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3. Change Relay Settings

Every relay setting is an environment variable in env/relay.env. The container reads the file only when it is created, so a change takes effect after you recreate the container.

For every variable, its default and its valid values, see the Environment Variables Reference.

env/relay.env is your own copy of env/relay.env.example, and .gitignore excludes it, so your stream keys cannot be committed and git pull never changes the file. If you have not created it yet:

cp env/relay.env.example env/relay.env

Without it, docker compose stops with env file …/env/relay.env not found.

The file only needs the values you change. Any variable that is commented out or missing uses the image's default, so a new variable in a later release needs no edit to your file.

3.1 Change a Setting

  1. In env/relay.env, set the variable and save the file. For example, to lower the Twitch resolution:

    TWITCH_HEIGHT=540

    Write one NAME=value per line, with no spaces around = and no quotes. A variable that is commented out, or missing from the file, uses its default.

  2. Recreate the container so it reads the new values:

    docker compose up -d --force-recreate

  3. Confirm the container is running and each service is enabled:

    docker compose ps relay
docker compose logs relay | grep -E "service enabled|Skipping|ERROR"

    The status is Up, and each service you configured prints … configuration complete, and service enabled.

    If you see an ERROR: line, the value was rejected and the container stopped. The line names the variable. Correct it and repeat from step 2, or undo your edit to get the relay back. See Invalid Environment Value.

3.2 What Turns Each Service On

Service Enabled when Setup guide
Twitch TWITCH_KEY is set Stream to Twitch
YouTube YOUTUBE_KEY is set Stream to YouTube
Archive ARCHIVE_PATH is set to an absolute path inside the container that the nginx user can write to. An unwritable or invalid path stops the container. Archive Streams to Disk

PUBLISH_IP_RANGE controls which addresses may send a stream to the relay; see OBS Is Refused. NGINX_ERROR_LOG_LEVEL controls how much the relay logs; see Increase Log Verbosity.

3.3 Upgrade From a Tracked env/relay.env

Clones made before env/relay.env.example was added track env/relay.env itself. If git pull stops with Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by merge: env/relay.env, move your file aside, pull, then put it back:

cp env/relay.env ~/relay.env.mine
git update-index --no-skip-worktree env/relay.env
git checkout -- env/relay.env
git pull
mv ~/relay.env.mine env/relay.env

git status no longer lists env/relay.env, and your settings are unchanged. The --no-skip-worktree line undoes the workaround that older versions of this page recommended, and does nothing if you never ran it.

3.4 See Also