Environment file (.env)

Every customer VM has a single .env file at the root of its project directory. This file is the source of truth for that VM's configuration. The platform reads it before every operation to know the current state of the environment.

The file lives at:

/var/www/<subdomain>.<domain>/.env

For example: /var/www/example.storeframe.store/.env

The file also holds credentials generated at provisioning. Treat it as secret: don't share it or paste it into a support ticket.

Format

.env is one flat file with one key per line, written as KEY='value'. Always wrap the value in single quotes.

Keys follow the pattern SECTION__OPTION in upper case. The double underscore separates the group from the setting, so NGINX__WAF_ENABLED is the WAF_ENABLED setting of the nginx group.

Keys

General

Platform identity and infrastructure choices for this environment.

GENERAL__PLATFORM_NAME='magento'
GENERAL__PLATFORM_DATABASE='mariadb'
GENERAL__PLATFORM_SEARCHENGINE='opensearch'

GENERAL__PLATFORM_NAME is always magento for current customer VMs. GENERAL__PLATFORM_SEARCHENGINE can be opensearch or elasticsearch, depending on which search container was provisioned.

Containers

Docker image versions for every service in the stack. These are pinned at provisioning time based on the Magento release profile and only change when you explicitly upgrade a service.

CONTAINERS__PHP_VERSION='8.4-frankenphp'
CONTAINERS__MARIADB_VERSION='10.4'
CONTAINERS__REDIS_VERSION='7.0'
CONTAINERS__OPENSEARCH_VERSION='2'
CONTAINERS__VARNISH_VERSION='7.1'
CONTAINERS__RABBITMQ_VERSION='3.9'
CONTAINERS__NGINX_VERSION='mainline'
CONTAINERS__NODEJS_VERSION='19'
CONTAINERS__COMPOSER_VERSION='2'

MariaDB

Database settings used by the MariaDB container and by Magento to connect to the database.

MARIADB__MARIADB_HOST='mariadb'
MARIADB__MARIADB_PORT='3306'
MARIADB__MARIADB_NAME='magento'
MARIADB__INNODB_BUFFER_POOL_SIZE='12G'

MARIADB__INNODB_BUFFER_POOL_SIZE is a tunable that controls MariaDB memory allocation. Increasing it can improve query performance on stores with large catalogs, but the value must fit within the VM's available RAM.

Redis

REDIS__REDIS_HOST='redis'
REDIS__REDIS_PORT='6379'
REDIS__REDIS_REPLICAS='1'

REDIS__REDIS_REPLICAS controls how many Redis containers run. The default is 1. With 3, the cache, full-page cache and sessions each get their own container. Changing it re-installs Redis, which clears sessions and logs shoppers out, so do it outside busy hours.

PHP

PHP configuration. The runtime (FrankenPHP or PHP-FPM) is set by the suffix of CONTAINERS__PHP_VERSION.

PHP__PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT='2048'
PHP__PHP_OPCACHE_MEMORY='2048'

PHP__PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT and PHP__PHP_OPCACHE_MEMORY are in megabytes, without a unit suffix.

Nginx

Edge security and proxy configuration.

NGINX__BLOCKLIST_ENABLED='yes'
NGINX__RATELIMIT_ENABLED='yes'
NGINX__NGINX_WHITELIST='203.0.113.10'
NGINX__NGINX_BLACKLIST=''
NGINX__POW_ENABLED='yes'
NGINX__POW_DIFFICULTY='1'
NGINX__POW_SESSION_EXPIRE='14400'
NGINX__RATELIMIT_RPS='150'
NGINX__RATELIMIT_BURST='900'
NGINX__WAF_ENABLED='yes'
NGINX__WAF_MODE='ban'
NGINX__CONNLIMIT_MAX='300'

NGINX__NGINX_WHITELIST accepts comma-separated IPs or CIDR ranges that bypass rate limiting and proof-of-work challenges. Use this for monitoring services or trusted partner IPs.

Leave any other generated NGINX__ values as they are. The platform manages them.

OpenSearch, Varnish, RabbitMQ

Each of these services has its own group of keys. Memory limits and resource settings are set from the release profile, and you can edit individual values such as OPENSEARCH__OPENSEARCH_MEMORY or VARNISH__VARNISH_MEMORY for advanced tuning.

How it is generated

.env is written once during initial provisioning from the environment's release profile. Later platform runs keep the values you changed; a few derived values, such as the Varnish backend address, are recalculated by the platform.

Safe edits

You can edit .env directly via SSH for advanced tuning:

ssh app@<subdomain>.storeframe.store -p2409
sudo nano /var/www/<subdomain>.<domain>/.env

After editing, open the environment's Containers tab in the Hub and choose ⋯ → Install on the container you changed (for example nginx for NGINX__ keys, PHP for PHP__ keys). Install re-reads .env and re-applies that container's configuration. Restarting a container does not apply changes. The platform's regular maintenance runs also re-apply the file, so any edit you leave in it will take effect on the next run even if you skip this step.

Re-installing Redis clears its data, which logs shoppers out. Do it outside busy hours.

Keep the single quotes around every value.

Don't put comments on the same line as a value. In NGINX__WAF_ENABLED='yes' # on the trailing # on becomes part of the value, which the platform does not treat as yes, so the install can fail or the setting switches off. Put comments on their own line.

Do not delete keys the platform generated; a missing key will cause configuration to fail. Adding new keys is safe.

Most configuration changes should go through the Hub UI, which handles validation and re-applies configuration in the correct order. Direct edits to .env bypass that safety layer.