documentation/panel/configuration.md

Environment Configuration

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Overview

Pterodactyls environment settings are configured and stored in the .env file located in your installations root directory ex. /var/www/pterodactyl. Some of the settings are also chached in the database and thoose will by default override the setting in .env. To change this behaviour you can edit .env and change the setting APP_ENVIRONMENT_ONLY=false to APP_ENVIRONMENT_ONLY=true. This change takes imediate effect and should be reflected on a reload of the Panel in your browser. Once you have resolved whatever issues you might be having you should change it back to APP_ENVIRONMENT_ONLY=false so that the Panel can manage it's settings in the database.

Manually editing the database

If you need to manually edit a setting, you can do so by changing the value in the settings table in the Pterodactyl database. Some values are encrypted however, so you cannot just edit those, you'll either need to provide a new encrypted value or follow the instructions above for reading from the environment until you fix it manually in the Panel.

Configuration examples

APP_REPORT_ALL_EXCEPTIONS - Report All Exceptions

By default Pterodactyl only logs and reports exceptions that are, well, exceptional by nature. There are some exceptions that we expect to occur such as authentication failures or validation issues. However, in rare instances when developing, or even on production servers, you might need to have all exceptions logged to detect inconsistent behavior.

To do this, simply set APP_REPORT_ALL_EXCEPTIONS=true in your .env file. You'll want to turn this off once you've completed whatever it is you're needing the exceptions for, otherwise your logs will become very large, very quickly.

CLIENT_DATABASES_ENABLED - Client Databases

By default Pterodactyl ships with the ability for clients to have their own per-server databases. If you wish to disable this ability, set PTERODACTYL_CLIENT_DATABASES_ENABLED to be false. Pterodactyl also attempts to create databases on a database host assigned to the current server's node but will use any host if one can't be found. If you would like to force a database to be created only on a host belonging to that server's node, set PTERODACTYL_CLIENT_DATABASES_ALLOW_RANDOM to be false.

PTERODACTYL_CLIENT_DATABASES_ENABLED=true
PTERODACTYL_CLIENT_DATABASES_ALLOW_RANDOM=true

TRUSTED_PROXIES - Reverse Proxy Setup

If you are planning on running Pterodactyl behind a reverse proxy, either using NGINX or because you are using Cloudflare's Flexible SSL, you will need to make a quick modification to the Panel to ensure things continue to work as expected. By default when you are using these reverse proxies your Panel will not understand how to properly handle requests and you'll most likely be unable to login, or will see security warnings in your browser console as it attempts to load insecure assets. This is because the internal logic the Panel is using to determine how links should be generated thinks it is running over HTTP, and not over HTTPS.

You will need to edit the .env file in the Panel's root directory to contain TRUSTED_PROXIES=* at minimum. We highly suggest providing a specific IP address (or comma seperated list of IPs) rather than allowing *. For example, if your proxy is running on the same machine as the server, chances are that something like TRUSTED_PROXIES=127.0.0.1 will work for you.

Cloudflare Specific Configuration

If you're using Cloudflares Flexible SSL you should set TRUSTED_PROXIES to contain their IP addresses. Below is an example of how to set this.

TRUSTED_PROXIES=103.21.244.0/22,103.22.200.0/22,103.31.4.0/22,104.16.0.0/12,108.162.192.0/18,131.0.72.0/22,141.101.64.0/18,162.158.0.0/15,172.64.0.0/13,173.245.48.0/20,188.114.96.0/20,190.93.240.0/20,197.234.240.0/22,198.41.128.0/17

FILES_MAX_EDIT_SIZE - Increasing Editable File Size

By default the Panel attempts to set a reasonable limit for editing files through the web based file manager. However, some users find it too restrictive and wish to increase the size. This is controlled by a configuration value that can also be set using the .env file. The default value is 50,000 bytes but this can be increased as you see fit.

PTERODACTYL_FILES_MAX_EDIT_SIZE=50000

RECAPTCHA_ENABLED - Configuring ReCaptcha

If you have ReCaptcha enabled in Panel and you get locked out because there is some issue with the configuration, setting RECAPTCHA_ENABLED=false in the .env file will disable the ReCaptcha mechanism.

Custom configuration

Pterodactyl comes preconfigured to use ReCaptcha but you should configure it to use keys specific for your site.

1. Goto Googles ReCaptcha admin console, you need to login with a Google Account.
2. Under "Register new site" fill in a name for your keys, this can be anything but choose something so you remeber what they are used for.
3. Choose ReCaptcha v2 and check the option "Invisible"
4. Fill in the list of domains for which the keys should be valid. It's important that this is the correct domain where your Panel can be reached. So if you installed Pterodactyl to panel.example.com that is what should go in the list, as well as any aliases that point to the same site, maybe pterodactyl.example.com depending on how you configured your domains and webserver. 4.1 If you don't care for the extra security of validating that the ReCaptcha verifications comes from your site, then after you have done step 6 you can locate "Advanced Settings" in the displayed page and uncheck the box "Verify the origin of reCaptcha solution" and Save the changes. This can be useful if there is some problem with the domain verification.
5. Check the box "Accept the reCAPTCHA Terms of Service.", after having actually read and accepted the indicated legal texts.
6. Press the "Register" button
7. On the new page displayed locate two textboxes labeled "Site key" and "Secret key" respectively. You now have the option to, 7.1 Enter the keys into the env file as RECAPTCHA_WEBSITE_KEY=<the text in the box Site key> and RECAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY=<the text in the box Site key> 7.2 or goto "Admin Control Panel" in your Panel, it' the gears up in the right corner, click on "Settings" and the "Advanced" tab. Enter the keys in the boxes "Site key" and "Secret key" respectively.