# Set environment variables

Postiz configuration is entirely via environment variables.

When using Postiz container images, you can specify the environment variables when you create the container (`docker create -e DATABASE_URL=...`), but this might be 
a bit tedious, as Postiz requires quite a few variables set to startup.

It is recommended to use a `postiz.env` file, which the Postiz containers look for in /config. Docker will automatically create this file for you on a 
docker volume the first time you start up Postiz. The default container images will copy the `/config/postiz.env` to `/apps/.env` on startup. Like with
any environment variables, if you change them, you must restart the application for the changes to take effect.

An example file of the most used configuration settings can be found here; [example postiz.env file](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gitroomhq/postiz-app/main/.env.example)

There is also a [configuration reference](/configuration/reference) page that goes into more detail.

