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The Go backend reads configuration from environment variables at startup. All variables have sensible defaults and are optional.

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Variables

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PORT
default:"8080"
The port the HTTP server binds to inside the container (or on the host when running locally).The default Docker Compose setup maps host port 8081 to container port 8080, so the server is reachable at http://localhost:8081/ without changing this value.
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DB_PATH
default:"./data/iris.db"
Path to the SQLite database file. The server creates the data/ directory automatically if it does not exist.When running via Docker Compose the path is set to /app/data/iris.db so that the database sits inside the mounted volume.
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DASHBOARD_DIR
default:"./dashboard/dist"
Path to the directory containing the compiled React dashboard static files. The Go server uses http.FileServer to serve everything in this directory on the root route /.Inside the Docker image this is always /app/dashboard/dist, where the multi-stage build copies the Vite output.

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Reference Table

VariableDefaultDescription
PORT8080The port the HTTP server binds to.
DB_PATH./data/iris.dbPath to the SQLite database file.
DASHBOARD_DIR./dashboard/distPath to the directory containing the built frontend.

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Setting Variables in Docker Compose

Pass variables through the environment key in docker-compose.yml:
docker-compose.yml
services:
  iris:
    build: .
    container_name: iris_analytics
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8081:8080"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
    environment:
      - PORT=8080
      - DB_PATH=/app/data/iris.db
      - DASHBOARD_DIR=/app/dashboard/dist
Or use an .env file alongside docker-compose.yml:
.env
PORT=8080
DB_PATH=/app/data/iris.db
DASHBOARD_DIR=/app/dashboard/dist
docker-compose.yml
services:
  iris:
    env_file:
      - .env

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Setting Variables for Local Development

When running the backend directly with task dev:backend, export variables in your shell before starting: 
export PORT=8080
export DB_PATH=./data/iris.db
task dev:backend
The server reads variables at startup. Changing them requires a restart to take effect.
The backend has no authentication on any API route. Ensure that in a public deployment the server is not directly exposed to the internet, or add auth middleware in cmd/server/main.go before registering routes.

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