OpnForm uses two .env files for configuration: one for the Laravel backend located in the api directory, and one for the Nuxt front-end located in the client directory.
Backend Environment Variables
The following environment variables are used to configure the Laravel application (OpnForm’s API).
Dedicated guides
There are dedicated configuration pages available for more detailed setup instructions on specific topics:
Configuration Environment Variables
| Variable Name | Description |
|---|
H_CAPTCHA_SITE_KEY | Site key for hCaptcha integration. |
H_CAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY | Secret key for hCaptcha integration. |
RE_CAPTCHA_SITE_KEY | Site key for reCAPTCHA integration. |
RE_CAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY | Secret key for reCAPTCHA integration. |
OPEN_AI_API_KEY | API key for accessing OpenAI services. |
UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY | Access key for Unsplash API. |
UNSPLASH_SECRET_KEY | Secret key for Unsplash API. |
FRONT_URL | Public facing URL of the front-end. |
FRONT_API_SECRET | Shared secret with the front-end. |
JWT_TTL | Time to live for JSON Web Tokens (JWT). |
JWT_SECRET | Secret key used to sign JWTs. |
JWT_SKIP_IP_UA_VALIDATION | Set to true to disable JWT IP and User Agent validation (defaults to false). Useful for dynamic IPs. |
OIDC_FORCE_LOGIN | When set to true, password-based authentication is disabled and users must authenticate via OIDC SSO. See Force Login Mode for details. |
CUSTOM_CODE_ENABLE_SELF_HOSTED | Enables execution of user-provided custom code on self-hosted deployments. Defaults to false for safety reasons (XSS etc.). |
OAuth Integration Environment Variables
OAuth integrations enable user authentication and third-party service connections. OpnForm automatically handles OAuth redirect URLs - you don’t need to manually configure redirect URIs in your OAuth applications.
| Variable Name | Description |
|---|
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID | Client ID for Google OAuth authentication and Google Sheets integration. |
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET | Client secret for Google OAuth authentication and Google Sheets integration. |
GOOGLE_FONTS_API_KEY | API key for accessing Google Fonts (optional). |
STRIPE_CLIENT_ID | Client ID for Stripe Connect OAuth integration for payment processing. |
STRIPE_CLIENT_SECRET | Client secret for Stripe Connect OAuth integration. |
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN | Authentication token for your Telegram bot notifications (bot ID is extracted automatically). |
User Options Environment Variables
| Variable Name | Description |
|---|
ADMIN_EMAILS | Comma-separated list of admin email addresses. |
TEMPLATE_EDITOR_EMAILS | Comma-separated list of template editor emails. |
EXTRA_PRO_USERS_EMAILS | Comma-separated list of extra pro user emails. |
MODERATOR_EMAILS | Comma-separated list of moderator email addresses. |
SHOW_OFFICIAL_TEMPLATES | Set to false to hide official templates from OpnForm’s template gallery (defaults to true). |
PHP Configuration Environment Variables
| Variable Name | Description |
|---|
PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT | Maximum amount of memory a script may consume. |
PHP_MAX_EXECUTION_TIME | Maximum time in seconds a script is allowed to run. |
PHP_UPLOAD_MAX_FILESIZE | Maximum size of an uploaded file. |
PHP_POST_MAX_SIZE | Maximum size of POST data that PHP will accept. |
Database Configuration Environment Variables
These variables are essential for connecting the Laravel backend to your database.
| Variable Name | Description |
|---|
DB_CONNECTION | The database driver (e.g., mysql, pgsql). |
DB_HOST | The database server host (e.g., 127.0.0.1). |
DB_PORT | The database server port (e.g., 3306). |
DB_DATABASE | The name of the database. |
DB_USERNAME | The username for connecting to the database. |
DB_PASSWORD | The password for the database user. |
Anonymous Telemetry
OpnForm tracks usage of its products which helps the team to improve and deliver better software. You can opt-out of this telemetry at any time.
What data is collected?
None of your customer data is ever transmitted by OpnForm installation. The telemetry data collected are purely usage statistics of various software features:
- Basic usage metrics (form creation, submissions, workspace creation, user additions)
- Anonymous instance identifier (UUID)
- Distribution of forms by type
- No personally identifiable information (PII)
- No form content, submission data, or user emails
How is the data used?
This data will only be used by OpnForm team for:
- Directly improving the product and identifying the parts of product which are popular
- Identifying areas with limited usage or where our users get stuck
- Prioritizing the next set of features to be developed
When is telemetry active?
- Production environments (
APP_ENV=production)
- Self-hosted deployments (
SELF_HOSTED=true)
- Disabled in local/development environments
How to opt-out:
Set OPNFORM_ANONYMOUS_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=true in your environment variables to disable data collection.
Front-end Environment Variables
| Variable Name | Description |
|---|
NUXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL | Public facing URL of the Nuxt application. |
NUXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE | Base URL for the Laravel API. |
NUXT_PUBLIC_H_CAPTCHA_SITE_KEY | Site key for hCaptcha integration on the front-end. |
NUXT_PUBLIC_RE_CAPTCHA_SITE_KEY | Site key for reCAPTCHA integration on the front-end. |
NUXT_API_SECRET | Shared secret key between Nuxt and Laravel backend. |
NUXT_PUBLIC_ROOT_REDIRECT_URL | Permanently redirects users visiting the root path (/), /integrations, or any non-existent (404) page to the specified URL. This effectively “hides” OpnForm’s public pages while keeping forms and admin functionality accessible. See Subdomain Redirect Configuration for detailed setup and examples. |
The easiest way to get started with OpnForm is through our official managed service in the Cloud. It takes just 1 minute to start building forms with the free plan, with high availability, backups, security, and maintenance all managed for you. Docker Environment Variables
When running OpnForm with Docker, there are some important considerations for handling environment variables:
Updating Environment Variables
When changing environment variables in your .env files, you need to recreate the containers for the changes to take effect. Simply restarting the containers is not sufficient as Docker only loads environment variables when containers are created.
To apply new environment variable changes:
# For a specific service (e.g., ui)
docker compose down ui
docker compose up -d ui
# For all services
docker compose down
docker compose up -d
A simple docker compose restart will not reload environment variables from
your .env files. You must use down and up commands to recreate the
containers.
