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    Runtime Environment & Options

    Signal K Server provides the following command line options and environment variables to configure your implementation.

    Option Description
    -s Override path to the settings file. (same as SIGNALK_NODE_SETTINGS environment variable)
    -c Override the path to find server configuration. (same as SIGNALK_NODE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable)
    --sample-nmea0183-data Starts signalk-server with sample NMEA0183 data.
    --sample-n2k-data Starts signalk-server with sample NMEA2000 data.
    --override-timestamps Override timestamps in the sample NMEA2000 data with current date and time. Doesn't apply nor makes a difference to NMEA0183 sample data.
    --securityenabled Enable security. For a fresh install this makes the Admin UI force the user to create an admin account before he/she can continue further into the UI. See Security for further details.
    Variable Description
    PORT Override the port for http/ws service (default is 3000).
    SSLPORT Override the port for https/wss service. If defined forces ssl as default protocol (default port is 3443).
    PROTOCOL Override http/https where the server is accessed via https but the server sees http (e.g. when Heroku handles https termination)
    EXTERNALPORT The port used in /signalk response and Bonjour advertisement. Has precedence over configuration file.
    EXTERNALHOST The host used in /signalk response and Bonjour advertisement. Has precedence over configuration file.
    EXTERNALSSL Indicates that TLS is terminated by an external reverse proxy. Affects mDNS advertisement and discovery protocol selection. Set to 1 or true to enable. Has precedence over proxy_ssl in the settings file.
    FILEUPLOADSIZELIMIT Override the file upload size limit (default is '10mb').
    NMEA0183PORT Override the port for the NMEA 0183 over tcp service (default is 10110).
    TCPSTREAMPORT Override the port for the Signal K Streaming (deltas) over TCP.
    TCPSTREAMADDRESS Override the address the Signal K Stream (deltas) over TCP is listening on.
    DISABLEPLUGINS Disable all plugins so that they can not be enabled (default is false).
    DEFAULTENABLEDPLUGINS A comma-separated list of plugin ids that are overridden to be enabled by default if no settings exist. Lower preference than DISABLEPLUGINS.
    PLUGINS_WITH_UPDATE_DISABLED A comma-separated list of plugin that will not be updated.
    SECURITYSTRATEGY Override the security strategy module name.
    DISABLE_SECURITY_ACTIVATION Prevent security from being activated via the Admin UI or API when the server is running without security. Set to 1 or true to enable. Useful for servers that are intentionally running without authentication and should not allow remote security activation (default is false).
    WSCOMPRESSION Compress websocket messages (default is false).
    MAXSENDBUFFERSIZE The maximum number of bytes allowed in the server's send buffer of a client connection (WebSocket, Signal K TCP, and NMEA TCP). The connection will be terminated if this is exceeded for MAXSENDBUFFERCHECKTIME milliseconds. Guards against slow or dysfunctional clients that can not cope with the message volume (default is 2097152 / 2MB).
    MAXSENDBUFFERCHECKTIME How long in milliseconds to wait before terminating a client connection (WebSocket, Signal K TCP, and NMEA TCP) whose send buffer exceeds MAXSENDBUFFERSIZE (default is 30000 / 30s).
    SIGNALK_SERVER_IS_UPDATABLE Allows the server to be updated through the GUI even if it is not installed in the standard paths (default is false). If set to true, the server must have been installed with npm install -g signalk-server.
    SIGNALK_DISABLE_SERVER_UPDATES Disables server updates in the GUI (default is false).
    DEBUG A comma-separated list of tags for debugging the specified module (e.g signalk-server*,signalk-provider-tcp). Can now be defined directly in the graphical interface. More help on how to use the debug here: https://www.npmjs.com/package/debug#wildcards
    IS_IN_DOCKER Used to tell the server it is in Docker and not normally updateable (default is false).
    NPMREGISTRYTIMEOUT How long to wait for the registry when retrieving the App Store listing (default is 20s).
    SECRETKEY A secret string used to generate an authentication token (the internal default autogenerated is a string of 512 hex chars like 'ef8307a4c7a4bd7...309d947bca3')
    ALLOW_DEVICE_ACCESS_REQUESTS Used when a device needs to gain access to a secured Signal K server (default is true) (https://signalk.org/specification/1.4.0/doc/access_requests.html).
    ALLOW_NEW_USER_REGISTRATION (default is true).
    ADMINUSER Force an account for admin user (username:password format).
    PRESERIALCOMMAND Command to run before opening a serial port.
    SIGNALK_NODE_SETTINGS Override the path to the settings file.
    SIGNALK_NODE_CONFIG_DIR Override the path to find server configuration. Includes all run-time changing content: configuration files, plugins, plugin configuration files, webapps, and so forth.
    SKIP_NODE_VERSION_CHECK Skip the Node.js minimum version check. This is not recommended, but allows you to attempt to run the server on unsupported versions of Node. (Added in v2.14.1)
    HTTP_RATE_LIMITS Override HTTP rate limits. Provide overrides like api=1000,loginStatus=1000,login=1000 (optionally windowMs=600000). Useful for tests and unusual deployments.
    TRUST_PROXY Override the trustProxy setting from settings.json. Accepts true, false, an IP address/CIDR string, or an integer hop count. Useful for container and cloud deployments where the setting must be injected via the environment rather than baked into the config file. When set, takes precedence over the value in settings.json.
    BACKPRESSURE_ENTER Backpressure threshold in bytes to enter backpressure mode (default is 524288 / 512KB). Applies to WebSocket, Signal K TCP, NMEA TCP, and TCP client connections. When a connection's send buffer exceeds this, the server switches to accumulating only latest values per path (for delta connections), dropping messages (for NMEA connections), or skipping outbound writes (for TCP client connections).
    BACKPRESSURE_EXIT Backpressure threshold in bytes to exit backpressure mode (default is 1024 / 1KB). When the buffer drains below this, accumulated values are flushed. Applies to WebSocket and Signal K TCP connections. Primarily for testing.
    EVENT_EMITTER_MAX_LISTENERS Maximum number of delta event listeners (default is 50). Increase if you see MaxListenersExceededWarning when connecting many WebSocket clients.
    MAX_WS_CONNECTIONS_PER_IP Maximum number of concurrent WebSocket connections allowed from a single IP address (default is 30). Connections beyond the limit are rejected during the HTTP upgrade with HTTP 429 Too Many Requests.
    SIGNALK_ADMIN_UI Select the Admin UI version. Set to react19 to use the React 19 Admin UI. If not set, the legacy Admin UI is used.

    The following options can be set in settings.json or via the server settings API.

    Option Description
    wsPingInterval Interval in milliseconds for native WebSocket ping/pong heartbeat (default is 30000). The server sends a WebSocket ping frame to each connected client at this interval. Clients that do not respond with a pong are considered dead and disconnected. This prevents stale connections from accumulating when clients drop without a close frame (e.g. WiFi disconnects). Set to false to disable.