Environment Variables
This reference documents the environment variables that the Redpanda broker and rpk read.
Two different programs read these variables, and the variable prefix does not tell you which: names starting with REDPANDA_ appear in both. Check the section, not the prefix:
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Redpanda broker variables are read by the
redpandaprocess itself. -
rpkvariables are read by therpkCLI on the machine where you run it. This includes theREDPANDA_*variables thatrpk redpanda startuses to configure a broker, and the legacyREDPANDA_*aliases for connection settings.
Redpanda broker
The Redpanda broker reads the following environment variables from its process environment at startup.
| Variable | Description | Accepted values |
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Creates a bootstrap superuser with SASL/SCRAM credentials when the cluster first starts. Use it to provision the initial user for a new cluster. If the value is malformed, Redpanda logs a warning and starts without creating the user. See Authentication. |
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Free-form label describing the deployment environment. Included in the usage and telemetry snapshot that Redpanda reports. |
Any string (truncated if too long) |
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Enterprise license to use as a fallback when no license is installed in the cluster. If the value is not a valid license, Redpanda logs a warning and continues without it. See Redpanda Licensing. |
A valid Redpanda Enterprise license string |
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Path to the systemd notification socket. systemd sets this variable automatically so that Redpanda can signal service readiness. Do not set it manually. |
Set by systemd |
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ARN of the IAM role to assume when Redpanda fetches temporary credentials through AWS STS web identity federation, such as with IAM Roles for Service Accounts (IRSA) on EKS. Required when the cluster is configured to use STS credentials for Tiered Storage. |
An IAM role ARN |
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Path to the projected web identity token file used with |
A file path |
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Client ID of the Azure managed identity used for workload identity federation on AKS. |
An Azure client ID |
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Tenant ID for Azure workload identity federation on AKS. |
An Azure tenant ID |
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Path to the federated token file used for Azure workload identity federation on AKS. |
A file path |
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Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) authority host used for Azure workload identity federation on AKS. |
A URL |
In Kubernetes deployments, the Redpanda Helm chart and Redpanda Operator set additional REDPANDA_METRICS_K8S_* environment variables on the broker container, such as the chart version and Kubernetes version. Redpanda includes these values in its telemetry reports. You don’t set these variables yourself.
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rpk
RPK_* environment variables
Every -X option has a corresponding RPK_* environment variable. Convert by prefixing with RPK_ and replacing dots with underscores:
-X Option |
Environment Variable |
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For details about each option and how environment variables fit into the configuration priority order, see rpk -X.
Other rpk environment variables
The following variables are not derived from -X options:
| Variable | Description | Accepted values |
|---|---|---|
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Selects the |
The name of an existing profile |
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Overrides the repository URL that |
A URL |
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Overrides the timeout for plugin downloads. |
A duration, such as |
rpk redpanda start variables
The rpk redpanda start command reads the following environment variables as defaults for broker configuration, which is useful in containerized deployments. Equivalent command-line flags take precedence. Although these variables use the REDPANDA_ prefix, they are read by rpk when it starts the broker, not by the broker process itself.
| Variable | Description | Accepted values |
|---|---|---|
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Seed servers for cluster discovery. Equivalent to the |
Comma-separated list of |
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Kafka API listener address. Equivalent to the |
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HTTP Proxy listener address. Equivalent to the |
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Schema Registry listener address. Equivalent to the |
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RPC server listener address. Equivalent to the |
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Advertised Kafka API address. Equivalent to the |
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Advertised HTTP Proxy address. Equivalent to the |
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Advertised RPC address. Equivalent to the |
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See also rpk redpanda start.
Legacy REDPANDA_* variables
Earlier versions of rpk used REDPANDA_* environment variables for connection settings. These variables still work, but the RPK_* equivalents take precedence when both are set. Use the RPK_* variables in new configurations.
| Legacy variable | Equivalent -X option |
|---|---|
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