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

Docker images set the app paths to container-native locations: ALCHEMIST_CONFIG_PATH=/app/config/config.toml and ALCHEMIST_DB_PATH=/app/data/alchemist.db. Keep them explicit in Compose files when you want the deployment to show exactly where Alchemist reads and writes inside the container.

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

Recommended host bind mounts (directories, never config.toml itself — a single-file mount blocks the setup wizard from saving):

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

In those volume entries, the right side is the container path and the left side is the Docker host path backing it. For example, /data/alchemist/config:/app/config still makes Alchemist read /app/config/config.toml inside the container, while storing the file on the host under /data/alchemist/config. Binary installs use the default ~/.config/alchemist/config.toml path because no container mount exists.

Docker-only variables, handled by the container entrypoint:

Variable	Default	Description
`PUID`	`0`	Run the server as this user id; `./config` and `./data` are chowned at start
`PGID`	`0`	Group id for the above (setting only one of the two implies the other)

Docker​

Docker