Configuration

Chamilo 2.0 uses environment variables and Symfony configuration files for its core settings. This page covers the key configuration files and variables.

Environment Variables (.env)

The primary configuration file is .env in the Chamilo root directory. This file contains environment-specific settings that should not be committed to version control.

A default .env.dist file ships with Chamilo and contains documented defaults. Create .env (required to start the installation) to override values for your environment.

Key Variables

Variable	Description	Example
APP_ENV	The application environment, at the Symfony level. Use prod for production, dev for development, 'test' for testing.	prod
APP_SECRET	A random string used for CSRF tokens, cookie signing, and other cryptographic operations. Chamilo generates a unique value for each installation. Don't modify it.	a1b2c3d4e5f6...
DATABASE_HOST	The database host. Defaults to localhost	localhost
DATABASE_PORT	The database port. Defaults to 3306 for MySQL/MariaDB	3306
DATABASE_NAME	The database name, as given by you to the installation wizard.	See below.
DATABASE_USER	The database username, as given by you to the installation wizard.	See below.
DATABASE_PASSWORD	The database user's password, as given by you to the installation wizard.	See below.
TRUSTED_PROXIES	(Optional) If you are hosting Chamilo behind a reverse proxy, you need to provide the IP(s) of the reverse proxy here for Chamilo to be able to interpret calls and generate responses correctly.

Other settings in .env are relatively rarely modified.

Note that, in future versions, the DATABASE_* settings will be combined into one single DATABASE_URL variable.

E-mail sending configuration is presented during installation, but can be modified later on in the Platform settings section of the administration dashboard.

Symfony Configuration (config/ Directory)

Symfony-level configuration lives in the config/ directory. These YAML files control framework behavior, service definitions, and package-specific settings.

It is not frequent to have to modify those files, and changing them can render your portal inoperative, so please do not attempt to modify those if you must ensure the system's availability.

Key Configuration Files

File	Purpose
config/authentication.yaml	Authentication methods configuration.
config/packages/doctrine.yaml	Database and ORM configuration.
config/packages/security.yaml	Authentication, firewalls, access control, and role hierarchies.
config/packages/cache.yaml	Cache adapter configuration (filesystem, APCu, Redis).
config/packages/framework.yaml	General Symfony framework settings (session, CSRF, router, HTTP caching).
config/packages/twig.yaml	Template engine configuration.
config/services.yaml	Application service definitions and dependency injection.

Environment-Specific Overrides

Symfony supports per-environment configuration. Files in config/packages/prod/ override the defaults when APP_ENV=prod, and config/packages/dev/ overrides when APP_ENV=dev.

For example, config/packages/prod/monolog.yaml typically configures less verbose logging than the development equivalent.

Chamilo does not define any configuration in config/packages/prod/ in the software itself, so if you want to customize setting from config/packages/*.yaml, just create a copy of the yaml file inside that directory and change the settings there.

File Permissions

We made efforts in 2.0+ to ensure that a single directory needed permissions. This is the var/ directory, and to avoid complex issues, just setting the whole folder as writeable by the web server system user is enough.

Set permissions appropriately under Debian-based systems:

# For systems where the web server runs as www-data
chown -R www-data:www-data var/
chmod -R 775 var/

Common Configuration Tasks

Switch to Production Mode

# In .env
APP_ENV=prod
APP_DEBUG=0

Then clear and warm the cache:

php bin/console cache:clear --env=prod
php bin/console cache:warmup --env=prod

Configure Trusted Proxies

If Chamilo runs behind a reverse proxy or load balancer, configure trusted proxies so that HTTPS detection and client IP resolution work correctly:

# .env
TRUSTED_PROXIES='127.0.0.1,PROXY_IP'

Configure Session Storage

By default, sessions are stored on the filesystem. For multi-server deployments, configure Redis or database-backed sessions:

# config/packages/framework.yaml
framework:
    session:
        handler_id: 'redis://localhost:6379'

Tips

• Never edit .env.dist directly -- Always use .env for your overrides. The .env.dist file may be overwritten during upgrades.

• Keep APP_DEBUG=0 in production -- Debug mode exposes sensitive information in error pages.

• Back up .env separately from the codebase since it contains credentials and is excluded from version control.