Built-in Environment Variables

Built-in Environment Variables

Radiator Server reads several environment variables to control startup behavior, logging, file paths, and diagnostics. These variables are separate from the user-defined variables referenced in configuration files with env.VARIABLE_NAME syntax (see Environment Variables in Configuration).

Server variables

TZ

Standard POSIX timezone variable. Sets the time zone to use in the application.

RADIATOR_CONFIGURATION

Sets the path to the configuration file or directory. Overrides the -c CLI flag.

export RADIATOR_CONFIGURATION=/etc/radiator/my-config.radconf

The legacy name RADIATOR_CONFIGURATION_FILE is also accepted as a backwards-compatible alias. If both are set, RADIATOR_CONFIGURATION takes precedence.

The path is subject to RADIATOR_CONF_CHROOT remapping when set.

RADIATOR_LOG_LEVEL

Forces the log level for the entire server. This has the highest priority and overrides both the --debug CLI flag and configuration file settings.

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

export RADIATOR_LOG_LEVEL=debug

When set to trace, Radiator automatically enables RUST_BACKTRACE=1 if not already set, and emits structured trace entries for AAA request processing through handlers and pipelines. See Logging for details.

Invalid values are silently ignored, and the log level falls back to the CLI flag or configuration.

RADIATOR_NO_RECOVERY

When set to 1, the server exits immediately on configuration load failure instead of entering recovery mode.

export RADIATOR_NO_RECOVERY=1

Only the exact value 1 triggers this behavior. If not set, the server enters recovery mode and continues running with limited functionality.

This is useful in container environments where a failed startup should cause the container to restart rather than run in a degraded state.

RADIATOR_CONF_CHROOT

Remaps all absolute file paths in the configuration to be under the specified directory prefix. Relative paths are not affected.

export RADIATOR_CONF_CHROOT=/chroot

With this setting, a configuration reference to /etc/radiator/certs/server.pem is resolved as /chroot/etc/radiator/certs/server.pem. Paths that already start with the chroot prefix are not double-prefixed.

RADIATOR_CLUSTER_ID

Sets the High Availability cluster identifier. Only used when the --cluster-id CLI flag is not provided. See High Availability Identifiers.

export RADIATOR_CLUSTER_ID=cluster01

The value must be non-empty and contain only ASCII alphanumeric characters. Invalid values are silently ignored.

RADIATOR_INSTANCE_ID

Sets the High Availability instance identifier. Only used when the --instance-id CLI flag is not provided. Defaults to R00 when neither the CLI flag nor this variable is set. See High Availability Identifiers.

export RADIATOR_INSTANCE_ID=R01

The value must be non-empty and contain only ASCII alphanumeric characters. Invalid values fall back to the default R00.

RADIATOR_PARSER_WARNINGS

When set to 0, suppresses all configuration parser warnings from the log output. This includes both deprecation warnings and general parser warnings.

export RADIATOR_PARSER_WARNINGS=0

Only the exact value 0 suppresses warnings. If not set, all parser warnings are logged at Warn level.

RADIATOR_SHOW_DEPRECATIONS

When set to 1, enables deprecation warnings during configuration parsing in release builds. Debug builds always show deprecation warnings regardless of this setting.

export RADIATOR_SHOW_DEPRECATIONS=1

NOTIFY_SOCKET

Standard systemd Type=notify socket path. When set, Radiator sends READY=1 after configuration has been loaded and all subsystems are initialized. Linux only. See Linux Systemd Support.

This variable is set automatically by systemd and should not be set manually.

Diagnostic variables

RUST_BACKTRACE

Standard Rust backtrace control variable. When RADIATOR_LOG_LEVEL is set to trace, Radiator automatically sets RUST_BACKTRACE=1 if not already set.

MALLOC_CONF

Standard jemalloc configuration variable. Radiator reads and logs its value at Debug level alongside jemalloc tunables at startup. The variable is not set by Radiator -- it is only reported for diagnostics.

RADIATOR_INITIAL_SESSIONS and RADIATOR_UI_DIR

Used internally by Radiator. Do not set or use.

See also

• Environment Variables in Configuration -- using env.VARIABLE_NAME syntax in configuration files
• High Availability Identifiers -- cluster and instance ID configuration
• Logging -- log levels and trace logging
• Linux Systemd Support -- systemd integration and readiness notification
• Server Health and Bootup Logic -- recovery mode behavior