Environment Variables

Encore works out of the box without configuration, but provides several environment variables for advanced use cases such as debugging, testing, or adapting Encore to specific workflow requirements.

Daemon & Development Dashboard

These variables control how the Encore daemon operates and where it exposes its services.

ENCORE_DAEMON_LOG_PATH

Controls the location of the Encore daemon log file.

Default: <user_cache_dir>/encore/daemon.log

Example:

export ENCORE_DAEMON_LOG_PATH=/var/log/encore/daemon.log

ENCORE_DEVDASH_LISTEN_ADDR

Overrides the listen address for the local development dashboard.

Default: Automatically assigned by the daemon

Format: Network address (e.g., localhost:9400)

Example:

export ENCORE_DEVDASH_LISTEN_ADDR=localhost:8080
encore run

ENCORE_MCPSSE_LISTEN_ADDR

Overrides the listen address for the MCP SSE (Model Context Protocol Server-Sent Events) endpoint.

Default: Automatically assigned by the daemon

Format: Network address

Example:

export ENCORE_MCPSSE_LISTEN_ADDR=localhost:9401

ENCORE_OBJECTSTORAGE_LISTEN_ADDR

Overrides the listen address for the object storage service endpoint.

Default: Automatically assigned by the daemon

Format: Network address

Example:

export ENCORE_OBJECTSTORAGE_LISTEN_ADDR=localhost:9402

Logging Configuration

These variables control the logging behavior for TypeScript applications.

ENCORE_RUNTIME_LOG

Sets the log level for Encore's internal runtime operations (written in Rust).

Default: debug (automatically set to error during encore run)

Valid values: trace, debug, info, warn, error

Example:

# See detailed runtime logs
export ENCORE_RUNTIME_LOG=trace
encore run

ENCORE_LOG

Sets the log level for your application code.

Default: Trace (log everything)

Valid values: Off, Error, Warn, Info, Debug, Trace

Example:

import log from "encore.dev/log";

log.info("This message respects ENCORE_LOG level");

# Only show errors and warnings
export ENCORE_LOG=Warn
encore run

ENCORE_NOLOG

Disables all logging when set to any non-empty value.

Default: Not set

Example:

# Disable all logs
export ENCORE_NOLOG=1
encore run

Advanced Development

These variables are primarily useful for advanced development scenarios, such as contributing to Encore itself or using custom builds.

ENCORE_RUNTIMES_PATH

Specifies the path to the Encore runtimes directory.

Default: Auto-detected relative to the Encore installation (<install_root>/runtimes)

Example:

export ENCORE_RUNTIMES_PATH=/path/to/custom/runtimes

ENCORE_RUNTIME_LIB

Specifies the path to the native Node.js runtime library used by TypeScript applications.

Default: <runtimes_path>/js/encore-runtime.node

Example:

export ENCORE_RUNTIME_LIB=/path/to/custom/encore-runtime.node

ENCORE_TSPARSER_PATH

Specifies the path to the TypeScript parser binary.

Default: Auto-detected from encore binary location or system PATH

Example:

export ENCORE_TSPARSER_PATH=/path/to/custom/tsparser-encore

Debugging

ENCORE_API_INCLUDE_INTERNAL_MESSAGE

Controls whether internal error messages are included in API error responses.

Default: automatically set to 1 during local development with encore run

Format: Any non-empty, non-"0" value is considered true

Example:

# Manually enable for debugging
export ENCORE_API_INCLUDE_INTERNAL_MESSAGE=1

RUST_LOG

Controls Rust-level logging for the Encore runtime. This provides more granular control than ENCORE_RUNTIME_LOG.

Default: Not set

Format: Standard Rust env_logger format (see env_logger documentation)

Example:

# Enable info logs for all modules in the runtime
export RUST_LOG=info
encore run