Environment Variables

Some parts of the build can be configured with environment variables. These are often prefixed with RAILPACK_.

Build Configuration

Name	Description
RAILPACK_BUILD_CMD	Set the command to run for the build step. This overwrites any commands that come from providers
RAILPACK_INSTALL_CMD	Set the command to run for the install step. This overwrites any commands that come from providers. All files are copied to the root of the project before running the command.
RAILPACK_START_CMD	Set the command to run when the container starts
RAILPACK_PACKAGES	Install additional Mise packages. In the format pkg[@version]. The version is optional; if not provided, the latest version is used. Allows list.
RAILPACK_BUILD_APT_PACKAGES	Install additional Apt packages during build. Allows list.
RAILPACK_DEPLOY_APT_PACKAGES	Install additional Apt packages in the final image. Allows list.
RAILPACK_DISABLE_CACHES	Specify specific BuildKit cache keys to disable, or * to disable all caches. Allows list.

Variables which allow a list use space-separated values. For example:

RAILPACK_PACKAGES="pipx:httpie jq@latest"

To configure more parts of the build, it is recommended to use a config file.

Global Options

These environment variables affect the behavior of Railpack:

Name	Description
FORCE_COLOR	Force colored output even when not in a TTY
RAILPACK_VERBOSE	Enable verbose logging (equivalent to --verbose flag)