DB, REDIS_CACHE_DB	0, 1
REDIS_CLUSTER, REDIS_PREFIX, REDIS_PERSISTENT	redis, slug of APP_NAME plus -database-, false
REDIS_MAX_RETRIES, REDIS_BACKOFF_ALGORITHM, REDIS_BACKOFF_BASE, REDIS_BACKOFF_CAP	3, decorrelated_jitter, 100, 1000

​

Plugin license checks

These tune how plugin license keys entered in Admin → Plugins are verified.

Key	Default	What it does
EXTENSION_LICENSE_DOMAIN	unset	Host reported to the license server. When empty, the host of the current request is used.
EXTENSION_LICENSE_CONNECT_TIMEOUT	5	Seconds to wait for a connection.
EXTENSION_LICENSE_TIMEOUT	10	Seconds to wait for a reply.
EXTENSION_LICENSE_CLOCK_SKEW	900	Seconds of clock difference tolerated on a signed reply.
EXTENSION_LICENSE_THROTTLE_ATTEMPTS	5	Key attempts allowed per window.
EXTENSION_LICENSE_THROTTLE_DECAY	300	Window length in seconds.

​

Laravel Pulse

MagicPost includes Laravel Pulse. Its PULSE_* keys (PULSE_ENABLED, PULSE_PATH, PULSE_STORAGE_DRIVER, PULSE_STORAGE_KEEP, PULSE_INGEST_DRIVER, PULSE_INGEST_BUFFER, PULSE_INGEST_KEEP, PULSE_DB_CONNECTION, PULSE_REDIS_CONNECTION, PULSE_CACHE_DRIVER, PULSE_SERVER_NAME, PULSE_SERVER_DIRECTORIES, PULSE_DOMAIN, and the PULSE_*_ENABLED, PULSE_*_SAMPLE_RATE, PULSE_*_THRESHOLD and PULSE_*_LOCATION options for each recorder) are defined in config/pulse.php. The defaults work as they are. The /pulse dashboard is open only when APP_ENV is local, because the application defines no access rule of its own.

​

Keys you do not need

config/services.php lists GOOGLE_*, FACEBOOK_*, TWITTER_* and LINKEDIN_* client keys. MagicPost overwrites them at runtime with the values saved under Admin → Backend Settings → Auth Settings, so set social login there, not in .env.