Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
`ALCHEMIST_CONFIG_PATH`	`~/.config/alchemist/config.toml`	Path to config file
`ALCHEMIST_CONFIG`	(alias)	Alias for `ALCHEMIST_CONFIG_PATH`
`ALCHEMIST_DB_PATH`	`~/.config/alchemist/alchemist.db`	Path to SQLite database
`ALCHEMIST_DATA_DIR`	(none)	Sets data dir; `alchemist.db` placed here
`ALCHEMIST_TEMP_DIR`	data dir + `/temp`	Directory for managed temporary uploads, conversion outputs, and update staging
`ALCHEMIST_CONFIG_MUTABLE`	`true`	Set `false` to block runtime config writes
`ALCHEMIST_SERVER_PORT`	auto from `3000`	Require one specific HTTP port instead of falling forward when `3000` is busy
`ALCHEMIST_SETUP_TOKEN`	(none)	Optional extra setup-mode guard; setup endpoints require the matching token query parameter when set
`ALCHEMIST_COOKIE_SECURE`	`false`	Set `true` only behind a TLS-terminating reverse proxy so session cookies include `Secure`
`ALCHEMIST_NO_PAUSE`	(unset)	Skip the Windows-style "Press Enter to exit" pause after a fatal startup error
`RUST_LOG`	`info`	Log level: `info`, `debug`, `alchemist=trace`
`ALCHEMIST_LOG_FORMAT`	`text`	Log output format: `text` (human-readable, default) or `json` (one structured object per line, for Loki / Elasticsearch / Datadog ingestion). Overrides `[system].log_format` in the config.

Build and release automation also use ALCHEMIST_UPDATE_PUBLIC_KEY_B64 to embed the update-manifest verification key in release binaries. It is not a runtime setting for normal installs.

Default paths: XDG on Linux/macOS, %APPDATA%\Alchemist\ on Windows.

Docker

Always set path variables explicitly to paths inside your mounted volumes. Without this, files are lost when the container is removed.

environment:
  - ALCHEMIST_CONFIG_PATH=/app/config/config.toml
  - ALCHEMIST_DB_PATH=/app/data/alchemist.db

Recommended host bind mount:

volumes:
  - ~/.config/alchemist:/app/config
  - ~/.config/alchemist:/app/data

Docker​

Docker