Configuration

From the beginning of the development of nbsp, instance-wide configuration has been considered through the use of a database table called nbsp_config.

This table has a simple key-value structure where each key is unique and configures something about nbsp. For example, the nbsp_community_title key determines the title/the main name of the nbsp instance.

Making changes

To make changes to your nbsp configuration, the only option at the moment is to connect directly to the database with psql and run an UPDATE query. Because the nbsp_config table only has 3 columns: config_id, key and value, an update is easy to do:

UPDATE nbsp_config SET value = 'nbsp.example' WHERE key = 'nbsp_community_title';

Tip

Take care when working with lots of text to escape your single quotes by doubling them up:

UPDATE nbsp_config
SET value = 'I''m an apostrophe!' WHERE key = 'nbsp_community_subtitle';
/*            ^^ Escaped single quote */

Applying your changes

Once you’ve made a change to nbsp_config you may notice it is not updated immediately on a running instance. This is because at the moment the nbsp_config is only read on the startup phase of nbsp.

So to apply any changes you’ve made you will need to restart nbsp.

Available options

nbsp_base_url

The reachable base URL for the nbsp instance. This should start with https://

• Available in versions >=0.0.1
• Defaults to https://nbsp.example.com

nbsp_homepage_notice

An optional key to put some text or a notice that will be displayed in a yellow text box on the homepage.

• Available in versions >=0.0.1
• Defaults to NULL, no value

nbsp_community_title

The title or main name of the community. This is used in various places such as the <title>, the site header, etc.

• Available in versions >=0.0.2
• Defaults to non-breaking space

nbsp_community_subtitle

The subtitle or short description of the community. This is used in the site header below nbsp_community_title.

• Available in versions >=0.0.2
• Defaults to a thoughtful community forum platform

nbsp_html_head_extra

Any additional HTML you may want to put at the end of the <head> tag. Such as additional <link> tags or other things.

Note

The contents from this key are included as-is in the HTML, it is not sanitized before being inserted.

• Available in versions >=0.0.3
• Defaults to NULL, no value

nbsp_html_body_extra

Any additional HTML you may want to put at the end of the <body> tag. Such as additional <script> tags or other things.

Note

The contents from this key are included as-is in the HTML, it is not sanitized before being inserted.

• Available in versions >=0.0.3
• Defaults to NULL, no value

nbsp_cookies_key

Cookies will be encrypted using this secret key.

Warning

Don’t touch this key unless you’re 100% sure you need to.

If this is ever leaked or publicly shared, consider all encrypted cookies to be compromised. Stop nbsp, update the value to NULL in the database and restart nbsp. A new encryption key will be generated.

• Available in versions >=0.0.4
• Defaults to an encryption key generated by nbsp, if the value is empty.

nbsp_jwt_signing_key

JSON web tokens will be signed using this secret key.

Warning

Don’t touch this key unless you’re 100% sure you need to.

If this is ever leaked or publicly shared, consider all JSON web tokens to be compromised. Stop nbsp, update the value to NULL in the database and restart nbsp. A new JWT signing key will be generated.

• Available in versions >=0.0.4
• Defaults to a signing key generated by nbsp, if the value is empty.

nbsp_content_security_policy

The content security policy value to set on every HTTP response.

• Available in versions >=0.0.4
• Defaults to default-src 'self';

nbsp_enable_prometheus_metrics

Set this to true to enable the Prometheus metrics endpoint at http://127.0.0.1:3001/metrics. Note this uses the 3001 port as opposed to nbsp’s 3000 port.

• Available in versions >=0.0.4
• Defaults to false