Environment variables
Langflow lets you configure a number of settings using environment variables.
Configure environment variables
Langflow recognizes supported environment variables from the following sources:
- Environment variables that you've set in your terminal.
- Environment variables that you've imported from a
.env
file using the--env-file
option in the Langflow CLI.
You can choose to use one source exclusively, or use both sources together.
If you choose to use both sources together, be aware that environment variables imported from a .env
file take precedence over those set in your terminal.
Set environment variables in your terminal
Run the following commands to set environment variables for your current terminal session:
- Linux or macOS
- Windows
- Docker
_10export VARIABLE_NAME='VALUE'
_10set VARIABLE_NAME='VALUE'
_10docker run -it --rm \_10 -p 7860:7860 \_10 -e VARIABLE_NAME='VALUE' \_10 langflowai/langflow:latest
When you start Langflow, it looks for environment variables that you've set in your terminal. If it detects a supported environment variable, then it automatically adopts the specified value, subject to precedence rules.
Import environment variables from a .env file
-
If Langflow is running, quit Langflow.
-
Create a
.env
file, and then open it in your preferred editor. -
Define Langflow environment variables in the
.env
file. For example:_30DO_NOT_TRACK=true_30LANGFLOW_AUTO_LOGIN=false_30LANGFLOW_AUTO_SAVING=true_30LANGFLOW_AUTO_SAVING_INTERVAL=1000_30LANGFLOW_BACKEND_ONLY=false_30LANGFLOW_BUNDLE_URLS=["https://github.com/user/repo/commit/hash"]_30LANGFLOW_CACHE_TYPE=async_30LANGFLOW_COMPONENTS_PATH=/path/to/components/_30LANGFLOW_CONFIG_DIR=/path/to/config/_30LANGFLOW_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/langflow_30LANGFLOW_DEV=false_30LANGFLOW_FALLBACK_TO_ENV_VAR=false_30LANGFLOW_HEALTH_CHECK_MAX_RETRIES=5_30LANGFLOW_HOST=localhost_30LANGFLOW_LANGCHAIN_CACHE=InMemoryCache_30LANGFLOW_MAX_FILE_SIZE_UPLOAD=10000_30LANGFLOW_MAX_ITEMS_LENGTH=100_30LANGFLOW_MAX_TEXT_LENGTH=1000_30LANGFLOW_LOG_LEVEL=error_30LANGFLOW_OPEN_BROWSER=false_30LANGFLOW_PORT=7860_30LANGFLOW_REMOVE_API_KEYS=false_30LANGFLOW_SAVE_DB_IN_CONFIG_DIR=true_30LANGFLOW_SECRET_KEY=somesecretkey_30LANGFLOW_STORE=true_30LANGFLOW_STORE_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES=true_30LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER=adminuser_30LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD=adminpass_30LANGFLOW_WORKER_TIMEOUT=60000_30LANGFLOW_WORKERS=3For additional examples, see the
.env.example
file in the Langflow repository. -
Save and close
.env
. -
Start Langflow with your
.env
file:- Local
- Docker
_10python -m langflow run --env-file .env_10docker run -it --rm \_10-p 7860:7860 \_10--env-file .env \_10langflowai/langflow:latestIf your
.env
file isn't in the same directory, provide the path to your.env
file.
On startup, Langflow imports the environment variables from your .env
file, as well as any that you set in your terminal, and adopts their specified values.
Precedence
You can set Langflow environment variables in your terminal, in .env
, and with Langflow CLI options.
If an environment variable is set in multiple places, the following hierarchy applies:
- Langflow CLI options override
.env
and terminal variables. .env
overrides terminal variables.- Terminal variables are used only if the variable isn't set in
.env
or Langflow CLI options.
For example, if you set LANGFLOW_PORT
in .env
and your terminal, then Langflow uses the value from .env
.
Similarly, if you run a Langflow CLI command with --port
, Langflow uses that port number instead of the LANGFLOW_PORT
in .env
.
Supported environment variables
The following table lists the environment variables supported by Langflow.
Variable | Format | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|
DO_NOT_TRACK | Boolean | false | If this option is enabled, Langflow does not track telemetry. |
LANGFLOW_AUTO_LOGIN | Boolean | true | Enable automatic login for Langflow. Set to false to disable automatic login and require the login form to log into the Langflow UI. Setting to false requires LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER and LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD to be set. For more information, see Authentication. |
LANGFLOW_AUTO_SAVING | Boolean | true | Enable flow auto-saving. See --auto-saving option. |
LANGFLOW_AUTO_SAVING_INTERVAL | Integer | 1000 | Set the interval for flow auto-saving in milliseconds. See --auto-saving-interval option. |
LANGFLOW_BACKEND_ONLY | Boolean | false | Only run Langflow's backend server (no frontend). See --backend-only option. |
LANGFLOW_BUNDLE_URLS | List[String] | [] | A list of URLs from which to load component bundles and flows. Supports GitHub URLs. If LANGFLOW_AUTO_LOGIN is enabled, flows from these bundles are loaded into the database. |
LANGFLOW_CACHE_TYPE | String | async | Set the cache type for Langflow. Possible values: async , redis , memory , disk .If you set the type to redis , then you must also set the following environment variables: LANGFLOW_REDIS_HOST, LANGFLOW_REDIS_PORT, LANGFLOW_REDIS_DB, and LANGFLOW_REDIS_CACHE_EXPIRE. |
LANGFLOW_COMPONENTS_PATH | String | langflow/components | Path to the directory containing custom components. See --components-path option. |
LANGFLOW_CONFIG_DIR | String | See description | Set the Langflow configuration directory where files, logs, and the Langflow database are stored. Defaults: Linux/WSL: ~/.cache/langflow/ macOS: /Users/<username>/Library/Caches/langflow/ Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\langflow\langflow\Cache |
LANGFLOW_DATABASE_URL | String | Not set | Set the database URL for Langflow. If not provided, Langflow uses a SQLite database. |
LANGFLOW_USE_NOOP_DATABASE | Boolean | false | Use a no-op database, which avoids database connections and operations. Useful for running flows without a database. |
LANGFLOW_DATABASE_CONNECTION_RETRY | Boolean | false | If True, Langflow tries to connect to the database again if it fails. |
LANGFLOW_DB_POOL_SIZE | Integer | 10 | DEPRECATED: Use LANGFLOW_DB_CONNECTION_SETTINGS instead. The number of connections to keep open in the connection pool. |
LANGFLOW_DB_MAX_OVERFLOW | Integer | 20 | DEPRECATED: Use LANGFLOW_DB_CONNECTION_SETTINGS instead. The number of connections to allow that can be opened beyond the pool size. |
LANGFLOW_DB_CONNECT_TIMEOUT | Integer | 20 | The number of seconds to wait before giving up on a lock to be released or establishing a connection to the database. |
LANGFLOW_DB_CONNECTION_SETTINGS | JSON | Not set | A JSON dictionary to centralize database connection parameters. Example: {"pool_size": 10, "max_overflow": 20} |
LANGFLOW_DISABLE_TRACK_APIKEY_USAGE | Boolean | false | If set to true , disables tracking of API key usage (total_uses and last_used_at ) to avoid database contention under high concurrency. |
LANGFLOW_ENABLE_LOG_RETRIEVAL | Boolean | false | Enable log retrieval functionality. |
LANGFLOW_FALLBACK_TO_ENV_VAR | Boolean | true | If enabled, global variables set in the Langflow UI fall back to an environment variable with the same name when Langflow fails to retrieve the variable value. |
LANGFLOW_FRONTEND_PATH | String | ./frontend | Path to the frontend directory containing build files. This is for development purposes only. See --frontend-path option. |
LANGFLOW_HEALTH_CHECK_MAX_RETRIES | Integer | 5 | Set the maximum number of retries for the health check. See --health-check-max-retries option. |
LANGFLOW_HOST | String | localhost | The host on which the Langflow server will run. See --host option. |
LANGFLOW_LANGCHAIN_CACHE | String | InMemoryCache | Type of cache to use. Possible values: InMemoryCache , SQLiteCache .See --cache option. |
LANGFLOW_LOG_LEVEL | String | INFO | Set the logging level for Langflow. Possible values: DEBUG , INFO , WARNING , ERROR , CRITICAL . |
LANGFLOW_LOG_FILE | String | Not set | Path to the log file. If this option is not set, logs are written to stdout. |
LANGFLOW_LOG_RETRIEVER_BUFFER_SIZE | Integer | 10000 | Set the buffer size for log retrieval. Only used if LANGFLOW_ENABLE_LOG_RETRIEVAL is enabled. |
LANGFLOW_MAX_FILE_SIZE_UPLOAD | Integer | 100 | Set the maximum file size for the upload in megabytes. See --max-file-size-upload option. |
LANGFLOW_MAX_ITEMS_LENGTH | Integer | 100 | Maximum number of items to store and display in the UI. Lists longer than this will be truncated when displayed in the UI. Does not affect data passed between components nor outputs. |
LANGFLOW_MAX_TEXT_LENGTH | Integer | 1000 | Maximum number of characters to store and display in the UI. Responses longer than this will be truncated when displayed in the UI. Does not truncate responses between components nor outputs. |
LANGFLOW_MCP_SERVER_ENABLED | Boolean | true | If this option is set to False, Langflow does not enable the MCP server. |
LANGFLOW_MCP_SERVER_ENABLE_PROGRESS_NOTIFICATIONS | Boolean | false | If this option is set to True, Langflow sends progress notifications in the MCP server. |
LANGFLOW_NEW_USER_IS_ACTIVE | Boolean | false | When enabled, new users are automatically activated and can log in without requiring explicit activation by the superuser. |
LANGFLOW_OPEN_BROWSER | Boolean | false | Open the system web browser on startup. See --open-browser option. |
LANGFLOW_PORT | Integer | 7860 | The port on which the Langflow server runs. The server automatically selects a free port if the specified port is in use. See --port option. |
LANGFLOW_PROMETHEUS_ENABLED | Boolean | false | Expose Prometheus metrics. |
LANGFLOW_PROMETHEUS_PORT | Integer | 9090 | Set the port on which Langflow exposes Prometheus metrics. |
LANGFLOW_REDIS_CACHE_EXPIRE | Integer | 3600 | See LANGFLOW_CACHE_TYPE. |
LANGFLOW_REDIS_DB | Integer | 0 | See LANGFLOW_CACHE_TYPE. |
LANGFLOW_REDIS_HOST | String | localhost | See LANGFLOW_CACHE_TYPE. |
LANGFLOW_REDIS_PORT | String | 6379 | See LANGFLOW_CACHE_TYPE. |
LANGFLOW_REDIS_PASSWORD | String | Not set | Password for Redis authentication when using Redis cache type. |
LANGFLOW_REMOVE_API_KEYS | Boolean | false | Remove API keys from the projects saved in the database. See --remove-api-keys option. |
LANGFLOW_SAVE_DB_IN_CONFIG_DIR | Boolean | false | Save the Langflow database in LANGFLOW_CONFIG_DIR instead of in the Langflow package directory. Note, when this variable is set to default (false ), the database isn't shared between different virtual environments and the database is deleted when you uninstall Langflow. |
LANGFLOW_SECRET_KEY | String | Auto-generated | Key used for encrypting sensitive data like API keys. If a key is not provided, a secure key is auto-generated. For production environments with multiple instances, you should explicitly set this to ensure consistent encryption across instances. |
LANGFLOW_STORE | Boolean | true | Enable the Langflow Store. See --store option. |
LANGFLOW_STORE_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES | Boolean | true | Store environment variables as global variables in the database. |
LANGFLOW_CREATE_STARTER_PROJECTS | Boolean | true | If this option is enabled, Langflow creates starter projects during initialization. Set to false to skip all starter project creation and updates. |
LANGFLOW_UPDATE_STARTER_PROJECTS | Boolean | true | If this option is enabled, Langflow updates starter projects with the latest component versions when initializing. |
LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER | String | langflow | Set the name for the superuser. Required if LANGFLOW_AUTO_LOGIN is set to false .See superuser --username option. |
LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD | String | langflow | Set the password for the superuser. Required if LANGFLOW_AUTO_LOGIN is set to false .See superuser --password option. |
LANGFLOW_VARIABLES_TO_GET_FROM_ENVIRONMENT | String | Not set | Comma-separated list of environment variables to get from the environment and store as global variables. |
LANGFLOW_LOAD_FLOWS_PATH | String | Not set | Path to a directory containing flow JSON files to be loaded on startup. Note that this feature only works if LANGFLOW_AUTO_LOGIN is enabled. |
LANGFLOW_WORKER_TIMEOUT | Integer | 300 | Worker timeout in seconds. See --worker-timeout option. |
LANGFLOW_WORKERS | Integer | 1 | Number of worker processes. See --workers option. |
LANGFLOW_SSL_CERT_FILE | String | Not set | Path to the SSL certificate file on the local system. |
LANGFLOW_SSL_KEY_FILE | String | Not set | Path to the SSL key file on the local system. |
SKIP_AUTH_AUTO_LOGIN | Boolean | false | If set to true , disables automatic login and enforces authentication, regardless of the value of LANGFLOW_AUTO_LOGIN . |
Configure .env, override.conf, and tasks.json files
The following examples show how to configure Langflow using environment variables in different scenarios.
- .env File
- Systemd service
- VSCode tasks.json
The .env
file is a text file that contains key-value pairs of environment variables.
Create or edit a file named .env
in your project root directory and add your configuration:
_30DO_NOT_TRACK=true_30LANGFLOW_AUTO_LOGIN=false_30LANGFLOW_AUTO_SAVING=true_30LANGFLOW_AUTO_SAVING_INTERVAL=1000_30LANGFLOW_BACKEND_ONLY=false_30LANGFLOW_BUNDLE_URLS=["https://github.com/user/repo/commit/hash"]_30LANGFLOW_CACHE_TYPE=async_30LANGFLOW_COMPONENTS_PATH=/path/to/components/_30LANGFLOW_CONFIG_DIR=/path/to/config/_30LANGFLOW_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/langflow_30LANGFLOW_DEV=false_30LANGFLOW_FALLBACK_TO_ENV_VAR=false_30LANGFLOW_HEALTH_CHECK_MAX_RETRIES=5_30LANGFLOW_HOST=localhost_30LANGFLOW_LANGCHAIN_CACHE=InMemoryCache_30LANGFLOW_MAX_FILE_SIZE_UPLOAD=10000_30LANGFLOW_MAX_ITEMS_LENGTH=100_30LANGFLOW_MAX_TEXT_LENGTH=1000_30LANGFLOW_LOG_LEVEL=error_30LANGFLOW_OPEN_BROWSER=false_30LANGFLOW_PORT=7860_30LANGFLOW_REMOVE_API_KEYS=false_30LANGFLOW_SAVE_DB_IN_CONFIG_DIR=true_30LANGFLOW_SECRET_KEY=somesecretkey_30LANGFLOW_STORE=true_30LANGFLOW_STORE_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES=true_30LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER=adminuser_30LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD=adminpass_30LANGFLOW_WORKER_TIMEOUT=60000_30LANGFLOW_WORKERS=3
A systemd service configuration file configures Linux system services.
To add environment variables, create or edit a service configuration file and add an override.conf
file. This file allows you to override the default environment variables for the service.
_33[Service]_33Environment="DO_NOT_TRACK=true"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_AUTO_LOGIN=false"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_AUTO_SAVING=true"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_AUTO_SAVING_INTERVAL=1000"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_BACKEND_ONLY=false"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_BUNDLE_URLS=[\"https://github.com/user/repo/commit/hash\"]"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_CACHE_TYPE=async"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_COMPONENTS_PATH=/path/to/components/"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_CONFIG_DIR=/path/to/config"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/langflow"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_DEV=false"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_FALLBACK_TO_ENV_VAR=false"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_HEALTH_CHECK_MAX_RETRIES=5"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_HOST=localhost"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_LANGCHAIN_CACHE=InMemoryCache"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_MAX_FILE_SIZE_UPLOAD=10000"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_MAX_ITEMS_LENGTH=100"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_MAX_TEXT_LENGTH=1000"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_LOG_ENV=container_json"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_LOG_FILE=logs/langflow.log"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_LOG_LEVEL=error"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_OPEN_BROWSER=false"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_PORT=7860"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_REMOVE_API_KEYS=false"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_SAVE_DB_IN_CONFIG_DIR=true"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_SECRET_KEY=somesecretkey"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_STORE=true"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_STORE_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES=true"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER=adminuser"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD=adminpass"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_WORKER_TIMEOUT=60000"_33Environment="LANGFLOW_WORKERS=3"
For more information on systemd, see the Red Hat documentation.
The tasks.json
file located in .vscode/tasks.json
is a configuration file for development environments using Visual Studio Code.
Create or edit the .vscode/tasks.json
file in your project root:
_48{_48 "version": "2.0.0",_48 "options": {_48 "env": {_48 "DO_NOT_TRACK": "true",_48 "LANGFLOW_AUTO_LOGIN": "false",_48 "LANGFLOW_AUTO_SAVING": "true",_48 "LANGFLOW_AUTO_SAVING_INTERVAL": "1000",_48 "LANGFLOW_BACKEND_ONLY": "false",_48 "LANGFLOW_BUNDLE_URLS": "[\"https://github.com/user/repo/commit/hash\"]",_48 "LANGFLOW_CACHE_TYPE": "async",_48 "LANGFLOW_COMPONENTS_PATH": "D:/path/to/components/",_48 "LANGFLOW_CONFIG_DIR": "D:/path/to/config/",_48 "LANGFLOW_DATABASE_URL": "postgresql://postgres:password@localhost:5432/langflow",_48 "LANGFLOW_DEV": "false",_48 "LANGFLOW_FALLBACK_TO_ENV_VAR": "false",_48 "LANGFLOW_HEALTH_CHECK_MAX_RETRIES": "5",_48 "LANGFLOW_HOST": "localhost",_48 "LANGFLOW_LANGCHAIN_CACHE": "InMemoryCache",_48 "LANGFLOW_MAX_FILE_SIZE_UPLOAD": "10000",_48 "LANGFLOW_MAX_ITEMS_LENGTH": "100",_48 "LANGFLOW_MAX_TEXT_LENGTH": "1000",_48 "LANGFLOW_LOG_ENV": "container_csv",_48 "LANGFLOW_LOG_FILE": "langflow.log",_48 "LANGFLOW_LOG_LEVEL": "error",_48 "LANGFLOW_OPEN_BROWSER": "false",_48 "LANGFLOW_PORT": "7860",_48 "LANGFLOW_REMOVE_API_KEYS": "true",_48 "LANGFLOW_SAVE_DB_IN_CONFIG_DIR": "false",_48 "LANGFLOW_SECRET_KEY": "somesecretkey",_48 "LANGFLOW_STORE": "true",_48 "LANGFLOW_STORE_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES": "true",_48 "LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER": "adminuser",_48 "LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD": "adminpass",_48 "LANGFLOW_WORKER_TIMEOUT": "60000",_48 "LANGFLOW_WORKERS": "3"_48 }_48 },_48 "tasks": [_48 {_48 "label": "langflow backend",_48 "type": "shell",_48 "command": ". ./langflownightly/Scripts/activate && langflow run",_48 "isBackground": true,_48 "problemMatcher": []_48 }_48 ]_48}
To run Langflow using the above VSCode tasks.json
file, in the VSCode command palette, select Tasks: Run Task > langflow backend.
Set environment variables for Langflow Desktop
Environment variables set in your terminal aren't automatically available to GUI-based applications like Langflow Desktop when you launch them from the Windows or macOS GUI.
For Windows, this means any GUI-based app launched from the Start menu, desktop shortcuts, or Windows Explorer.
For macOS, this means any GUI-based app launched from Finder, Spotlight, Launchpad, or the Dock.
To set environment variables for Langflow Desktop, you need to use specific commands or files, depending on your OS.
- macOS
- System Properties
- Powershell
Langflow Desktop for macOS cannot automatically use variables set in your terminal, such as those in.zshrc
or .bash_profile
, when launched from the macOS GUI.
To make environment variables available to GUI apps on macOS, you need to use launchctl
with a plist
file:
- Create the
LaunchAgents
directory if it doesn't exist:
_10mkdir -p ~/Library/LaunchAgents
-
In the
LaunchAgents
directory, create a.plist
file calleddev.langflow.env
. -
Add the following content to
dev.langflow.env.plist
, and then add, change, or remove Langflow environment variables as needed for your configuration. This example sets theLANGFLOW_CONFIG_DIR
environment variable for all GUI apps launched from the macOS GUI.
_18<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>_18<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"_18"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">_18<plist version="1.0">_18 <dict>_18 <key>Label</key>_18 <string>dev.langflow.env</string>_18 <key>ProgramArguments</key>_18 <array>_18 <string>launchctl</string>_18 <string>setenv</string>_18 <string>LANGFLOW_CONFIG_DIR</string>_18 <string>/Users/your_user/custom/config</string>_18 </array>_18 <key>RunAtLoad</key>_18 <true/>_18 </dict>_18</plist>
- Load the file with
launchctl
:
_10launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/dev.langflow.env.plist
Langflow Desktop for Windows cannot automatically use variables set in your terminal, such as those defined with set
in cmd
or $env:VAR=...
in PowerShell, when launched from the Windows GUI.
To make environment variables available to the Langflow Desktop app, you must set them at the user or system level using the System Properties interface or the Terminal.
To set environment variables using the System Properties interface, do the following:
- Press Win + R, enter
SystemPropertiesAdvanced
, and then press Enter. - Click Environment Variables.
- Under User variables, click New.
To apply the setting to all users, select System variables.
- Enter the name of the Langflow variable you want to set, such as
LANGFLOW_CONFIG_DIR
, and the desired value, such asC:\Users\your_user\.langflow_config
. - Click OK to save the variable.
- Repeat until you have set all necessary Langflow environment variables.
- Launch or restart Langflow Desktop to apply the environment variables.
To define environment variables for Windows using PowerShell, do the following:
-
Enter the name of the Langflow variable you want to set, such as
LANGFLOW_CONFIG_DIR
, and the desired value, such asC:\Users\your_user\.langflow_config
.To set an environment variable for the current user:
_10[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("LANGFLOW_CONFIG_DIR", "C:\Users\your_user\.langflow_config", "User")To set an environment variable for all users (you must have Administrator priveleges):
_10[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("LANGFLOW_CONFIG_DIR", "C:\Langflow\Config", "Machine") -
Repeat until you have set all necessary Langflow environment variables.
-
Launch or restart Langflow Desktop to apply the environment variables.