Configuration

Customize your self-hosted Quackback deployment with environment variables and settings.

Environment Variables

All configuration is done through environment variables in your .env file.

Core Settings

# Required
APP_URL=https://feedback.yourdomain.com
APP_SECRET=your-secret-key-at-least-32-chars

# Application name (appears in emails, titles)
APP_NAME=Quackback

# Environment
NODE_ENV=production

Database

# PostgreSQL connection string
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/quackback

# Connection pool size (optional)
DATABASE_POOL_SIZE=20

Email (SMTP)

# SMTP server settings
SMTP_HOST=smtp.yourdomain.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_SECURE=false
SMTP_USER=notifications@yourdomain.com
SMTP_PASSWORD=your-smtp-password

# From address for emails
SMTP_FROM="Quackback <notifications@yourdomain.com>"

Redis (Optional)

Redis improves performance for caching and sessions:

REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379

File Storage

For file uploads (logos, attachments):

# Local storage (default)
STORAGE_TYPE=local
STORAGE_PATH=./uploads

# S3-compatible storage
STORAGE_TYPE=s3
S3_BUCKET=your-bucket-name
S3_REGION=us-east-1
S3_ACCESS_KEY=your-access-key
S3_SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key
S3_ENDPOINT=https://s3.amazonaws.com

Authentication Providers

Google OAuth

GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id.apps.googleusercontent.com
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret

GitHub OAuth

GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret

SAML/SSO

SAML_ENABLED=true
SAML_ISSUER=https://feedback.yourdomain.com
SAML_ENTRY_POINT=https://idp.yourdomain.com/sso
SAML_CERTIFICATE=your-idp-certificate

Performance Tuning

Worker Processes

# Number of worker processes
WORKERS=4

Rate Limiting

# API rate limiting
RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW=60000
RATE_LIMIT_MAX=100

Caching

# Cache TTL in seconds
CACHE_TTL=3600

Security Settings

Session Security

# Session duration (in seconds)
SESSION_DURATION=604800  # 7 days

# Secure cookies (require HTTPS)
SECURE_COOKIES=true

CORS

# Allowed origins (comma-separated)
CORS_ORIGINS=https://yourdomain.com,https://app.yourdomain.com

Content Security Policy

# Custom CSP header
CSP_DIRECTIVES="default-src 'self'; img-src 'self' data: https:;"

Backups

Database Backups

Set up automated PostgreSQL backups:

# backup.sh
#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_DIR=/backups
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

docker compose exec -T db pg_dump -U quackback quackback > $BACKUP_DIR/backup_$DATE.sql

# Keep only last 7 days
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "backup_*.sql" -mtime +7 -delete

Schedule with cron:

0 2 * * * /path/to/backup.sh

File Backups

If using local storage, back up the uploads directory:

tar -czf uploads_backup.tar.gz ./uploads

Monitoring

Health Check

Quackback exposes a health endpoint:

curl https://feedback.yourdomain.com/api/health

Returns:

{
  "status": "healthy",
  "database": "connected",
  "cache": "connected"
}

Logging

Configure log levels:

LOG_LEVEL=info  # debug, info, warn, error
LOG_FORMAT=json # json or pretty

View logs:

docker compose logs -f app

Multi-Instance Deployment

For high availability, run multiple instances:

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  app:
    image: quackback/quackback
    deploy:
      replicas: 3

Requirements for multi-instance:

Shared Redis for sessions
Shared storage (S3) for uploads
Load balancer in front

Email Templates

Customize email templates by mounting a custom templates directory:

services:
  app:
    volumes:
      - ./custom-templates:/app/templates

Advanced Configuration

Custom Domains per Workspace

Enable workspace-level custom domains:

CUSTOM_DOMAINS_ENABLED=true

Disable Registration

Prevent new user signups:

REGISTRATION_ENABLED=false

Maintenance Mode

Put the application in maintenance mode:

MAINTENANCE_MODE=true
MAINTENANCE_MESSAGE="We're upgrading. Back soon!"

Next: Updating

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