description: "How to Use the Docker Compose Override File: In Docker Compose, an override file is a powerful feature that allows you to modify the default configuration provided by the main `docker-compose.yml` without the need to directly edit or duplicate the whole file."
In Docker Compose, an override file is a powerful feature that allows you to modify the default configuration provided by the main `docker-compose.yml` without the need to directly edit or duplicate the whole file. The primary use of the override file is for local development customizations, and Docker Compose merges the configurations of the `docker-compose.yml` and the `docker-compose.override.yml` files when you run `docker compose up`.
> Warning: You can only specify every service name once (api, mongodb, meilisearch, ...) If you want to override multiple settings in one service you will have to edit accordingly.
Or, if you want to locally build the image for the `api` service, use the LibreChat config file, and use the older Mongo that doesn't requires AVX support, your `docker-compose.override.yml` might look like this:
To apply your configuration changes, simply run Docker Compose as usual. Docker Compose automatically takes into account both the `docker-compose.yml` and the `docker-compose.override.yml` files:
After starting your services with the modified configuration, you can verify that the changes have been applied using the `docker ps` command to list the running containers and their properties, such as ports.
## Important Considerations
- **Order of Precedence**: Values defined in the override file take precedence over those specified in the original `docker-compose.yml` file.
- **Security**: When customizing ports and publicly exposing services, always be conscious of the security implications. Avoid using defaults for production or sensitive environments.
By following these steps and considerations, you can easily and safely modify your Docker Compose configuration without altering the original `docker-compose.yml` file, making it simpler to manage and maintain different environments or local customizations.
To use an override file with a non-default Docker Compose file, such as `deploy-compose.yml`, you will have to explicitly specify both files when running Docker Compose commands.
Docker Compose allows you to specify multiple `-f` or `--file` options to include multiple compose files, where settings in later files override or add to those in the first.
The npm commands for "deployed" do this for you but they do not account for override files:
```json
"start:deployed": "docker compose -f ./deploy-compose.yml up -d",
I would include the default override file in these commands, but doing so would require one to exist for every setup.
If you use `deploy-compose.yml` as your main Docker Compose configuration and you have an override file named `docker-compose.override.yml` (you can name the override file whatever you want, but you may have this specific file already), you would run Docker Compose commands like so:
- The default configuration is secure by blocking external port access, but we can take it a step further with access credentials.
- As noted by the developers of MongoDB themselves, authentication in MongoDB is fairly complex. We will be taking a simple approach that will be good enough for most cases, especially for existing configurations of LibreChat. To learn more about how mongodb authentication works with docker, see here: https://hub.docker.com/_/mongo/
- This guide focuses exclusively on terminal-based setup procedures.
- While the steps outlined may also be applicable to Docker Desktop environments, or with non-Docker, local MongoDB, or other container setups, details specific to those scenarios are not provided.
> Note: The `-d` flag detaches the current terminal instance as the container runs in the background. If you would like to see the mongodb log outputs, omit it and continue in a separate terminal.
Once running, we will enter the container's terminal and execute `mongosh`:
```bash
docker exec -it chat-mongodb mongosh
```
You should see the following output:
```bash
~/LibreChat$ docker exec -it chat-mongodb mongosh
Current Mongosh Log ID: 65bfed36f7d7e3c2b01bcc3d
Connecting to: mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/?directConnection=true&serverSelectionTimeoutMS=2000&appName=mongosh+2.1.1
Using MongoDB: 7.0.4
Using Mongosh: 2.1.1
For mongosh info see: https://docs.mongodb.com/mongodb-shell/
test>
```
Optional: While we're here, we can disable telemetry for mongodb if desired, which is anonymous usage data collected and sent to MongoDB periodically:
Execute the command below.
> Notes:
> - All subsequent commands should be run in the current terminal session, regardless of the environment (Docker, Linux, `mongosh`, etc.)
> - I will represent the actual terminal view with # example input/output or simply showing the output in some cases
Command:
```bash
disableTelemetry()
```
Example input/output:
```bash
# example input/output
test> disableTelemetry()
Telemetry is now disabled.
```
Now, we must access the admin database, which mongodb creates by default to create our admin user:
```bash
use admin
```
> switched to db admin
Replace the credentials as desired and keep in your secure records for the rest of the guide.
:warning: **Important:** if you are using `mongo-express` to [manage your database (guide here)](../../features/manage_your_database.md), you need the additional permissions for the `mongo-express` service to run correctly:
We must now create/edit the `docker-compose.override.yml` file to enable authentication for our mongodb container. You can use this configuration to start or reference:
```yaml
version: '3.4'
services:
api:
volumes:
- ./librechat.yaml:/app/librechat.yaml # Optional for using the librechat config file.
> Note: This the default database unless you changed it via the MONGO_URI; default URI: `MONGO_URI=mongodb://mongodb:27017/LibreChat`
```bash
use LibreChat
```
Now we'll create the actual credentials to be used by our Mongo connection string, which will be limited to read/write access of the "LibreChat" database. As before, replace the example with your desired credentials:
I had an issue where the newly created user would not persist after creating it. To solve this, I simply repeated the steps to ensure it was created. Here they are for your convenience:
If it's still not persisting, you can try running the commands with all containers running, but note that the `LibreChat` container will be in an error/retrying state.
Example `docker-compose.override.yml` file using the [`librechat.yaml` config file](./custom_config.md), MongoDB with [authentication](#mongodb-authentication), and `mongo-express` for [managing your MongoDB database](../../features/manage_your_database.md):
