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Setting Environment Variables

Environment variables allow you to change the behavior of Otto. To add environment variables, you will modify the .env file. A variable is set by adding a line in the .env file in the format of [NAME]=[VALUE].

The .env File​

Locating and Editing the .env File​

  1. On your FileMaker Server machine, navigate to the Otto application folder.
  2. Open the config directory.
  3. If you don’t yet see the .env file and you’re on a Mac machine, show invisible files by pressing Command-Shift-Period.
  4. If the .env file does not yet exist, follow the instructions below to create the file.
  5. If the .env file appears, open the file with your text editor and add each environment variable as [NAME]=[VALUE], then save the file.
  6. Restart Otto after updating any environment variables to load the new settings.

Creating the .env File (Mac/Linux)​

  1. Open Terminal.
  2. Change to the Otto config directory by typing cd /Applications/Otto/config and press Return.
  3. Create the file by typing sudo nano .env and press Return.
  4. Enter your Administrator password then press Return. GNU nano, a text editor, will appear in Terminal.
  5. Type each environment variable as [NAME]=[VALUE].
  6. Press CTRL-X to exit nano.
  7. Press Y to confirm that you want to save the buffer.
  8. Press return to confirm the filename.
  9. Restart Otto after updating any environment variables to load the new settings.

Creating the .env File (Windows)​

  1. Open Notepad.
  2. Type each environment variable as [NAME]=[VALUE].
  3. Select "Save As...".
  4. Select "All Files" from the file type dropdown list. Note that Otto will not see the .env file if it includes a .txt extension. This step ensures that the file will not have an extension.
  5. Enter .env as the filename and save the file in C:\Program Files\Otto\config.
  6. Restart Otto after updating any environment variables to load the new settings.

Environment Variable Options​

Disabling SSL​

Most commonly, you want Otto to use FileMaker Server's valid certificate. Occasionally, you may want Otto to be accessible on an internal network by IP Address, ignoring the certificate installed on the server.

  1. Open the .env file with a text editor.
  2. In the .env file, set a variable to noSSL=1.
  3. Save the .env file.
  4. Restart Otto after updating any environment variables to load the new settings.

Changing the Default Number of Backups Stored​

Otto creates a backup for every migration, keeping the last 10 backups by default. You may want to modify the number of backups that are stored.

  1. Open the .env file with a text editor.
  2. In the .env file, set a variable to MIGRATION_BACKUPS_TO_KEEP=[VALUE], where [VALUE] is the number of backups you want Otto to store.
  3. Save the .env file.
  4. Restart Otto after updating any environment variables to load the new settings.

Changing Clone Names​

Currently, Otto’s interface is available only in English. To use Otto on servers that are set up to use other languages, additional setup is required. If your version of FileMaker Server translates "Clone" to another word, take the following steps.

  1. Open the .env file with a text editor.
  2. In the .env file, set a variable CLONE_TRANSLATED=[VALUE], where [VALUE] is the word for "clone" in your preferred language.
  3. Save the .env file.
  4. Restart Otto after updating any environment variables to load the new settings.

Changing S3 storage to Wasabi​

  1. Open the .env file with a text editor.
  2. In the .env file, set the variable to S3_ENDPOINT=s3.[SERVICE].wasabisys.com, where [VALUE] is the appropriate Wasabi Service Regions.
  3. Save the .env file.
  4. Restart Otto after updating any environment variables to load the new settings.

Changing Otto's Port Number​

By default Otto uses Port 3030. If you need to use a different port number, you can change it in the .env file. Note that you will need to use the new port number to access Otto.

This is useful if you want to receive webhooks from a service like Docusign that restricts the port number to a specific set. In Docusign's cases they will allow 8443.

  1. Open the .env file with a text editor.
  2. In the .env file, set a variable PORT=[VALUE], where [VALUE] is the port number.
  3. Save the .env file.
  4. Restart Otto after updating any environment variables to load the new settings.