Configuration

Tidal PTC reads its server settings from the .env file in the install directory. The install scripts write it for you, so most installs never need to touch it. This page lists the keys an installer sets, what each install method expects, and how to apply a change. It is not a full reference of every Laravel setting.

Who this is for

Anyone installing by hand or changing a running install’s domain, database, mail or websocket settings.

Before you start

Know where your .env is: /opt/tidal-ptc/.env for Docker, /var/www/tidal-ptc/.env for a VM. On DigitalOcean, the same keys are App Platform environment variables.
PowerSchool credentials and per-tenant SMTP settings are not in .env. They are stored, encrypted, on the tenant: PowerSchool through the installer, SMTP on the tenant settings page.

App

Variable	Value
`APP_ENV`	`production`
`APP_DEBUG`	`false`
`APP_URL`	Your public URL, for example `https://ptc.example.org`
`APP_KEY`	Generated once by the install scripts. Encrypts tenant secrets and signs sessions. See Rotating the app key.
`APP_PREVIOUS_KEYS`	Comma-separated old keys, only while rotating the app key.

Leave IS_CLOUD unset (or false) for a self-hosted install.

Database

Tidal PTC uses PostgreSQL (DB_CONNECTION=pgsql).

Variable	Value
`DB_HOST`	`127.0.0.1` on a VM. Docker Compose sets it to `postgres` for you.
`DB_PORT`	`5432`
`DB_DATABASE`	`tidal_ptc` on a VM (the Docker default is `laravel`)
`DB_USERNAME`	`tidal` on a VM (the Docker default is `laravel`)
`DB_PASSWORD`	A long random password, for example from `openssl rand -hex 24`. Required for Docker: Compose refuses to start without it.

Redis, cache, sessions and queue

Variable	Value
`CACHE_DRIVER` / `SESSION_DRIVER` / `QUEUE_CONNECTION`	`redis`
`REDIS_HOST`	`127.0.0.1` on a VM. Docker Compose sets it to `redis`.
`REDIS_PORT`	`6379`
`REDIS_PASSWORD`	`null` for a local Redis bound to `127.0.0.1`

The DigitalOcean template uses database for all three drivers instead, so it needs no Redis.

Reverb (websockets)

Variable	Value
`BROADCAST_CONNECTION`	`reverb`
`REVERB_APP_ID`	Any number, for example `100001`
`REVERB_APP_KEY`	`openssl rand -hex 16`
`REVERB_APP_SECRET`	`openssl rand -hex 32`
`REVERB_HOST`	The public hostname browsers connect to, for example `ptc.example.org`. Not the container or `localhost`.
`REVERB_PORT`	`443`
`REVERB_SCHEME`	`https`
`REVERB_SERVER_HOST`	Where the Reverb server listens. `127.0.0.1` on a VM, so it stays off the public interface. Docker Compose sets `0.0.0.0` inside the container.
`REVERB_SERVER_PORT`	`8080`

See Real-time updates for what Reverb is used for.

Mail

Leave these at their defaults if you set SMTP on the tenant settings page, which is the usual setup. The MAIL_* values are the app-wide fallback mailer, used when the tenant has no SMTP host saved.

Variable	Value
`MAIL_MAILER`	`smtp` (default) or `postmark`
`MAIL_HOST` / `MAIL_PORT`	Your SMTP server and port
`MAIL_USERNAME` / `MAIL_PASSWORD`	SMTP credentials
`MAIL_ENCRYPTION`	`tls`, `ssl` or `null`
`MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS` / `MAIL_FROM_NAME`	The sender
`POSTMARK_TOKEN`	Your Postmark server token, when `MAIL_MAILER=postmark`

See Email.

Logging

Variable	Value
`LOG_CHANNEL`	`daily` on a VM (rotates `storage/logs` and keeps 14 days). Docker Compose sets `stderr`, so logs go to `docker compose logs`.
`LOG_LEVEL`	`warning` on a VM

Docker

For a manual Docker install, set these in /opt/tidal-ptc/.env. Everything else keeps a working default, and the Compose file overrides the database, Redis, cache, session and queue hosts for you.

Variable	Value
`APP_ENV`	`production`
`APP_DEBUG`	`false`
`APP_URL`	`https://ptc.example.org`
`DB_PASSWORD`	A long random password (`openssl rand -hex 24`). Required.
`REVERB_APP_ID`	Any number, for example `100001`
`REVERB_APP_KEY`	`openssl rand -hex 16`
`REVERB_APP_SECRET`	`openssl rand -hex 32`
`REVERB_HOST`	`ptc.example.org`
`REVERB_PORT`	`443`
`REVERB_SCHEME`	`https`
`POWERSCHOOL_ADDRESS`	`https://powerschool.example.org`
`TIDAL_PTC_VERSION`	Optional image tag to run. Default `latest`. See Updating.

The Compose file also sets OCTANE_SERVER=frankenphp, LOG_CHANNEL=stderr and TRUSTED_PROXIES='*' on every app container. TRUSTED_PROXIES=* is only safe when ports 8000 and 8080 are bound to localhost; see Install with Docker.

VM

For a manual VM install, set these in /var/www/tidal-ptc/.env:

Variable	Value
`APP_ENV`	`production`
`APP_DEBUG`	`false`
`APP_URL`	`https://ptc.example.org`
`LOG_CHANNEL`	`daily`
`LOG_LEVEL`	`warning`
`DB_DATABASE` / `DB_USERNAME`	`tidal_ptc` / `tidal`
`DB_PASSWORD`	The password you created for the `tidal` database role
`CACHE_DRIVER` / `SESSION_DRIVER` / `QUEUE_CONNECTION`	`redis`
`REVERB_APP_ID`	Any number, for example `100001`
`REVERB_APP_KEY`	`openssl rand -hex 16`
`REVERB_APP_SECRET`	`openssl rand -hex 32`
`REVERB_HOST`	`ptc.example.org`
`REVERB_PORT`	`443`
`REVERB_SCHEME`	`https`
`REVERB_SERVER_HOST`	`127.0.0.1` (add this line)
`POWERSCHOOL_ADDRESS`	`https://powerschool.example.org`

Leave TRUSTED_PROXIES unset on a VM: Nginx talks to PHP-FPM directly over FastCGI, so the app already sees the real client IP and HTTPS.

Applying a change

Config is cached, so a change to .env does nothing until you apply it.

Docker, from /opt/tidal-ptc:

docker compose up -d

Containers are recreated with the new values, and each one rebuilds its config cache on start.

VM:

sudo -u tidal php /var/www/tidal-ptc/artisan optimize
sudo systemctl reload php8.5-fpm && sudo systemctl restart tidal-ptc-queue tidal-ptc-reverb

Re-running install-vm.sh also works; it keeps your values and re-caches everything.

DigitalOcean: change the environment variables in App Platform and redeploy. The container runs php artisan optimize each time it starts.

Tidal PTC by Archboard