Environment Variables

ScanPick is configured entirely through environment variables. No config files, no YAML, no JSON settings.

Required

Variable	Description	Example
DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING	PostgreSQL connection string	Host=localhost;Database=scanpick;Username=scanpick;Password=...
JWT_SECRET	JWT signing key (64+ characters)	Generated via openssl rand -base64 48 | tr -d '/+=' | head -c 64

Optional

Variable	Default	Description
ASPNETCORE_URLS	http://+:5000	API listen address
ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT	Production	Set to Development for detailed errors + Scalar API explorer
DISABLE_AUTO_SEED	false	Skip automatic database seeding on first startup
SETUP_TOKEN	(none)	Require first-run setup page before API serves requests

Connection String Format

Host=<host>;Port=<port>;Database=<database>;Username=<user>;Password=<password>

Examples:

# Local Docker PostgreSQL
DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING="Host=localhost;Port=5432;Database=scanpick;Username=scanpick;Password=devpassword"

# Remote PostgreSQL with SSL
DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING="Host=db.example.com;Port=5432;Database=scanpick;Username=scanpick;Password=...;SSL Mode=Require"

Setting Variables

Single Binary

export DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING="Host=localhost;Database=scanpick;Username=scanpick;Password=..."
export JWT_SECRET="your-64-char-secret"
./ScanPick.Api

Docker Compose

Set variables in the .env file in the project root:

POSTGRES_PASSWORD=devpassword
JWT_SECRET=your-64-char-secret

Docker (Manual)

docker run -e DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING="..." -e JWT_SECRET="..." scanpick-api

Production Checklist

• Generate a strong JWT_SECRET (64+ random characters)
• Set ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT to Production
• Use a dedicated PostgreSQL user (not postgres superuser)
• Enable SSL for database connections over the network
• Configure a reverse proxy for TLS termination
• Set up regular PostgreSQL backups
• Verify the API starts successfully and serves the dashboard