Configuration & Runtime Options

Command-line flags

Flag	Description
-c	Config directory; can also be set with the GATELY_CONFIG_DIR environment variable
-listen	Override the admin UI listen address, e.g. :16680
-apply	Declarative config directory; can also be set with the GATELY_APPLY_DIR environment variable. See below
-version	Print version information

Environment variable	Description
GATELY_INITIAL_PASSWORD	Initial administrator password on first start (at least 8 characters); defaults to gately.cn when unset; has no effect once the account exists

Config directory

All configuration lives in the config directory, with one plain-text <name>.json file per module, written atomically with file mode 0600. This means you can:

• Inspect it with any text editor;
• Put the directory in git, audit every change with diffs and roll back at any time;
• Back up by simply copying the directory.

Note

ssl.json contains certificate private keys. Before committing it to version control, make sure the repository is private, or add the file to your ignore list.

Declarative configuration

With -apply <dir>, every start copies the <name>.json files in that directory over the config directory; files with identical content are not rewritten. This suits distributing configuration from a git repository, a Kubernetes ConfigMap or a deployment script.

• Each file is validated as JSON before writing; if any file is invalid, Gately refuses to start;
• account.json and tokens.json cannot be overwritten; accounts and tokens can only be managed in the admin UI;
• The overwritten content is saved in the config history and can be rolled back at any time.

External program directory

The Tailscale, frp and cloudflared modules supervise the official external programs. Gately looks for each executable in this order:

1. The path set in the module settings;
2. PATH;
3. The bin/ subdirectory of the config directory.

For Docker deployments, put the binaries in the mounted config directory, for example ./gately-data/bin/frpc. Tailscale needs both tailscale and tailscaled. See Tailscale / frp / cloudflared for details.

Runtime logs

System and module runtime logs are written to logs/ in the configuration directory by default, so they are still available on the System logs page and each module page after a restart or upgrade:

• One JSON Lines file per source: logs/<module ID>.log, with system logs in logs/gately.log. On startup the most recent entries, up to "Log retention lines", are restored from the file;
• New entries are written in batches at most 1 second later. A file is rotated to .1 once it exceeds the limit (2 MB by default) and only that one previous file is kept, so each source uses at most twice the limit;
• Under Settings → Network & Runtime → Runtime parameters you can turn off "Persist logs" or change "Log file limit", effective immediately. When off, logs are kept in memory only and cleared on restart;
• Clearing a module's logs in the UI also deletes its files;
• Configuration backups do not include logs/ or the audit log audit.log.

Backup and restore

"Settings" provides configuration backup and restore, and is also the entry point for importing Lucky configurations.