Configuration

JournalPHP uses two levels of configuration:

1. .env — environment variables (DB connections, API keys, service addresses)
2. Admin Panel — platform settings stored in the config database table

The .env File

The template is .env.example. In dev environments it is copied automatically on first start.

Application

Variable	Purpose
APP_KEY	Encryption key
APP_ENV	local or production
APP_DEBUG	Debug mode
APP_URL	Application base URL
FORCE_HTTPS	Force HTTPS
VITE_APP_NAME	Application name for frontend build

Database

Variable	Purpose
DB_CONNECTION	Driver (mysql)
DB_HOST	Host
DB_PORT	Port
DB_DATABASE	Database name
DB_USERNAME	User
DB_PASSWORD	Password

Redis

Variable	Purpose
REDIS_HOST	Host
REDIS_PORT	Port
REDIS_PASSWORD	Password
CACHE_DRIVER	Cache driver
QUEUE_CONNECTION	Queue driver
SESSION_DRIVER	Session driver

WebSocket (Reverb)

Variable	Purpose
BROADCAST_DRIVER	reverb
REVERB_APP_ID	App ID
REVERB_APP_KEY	Key
REVERB_APP_SECRET	Secret
REVERB_HOST	Host
REVERB_PORT	Port
REVERB_SCHEME	http or https
VITE_REVERB_APP_KEY	Key for frontend build
VITE_REVERB_HOST	Host for frontend build
VITE_REVERB_PORT	Port for frontend build
VITE_REVERB_SCHEME	Scheme for frontend build

Media

Variable	Purpose
CLOUDINARY_URL	Cloudinary URL (optional; primary config is in the admin panel)

Upload limits, allowed file types, storage driver, and credentials are configured in Admin Panel → Media (/admin-panel/settings/media). Supported drivers: Local, Cloudinary, Yandex Cloud Object Storage.

Search

Variable	Purpose
SCOUT_DRIVER	Search driver (default: null — search disabled)

With null, Scout does not index models. To enable search, set database, algolia, meilisearch, or another supported driver.

GIF (Tenor)

These keys are not in .env.example but are used during production builds (docker-compose.prod.yml, Dockerfile.prod):

Variable	Purpose
VITE_TENOR_API_KEY	Tenor API key
VITE_TENOR_CLIENT_KEY	Tenor client key

Without these keys, GIF search in the editor is disabled.

Frontend

Variable	Purpose
VITE_APP_LOCALE	Language for initial seed and production build (ru or en)
VITE_DEV_SERVER_URL	Vite dev server URL (dev only)

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Admin Panel Settings

The following parameters are stored in the database and are not duplicated in .env:

Section	Path	What it configures
General	/admin-panel/settings/general	Site name, logo, language
Site Appearance	/admin-panel/settings/appearance	Public theme CSS variables
SEO	/admin-panel/settings/seo	Meta tags, Open Graph
Cookie Banner	/admin-panel/settings/cookie-consent	Cookie consent banner
Mail	/admin-panel/settings/mail	SMTP (applied via MailServiceProvider)
Authentication	/admin-panel/settings/auth	OAuth, one-tap login, verification
Content	/admin-panel/settings/content	Publishing restrictions
Media	/admin-panel/settings/media	Storage, limits, MIME types
Sidebar	/admin-panel/settings/sidebar	Sidebar widgets
Sidebar Footer	/admin-panel/settings/footer	Links and social icons
Topics in Sidebar	/admin-panel/settings/topic-display	Featured topics
Additional Scripts	/admin-panel/settings/additional-scripts	Custom HTML/JS/CSS
Rating	/admin-panel/settings/rating	Rating system
AI	/admin-panel/ai-settings	OpenAI API keys and model
Moderation	/admin-panel/moderation-settings	AI text moderation
Image Moderation	/admin-panel/image-moderation-settings	Yandex Vision
Bot	/admin-panel/chat-gpt-bot	AI comment bot
Payment Provider	/admin-panel/subscription-payment-provider	YooKassa / T-Bank
Access (Horizon / Log Viewer)	/admin-panel/system/access	horizonAdmins, logViewerAdmins

Settings take effect without restarting the container. On first run, ConfigSeeder populates initial values.

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Applying Changes

Change	Restart
.env	docker compose restart app
Admin Panel	not needed
VITE_* (production)	rebuild frontend image