Container Environment

The official container image uses probod-bootstrap to convert PROBOD_* environment variables into a YAML configuration file before starting probod.

probod does not read these variables

Environment variables are an input to probod-bootstrap, not to the application process. When running probod directly, pass a JSON or YAML file with -cfg-file.

Startup behavior

CONFIG_FILE selects the generated or mounted configuration file and defaults to /etc/probod/config.yml.

On every container start:

1. When PROBOD_ENCRYPTION_KEY is set, the entrypoint generates CONFIG_FILE from the environment. Existing file content is replaced.
2. Otherwise, the entrypoint uses the existing CONFIG_FILE.
3. Startup fails when neither source is available.

This makes PROBOD_ENCRYPTION_KEY the switch between environment-generated and directly managed configuration.

Required inputs

probod-bootstrap requires four persistent secrets:

Variable	Purpose
PROBOD_ENCRYPTION_KEY	Encrypts sensitive application data at rest
PROBOD_AUTH_COOKIE_SECRET	Signs session cookies
PROBOD_AUTH_PASSWORD_PEPPER	Adds a deployment secret to password hashing
PROBOD_OAUTH2_SERVER_SIGNING_KEY	PEM RSA private key used to sign OAuth 2.0 tokens

Generate separate random values for the first three settings and an RSA key for the signing key:

openssl rand -base64 32
openssl genpkey -algorithm RSA -pkeyopt rsa_keygen_bits:2048

Set these values before the first production start, keep them stable across restarts and application instances, and include them in recovery procedures.

Do not rotate the encryption key by replacement

Replacing PROBOD_ENCRYPTION_KEY does not re-encrypt existing records. Use an application-supported migration procedure when one is available.

Configure the application

Set infrastructure and application values alongside the required secrets. This minimal example shows the main inputs; it is not a complete variable list.

PROBOD_BASE_URL=https://probo.example.com
PROBOD_API_ADDR=0.0.0.0:8080
PROBOD_API_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://probo.example.com

PROBOD_PG_ADDR=postgres.example.com:5432
PROBOD_PG_USERNAME=probod
PROBOD_PG_PASSWORD=replace-me
PROBOD_PG_DATABASE=probod

PROBOD_AWS_REGION=eu-west-1
PROBOD_AWS_BUCKET=probo-production

The bootstrap process applies documented defaults, converts strings to the required types, and fails before writing the file when a required value is missing or a value cannot be parsed.

Special input behavior

• PROBOD_PG_CA_BUNDLE_PATH reads a PostgreSQL CA bundle from a file and takes precedence over the inline PROBOD_PG_CA_BUNDLE.
• When both PROBOD_SAML_CERTIFICATE and PROBOD_SAML_PRIVATE_KEY are absent, bootstrap generates a pair. Configure a stable pair when SAML sessions must survive container replacement.
• Setting a connector client ID enables that connector and makes its client secret required. Slack also requires its signing secret; Vercel also requires its integration slug.
• Comma-separated inputs are trimmed and converted to lists.
• Boolean values use true or false. Numeric durations are expressed in the unit stated in the complete reference.
• PEM values must preserve their line breaks.

External secret references

Every value read by probod-bootstrap can be a literal or an AWS secret reference:

Syntax	Service
awssm://<secret-id>	AWS Secrets Manager
aws://<secret-id>	AWS Secrets Manager alias
awsps://<parameter-name>	AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store

PROBOD_ENCRYPTION_KEY=awssm://probo/production/encryption-key
PROBOD_AUTH_COOKIE_SECRET=awsps:///probo/production/cookie-secret

Secret resolution uses the standard AWS SDK credential and region chain. PROBOD_AWS_* configures Probo object storage; it does not authenticate secret resolution.

Apply changes

The generated file is a startup artifact, and probod does not hot-reload it. After changing an environment variable or referenced secret, restart every application instance and confirm that each instance starts successfully.

Reference

Environment variable reference Browse every supported PROBOD_* variable, type, default, and requirement