Configuration

Everything is configured through environment variables (.env next to the app; in Docker via env_file). There is no config UI beyond the board itself — this is deliberate: config-as-file is easy to back up, diff, and revert.

Copy .env.example to .env and edit. Only SESSION_SECRET is required; everything else is optional and the board degrades gracefully.

Core

Identity

Email

Email is how staff find out an incident is happening. The board works without it, but sends nothing — so configure it before going live. For the full walkthrough — per-provider settings, the Microsoft 365 and Google traps, DNS records and a troubleshooting table — see INSTALL.md, "Setting up email".

Leave SMTP_HOST empty to disable email entirely. When email is off, the subscribe form says so honestly rather than silently swallowing subscriptions.

Quick reference for common providers

Three things that cause most failures

1. SMTP_SECURE not matching the port. A mismatch doesn't error — it hangs and times out, which looks like a network problem.
2. Google revoking the app password. Google invalidates every app password when that account's main password changes. Email works for months, then stops with no warning.
3. Microsoft 365 blocking authentication. SMTP AUTH is disabled by default and must be enabled per mailbox. This is the most common failure for corporate senders.

Who processes the mail

Whoever relays the notifications is processing their content — outage titles, locations and resolution notes. If you handle patient information, that requires a Business Associate Agreement. Your existing mail provider is usually the safer choice, since a covered entity almost certainly already holds one with them; transactional providers need a separate BAA that not all offer.

Security note

SMTP_PASS sits in .env as plain text. Restrict the file's permissions, keep it out of version control, and don't paste its contents into tickets or chat.

Demo mode

Feature flags (implicit)

There are no on/off switches — each feature is "configured" or not, based on its own environment variables. Unconfigured features hide themselves.

GET /api/public-config reports the current feature state (no secrets) so custom dashboards can adapt too.

Integrations

See INTEGRATIONS.md for per-integration variable lists.

Licensing

Locations

The board ships with a small generic location list (seed/locations.json) loaded on first run when the database has none. Replace it with your own:

{
  "locations": [
    { "name": "Headquarters", "type": "office", "state": "" },
    { "name": "Branch Office — North", "type": "office", "state": "" },
    { "name": "Microsoft Azure", "type": "cloud", "state": "" }
  ]
}

type is free-form but the UI has icons for office, datacenter, cloud, wfh. Point SEED_LOCATIONS_PATH at a different file if you prefer to keep the shipped sample untouched.

Locations are otherwise managed in the app (Admin → Locations) after setup.

Runtime state layout

data/
  db.json                 # the database (atomic writes)
  backups/                # hourly-ish backups, newest 10 kept
  license.key             # your license key (mode 0600)
  license-state.json      # trial start timestamp

DATA_DIR relocates all of it. Back up this directory and you can rebuild the instance anywhere.