Configuration

Every environment variable EzFD reads. In a normal install these live in /opt/ezfd/.env, written by deploy.sh and read by the systemd unit.

Required

DATABASE_URL

PostgreSQL connection string.

DATABASE_URL=postgres://ezfd:PASSWORD@localhost:5432/ezfd

Used by the connection pool and, separately, by the real-time endpoint, which opens its own dedicated connection per client to LISTEN on that event's channels.

A connection pooler in transaction mode (PgBouncer's default) silently breaks LISTEN/NOTIFY and therefore all live updates. Use session mode or connect directly.

Strongly recommended

EZFD_ENCRYPTION_KEY

64 hex characters — 32 bytes. Encrypts stored QRZ passwords with AES-256-GCM.

$ openssl rand -hex 32

deploy.sh generates one automatically and preserves it across updates.

Without it, creating an event that includes QRZ credentials fails with a clear error. Everything else works. Changing it makes existing stored QRZ passwords undecryptable — they must be re-entered.

EZFD_ADMIN_KEY

If set, creating an event requires this key. If unset, anyone who can reach the site can create events.

Worth setting on a public server. Not needed on a private LAN.

Optional

EZFD_DOMAIN, EZFD_CERT_EMAIL

Recorded by deploy.sh for the nginx configuration and certbot. Re-used when you re-run the script so it doesn't re-prompt.

EZFD_REPO_DIR

Where the source was cloned. The admin console's Update application action uses it to find the git checkout to pull. Written by deploy.sh.

EZFD_FD_CALL_HISTORY_URL, EZFD_WFD_CALL_HISTORY_URL

Override where the N1MM call history file is fetched from. Supports a {year} placeholder.

These exist because N1MM's files are contest- and year-specific, published at a URL built from the contest and year. The app derives the URL and falls back to the prior year if the current one isn't published yet. Override if N1MM changes their scheme.

EZFD_MASTER_SCP_URL

Override where MASTER.SCP is fetched from. Unlike the call history file this one is evergreen — not year-specific — and is shared across every event on the server, refreshed at most once a day.

The WSJT-X relay

These are read by wsjtx-bridge.cjs, which runs on the operator's machine, not the server. Each has a matching command-line flag that takes precedence.

See Digital modes.

Applying changes

# nano /opt/ezfd/.env
# systemctl restart ezfd

The service reads the file at start, so a restart is required.

Security notes

/opt/ezfd/.env holds the database password, the encryption key and the admin key. It should be readable only by the service user.

QRZ passwords are encrypted at rest with EZFD_ENCRYPTION_KEY and never returned by the API — the event endpoint omits the column entirely.

There are no user accounts. Access to an event is the six-character join code, and operator identity is self-asserted at join time. For a special event you can additionally require roster approval before an operator may log, but that is an authorisation gate, not authentication. Treat the join code as the secret it is, and don't expose an instance publicly if that model doesn't suit you.