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Environment variables

This page lists env vars used by the manager (host side) and guest agent (inside the VM).

Manager (services/manager)​

Required​

  • API_KEY: required; expected in X-API-Key for all /v1/* endpoints (unless using an admin session cookie).
  • ADMIN_EMAIL: required; admin console login email.
  • ADMIN_PASSWORD: required; admin console login password.

Common​

  • PORT (default 3000): HTTP port for the manager.
  • STORAGE_ROOT (default /var/lib/run-dat-sheesh): per-VM storage, logs, snapshots.
  • IMAGES_DIR (default ${STORAGE_ROOT}/images): where uploaded guest images (kernel/rootfs) are stored.
  • AGENT_VSOCK_PORT (default 8080): vsock port used to reach the guest agent.

Guest image selection​

  • KERNEL_PATH (optional): “built-in” kernel image path inside the container.
  • BASE_ROOTFS_PATH (optional): “built-in” base rootfs path inside the container.
  • DNS_SERVER_IP (optional): override the DNS resolver (nameserver) configured inside microVMs.
    • Default: unset (guest uses the VM gateway IP as DNS).
    • Set this if your gateway does not provide DNS, e.g. 1.1.1.1 (and ensure your egress allowlist permits it).

Database​

  • DB_DIALECT (default sqlite): sqlite or postgres.
  • SQLITE_PATH (default ./db/manager.db): sqlite file path (set to /var/lib/run-dat-sheesh/manager.db in containers).
  • DATABASE_URL: required if DB_DIALECT=postgres.

Firecracker / jailer​

  • FIRECRACKER_BIN (default /usr/local/bin/firecracker)
  • JAILER_BIN (default /usr/local/bin/jailer)
  • JAILER_CHROOT_BASE_DIR (default ${STORAGE_ROOT}/jailer) must be an absolute path
  • JAILER_UID (default 1234)
  • JAILER_GID (default 1234)

Rootfs provisioning behavior​

  • ROOTFS_CLONE_MODE (default auto): auto, reflink, or copy.

Snapshots​

  • ENABLE_SNAPSHOTS (default false)
  • SNAPSHOT_TEMPLATE_CPU (default 1)
  • SNAPSHOT_TEMPLATE_MEM_MB (default 256)

Limits (resource safety)​

  • MAX_VMS (default 20)
  • MAX_CPU (default 4)
  • MAX_MEM_MB (default 2048)
  • MAX_ALLOW_IPS (default 64)
  • MAX_EXEC_TIMEOUT_MS (default 120000)
  • MAX_RUNTS_TIMEOUT_MS (default 120000)

Vsock transport tuning​

  • VSOCK_RETRY_ATTEMPTS (default 30)
  • VSOCK_RETRY_DELAY_MS (default 100)
  • VSOCK_TIMEOUT_MS (default 15000)
  • VSOCK_HEALTH_TIMEOUT_MS (default 15000)
  • VSOCK_BINARY_TIMEOUT_MS (default 30000)
  • VSOCK_MAX_JSON_RESPONSE_BYTES (default 2000000)
  • VSOCK_MAX_BINARY_RESPONSE_BYTES (default 50000000)

Guest agent (services/guest-agent)​

The guest init sets PORT=8080 when starting the agent.

  • PORT (default 8080): HTTP port the guest agent listens on inside the VM.