verdaccio/website/docs/config.md

---
id: configuration
title: 'Configuration File'
---

This file is the cornerstone of Verdaccio where you can modify the default behaviour, enable plugins and extend features.

A default configuration file `config.yaml` is created the very first time you run `verdaccio`.

## Default Configuration {#default-configuration}

The default configuration has support for **scoped** packages and allows any user to **access** all packages, but only authenticated users to **publish**.

```yaml
storage: ./storage
auth:
  htpasswd:
    file: ./htpasswd
uplinks:
  npmjs:
    url: https://registry.npmjs.org/
packages:
  '@*/*':
    access: $all
    publish: $authenticated
    proxy: npmjs
  '**':
    proxy: npmjs
log: { type: stdout, format: pretty, level: http }
```

## Sections {#sections}

The following sections explain what each property means and their different options.

### Storage {#storage}

Is the location of the default storage. **Verdaccio is by default based on local file system**.

```yaml
storage: ./storage
```

> Released at v5.6.0: The environment variable `VERDACCIO_STORAGE_PATH` could be used to replace the location of the storage (only for the default storage, does not apply to plugins unless it is implemented independently).

### The `.verdaccio-db` database {#.verdaccio-db}

The tiny database is used to store private packages published by the user. The database is based on a JSON file that contains
the list of private packages published and the secret token used for the token signature.
It is created automatically when starting the application for the first time.

The location of the database is based on the `config.yaml` folder location, for instance:

If the `config.yaml` is located in `/some_local_path/config.yaml`, the database will be created in `/some_local_path/storage/.verdaccio-db`.

_The `.verdaccio-db` file database is only available if user does not use a custom storage_, by default verdaccio uses a tiny database to store private packages the `storage` property is defined in the `config.yaml` file.
The location might change based on your operating system. [Read the CLI section](cli.md) for more details about the location of files.

The structure of the database is based in JSON file, for instance:

```json
{
  "list": ["package1", "@scope/pkg2"],
  "secret": "secret_token_32_characters_long"
}
```

- `list`: Is an array with the list of the private packages published, any item on this list is considered being published by the user.
- `secret`: The secret field is used for the token signature and verification, either for _JWT_ or legacy token signature.

### Plugins {#plugins}

Is the location of the plugin directory. Useful for Docker/Kubernetes-based deployments.

```yaml
plugins: ./plugins
```

### Authentication {#authentication}

The authentication setup is done here. The default auth is based on `htpasswd` and is built in. You can modify this behaviour via [plugins](plugins.md). For more information about this section read the [auth page](auth.md).

```yaml
auth:
  htpasswd:
    file: ./htpasswd
    max_users: 1000
```

### Token signature {#token}

The default token signature is based on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with the algorithm `aes-256-ctr`, known as _legacy_. It's important to note that legacy tokens are not designed to expire. If expiration functionality is needed, it is recommended to use _JSON Web Tokens (JWT)_ instead.

### Security {#security}

The security block permits customization of the token signature with two options. The configuration is divided into
two sections, `api` and `web`. When using JWT on `api`, it must be defined; otherwise, the legacy token signature (`aes-256-ctr`) will be utilized.

#### How to the token is generated?

The token signature requires a **secret token** generated by custom plugin that creates the `.verdaccio-db` database or in case a custom storage is used,
the secret token is fetched from the plugin implementation itself. In any case the _secret token_ is required to start the application.

#### Legacy Token Signature

The `legacy` property is used to enable the legacy token signature. **By default is enabled**. The legacy feature only applies to the API, the web UI uses JWT by default.

```yaml
security:
  api:
    legacy: true # by default is true even if this section is not defined
```

#### JWT Token Signature

To enable a new [JWT (JSON Web Tokens)](https://jwt.io/) signature, the `jwt` block needs to be added to the `api` section; `jwt` is utilized by default in `web`.

By using the JWT signature is also possible to customize the [signature](https://github.com/auth0/node-jsonwebtoken#jwtsignpayload-secretorprivatekey-options-callback) and the token [verification](https://github.com/auth0/node-jsonwebtoken#jwtverifytoken-secretorpublickey-options-callback) with your own properties.

```yaml
security:
  api:
    legacy: true
    migrateToSecureLegacySignature: true # will generate a new secret token if the length is 64 characters
    jwt:
      sign:
        expiresIn: 29d
      verify:
        someProp: [value]
   web:
     sign:
       expiresIn: 1h # 1 hour by default
     verify:
     	someProp: [value]
```

### Server {#server}

A set of properties to modify the behavior of the server application, specifically the API (Express.js).

> You can specify HTTP/1.1 server keep alive timeout in seconds for incomming connections.
> A value of 0 makes the http server behave similarly to Node.js versions prior to 8.0.0, which did not have a keep-alive timeout.
> WORKAROUND: Through given configuration you can workaround following issue https://github.com/verdaccio/verdaccio/issues/301. Set to 0 in case 60 is not enough.

```yaml
server:
  keepAliveTimeout: 60
```

### Web UI {#web-ui}

This property allow you to modify the look and feel of the web UI. For more information about this section read the [web UI page](web.md).

```yaml
web:
  enable: true
  title: Verdaccio
  logo: logo.png
  scope:
```

### Uplinks {#uplinks}

Uplinks add the ability to fetch packages from remote registries when those packages are not available locally. For more information about this section read the [uplinks page](uplinks.md).

```yaml
uplinks:
  npmjs:
    url: https://registry.npmjs.org/
```

### Packages {#packages}

This section allows you to control how packages are accessed. For more information about this section read the [packages page](packages.md).

```yaml
packages:
  '@*/*':
    access: $all
    publish: $authenticated
    proxy: npmjs
```

## Advanced Settings {#advanced-settings}

### Offline Publish {#offline-publish}

By default `verdaccio` does not allow you to publish packages when the client is offline. This can be overridden by setting this value to _true_.

```yaml
publish:
  allow_offline: false
```

### Checking Package Ownership {#chec-owner}

By default, [package access](packages.md) defines who is allowed to publish and unpublish packages. By setting `check_owner` to _true_, only package owners are allowed to make changes to a package. The first owner of a package is the user who published the first version. Further owners can be added or removed using [`npm owner`](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v10/commands/npm-owner). You can find the list of current owners in the package manifest under `maintainers`.

```yaml
publish:
  check_owner: false
```

<small>Since: `verdaccio@2.3.6` due [#223](https://github.com/verdaccio/verdaccio/pull/223)</small>

### URL Prefix {#url-prefix}

The prefix is intended to be used when the server runs behinds the proxy and won't work properly if is used without a reverse proxy, check the **reverse proxy setup** page for more details.

The internal logic builds correctly the public url, validates the `host` header and bad shaped `url_prefix`.

eg: `url_prefix: /verdaccio`, `url_prefix: verdaccio/`, `url_prefix: verdaccio` would be `/verdaccio/`

```yaml
url_prefix: /verdaccio/
```

The new `VERDACCIO_PUBLIC_URL` is intended to be used behind proxies, this variable will be used for:

- Used as base path to serve UI resources as (js, favicon, etc)
- Used on return metadata `dist` base path
- Ignores `host` and `X-Forwarded-Proto` headers
- If `url_prefix` is defined would be appened to the env variable.

```
VERDACCIO_PUBLIC_URL='https://somedomain.org';
url_prefix: '/my_prefix'

// url -> https://somedomain.org/my_prefix/

VERDACCIO_PUBLIC_URL='https://somedomain.org';
url_prefix: '/'

// url -> https://somedomain.org/

VERDACCIO_PUBLIC_URL='https://somedomain.org/first_prefix';
url_prefix: '/second_prefix'

// url -> https://somedomain.org/second_prefix/'
```

### User Agent {#user-agent}

<small>Since: `verdaccio@5.4.0`</small>

The user agent is disabled by default, in exchange the user agent client (package manager, browser, etc ...) is being bypassed to the remote. To enable the previous behaviour use boolean values.

```yaml
user_agent: true
user_agent: false
user_agent: 'custom user agent'
```

### User Rate Limit {#user-rate-limit}

<small>Since: [verdaccio@5.4.0](https://github.com/verdaccio/verdaccio/releases/tag/v5.4.0)</small>

Add default rate limit to user endpoints, `npm token`, `npm profile`, `npm login/adduser` and login website to 100 request peer 15 min, customizable via:

```
userRateLimit:
  windowMs: 50000
  max: 1000
```

Additonal configuration (only feature flags) is also possible via the [middleware docs](https://github.com/nfriedly/express-rate-limit/#configuration-options).

### Max Body Size {#max-body-size}

By default the maximum body size for a JSON document is `10mb`, if you run into errors that state `"request entity too large"` you may increase this value.

```yaml
max_body_size: 10mb
```

### Listen Port {#listen-port}

`verdaccio` runs by default on the port `4873`. Changing the port can be done via [CLI](cli.md) or in the configuration file. The following options are valid:

```yaml
listen:
# - localhost:4873            # default value
# - http://localhost:4873     # same thing
# - 0.0.0.0:4873              # listen on all addresses (INADDR_ANY)
# - https://example.org:4873  # if you want to use https
# - "[::1]:4873"                # ipv6
# - unix:/tmp/verdaccio.sock    # unix socket
```

### HTTPS {#https}

To enable `https` in `verdaccio` it's enough to set the `listen` flag with the protocol _https://_. For more information about this section read the [SSL page](ssl.md).

```yaml
https:
  key: ./path/verdaccio-key.pem
  cert: ./path/verdaccio-cert.pem
  ca: ./path/verdaccio-csr.pem
```

### Proxy {#proxy}

Proxies are special-purpose HTTP servers designed to transfer data from remote servers to local clients.

#### http_proxy and https_proxy {#http_proxy-and-https_proxy}

If you have a proxy in your network you can set a `X-Forwarded-For` header using the following properties:

```yaml
http_proxy: http://something.local/
https_proxy: https://something.local/
```

#### no_proxy {#no_proxy}

This variable should contain a comma-separated list of domain extensions that the proxy should not be used for.

```yaml
no_proxy: localhost,127.0.0.1
```

### Notifications {#notifications}

Enabling notifications to third-party tools is fairly easy via webhooks. For more information about this section read the [notifications page](notifications.md).

```yaml
notify:
  method: POST
  headers: [{ 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }]
  endpoint: https://usagge.hipchat.com/v2/room/3729485/notification?auth_token=mySecretToken
  content: '{"color":"green","message":"New package published: * {{ name }}*","notify":true,"message_format":"text"}'
```

> For more detailed configuration settings, please [check the source code](https://github.com/verdaccio/verdaccio/tree/master/packages/config/src/conf).

### Logger {#logger}

Two logger types are supported, you may chose only one of them:

#### console output (the default)

```
log: { type: stdout, format: pretty, level: http }
```

#### file output

```
log: { type: file, path: verdaccio.log, level: info }
```

For full information - see here: [Features/logger](logger.md)

### Audit {#audit}

<small>Since: `verdaccio@3.0.0`</small>

`npm audit` is a new command released with [npm 6.x](https://github.com/npm/npm/releases/tag/v6.1.0). Verdaccio includes
a built-in middleware plugin to handle this command.

> If you have a new installation it comes by default, otherwise you need to add the following props to your config file

```yaml
middlewares:
  audit:
    enabled: true
```

### Experiments {#experiments}

This release includes a new property named `experiments` that can be placed in the `config.yaml` and is completely optional.

We want to be able to ship new things without affecting production environments. This flag allows us to add new features and get feedback from the community who decides to use them.

The features under this flag might not be stable or might be removed in future releases.

Here is one example:

```yaml
experiments:
  changePassword: false
```

> To disable the experiments warning in the console, you must comment out the whole `experiments` section.

### Config Builder API {#builder}

After version `v5.23.1` the new advanced configuration builder API is available. The API is a flexible way to generate programmatically configuration outputs either in JSON or YAML using the builder pattern, for example:

```typescript
import { ConfigBuilder } from 'verdaccio';

const config = ConfigBuilder.build();
config
  .addUplink('upstream', { url: 'https://registry.upstream.local' })
  .addUplink('upstream2', { url: 'https://registry.upstream2.local' })
  .addPackageAccess('upstream/*', {
    access: 'public',
    publish: 'foo, bar',
    unpublish: 'foo, bar',
    proxy: 'some',
  })
  .addLogger({ level: 'info', type: 'stdout', format: 'json' })
  .addStorage('/tmp/verdaccio')
  .addSecurity({ api: { legacy: true } });

// generate JSON object as output
config.getConfig();

// generate output as yaml
config.getAsYaml();
```