#getting-started

SilverBullet is primarily configured via environment variables. This page gives a comprehensive overview of all configuration options. You can set these ad-hoc when running the SilverBullet server, or e.g. in your Install/Docker|docker-compose file.

General configuration

  • SB_INDEX_PAGE: Sets the default page to load, defaults to index.
  • SB_SPACE_IGNORE: Ignore certain path patterns based on a .gitignore style format, e.g. SB_SPACE_IGNORE="IgnoreMe/*".
  • SB_HTTP_LOGGING: Set to any value to enable HTTP logging
  • SB_LOG_PUSH: Set to any value to ask clients to push their logs to the server (for debugging purposes)

Network

  • SB_HOSTNAME: Set to the hostname to bind to (defaults to 127.0.0.0, set to 0.0.0.0 to accept outside connections for the local setup, defaults to 0.0.0.0 for docker)
  • SB_PORT: Sets the port to listen to, e.g. SB_PORT=1234, default is 3000
  • SB_URL_PREFIX: Host SilverBullet on a particular URL prefix, e.g. SB_URL_PREFIX=/notes

Authentication

SilverBullet supports basic authentication for a single user.

  • SB_USER: Sets single-user credentials, e.g. SB_USER=pete:1234 allows you to login with username “pete” and password “1234”.
  • SB_AUTH_TOKEN: Enables Authorization: Bearer <token> style authentication on the HTTP API.
  • SB_LOCKOUT_LIMIT: Specifies the number of failed login attempt before locking the user out (for a SB_LOCKOUT_TIME specified amount of seconds), defaults to 10
  • SB_LOCKOUT_TIME: Specifies the amount of time (in seconds) a client will be blocked until attempting to log back in, defaults to 60.
  • SB_REMEMBER_ME_HOURS: Sets the session duration in hours when "Remember me" is checked during login, defaults to 7 days.

Storage

SilverBullet supports storage backends for keeping your Space content. Right now the only supported backend is to use your local disk.

Disk storage

This is the default and simplest backend to use: a folder on disk. It is configured as follows:

  • SB_FOLDER: Sets the folder to expose. In the docker container, this defaults to /space.

Run mode

  • SB_READ_ONLY (==Experimental==): If you want to run the SilverBullet client and server in read-only mode (you get the full SilverBullet client, but all edit functionality and commands are disabled), you can do this by setting this environment variable to a non-empty value. Upon the server start a full space index will happen, after which all write operations will be disabled.

Runtime API

  • SB_RUNTIME_API: The Runtime API is enabled automatically when Chrome/Chromium is detected on the system. Set to 0 to explicitly disable. Not available in read-only mode.
  • SB_CHROME_PATH: Optional explicit path to the Chrome/Chromium binary. Falls back to the CHROMIUM_PATH environment variable (pre-set in the -runtime-api Docker image), then auto-detection.
  • SB_CHROME_SHOW: Set to any non-empty value to run Chrome with a visible window instead of headless (useful for debugging).
  • SB_CHROME_DATA_DIR: Path to persist the Chrome user profile between restarts. When not set, defaults to .chrome-data inside the space folder.

Security

SilverBullet enables plugs to run shell commands. This is potentially unsafe. If you don’t need this, you can disable this functionality:

  • SB_SHELL_BACKEND: Enable/disable running of shell commands from plugs, defaults to local (enabled), set to off to disable. It is only enabled when using a local folder for #Storage.
  • SB_SHELL_WHITELIST: Allow only a specific list of shell commands (just the first command name, not arguments). When not set, allows all shell commands. Example: SB_SHELL_WHITELIST="git pandoc"

Docker

Configuration only relevant to docker deployments:

  • PUID: Runs the server process with the specified UID (default: whatever user owns the /space mapped folder)
  • PGID: Runs the server process with the specified GID (default: whatever group owns the /space mapped folder)

Metrics

SilverBullet offers a few basic Prometheus metrics, these can be configured with the following environment variables:

  • SB_METRICS_PORT: HTTP port to expose metrics (under the default /metrics endpoint) on

Web app manifest

Configure aspects of web app appearance as well as the authentication page:

  • SB_NAME: Sets name and short_name members of web app manifest to whatever specified in SB_NAME
  • SB_DESCRIPTION: Sets description member of web app manifest to whatever specified in SB_DESCRIPTION