Environment variables

Besides CLI options and the configuration values in the configuration file, there are some environment variables that control the behavior of a forest process.

Environment variable	Value	Default	Example	Description
FOREST_KEYSTORE_PHRASE	any text	empty	asfvdda	The passphrase for the encrypted keystore
FOREST_CAR_LOADER_FILE_IO	1 or true	false	true	Load CAR files with RandomAccessFile instead of Mmap
FOREST_DB_DEV_MODE	see here	current	current	The database to use in development mode
FOREST_ACTOR_BUNDLE_PATH	file path	empty	/path/to/file.car.zst	Path to the local actor bundle, download from remote servers when not set
FIL_PROOFS_PARAMETER_CACHE	directory path	empty	/var/tmp/filecoin-proof-parameters	Path to folder that caches fil proof parameter files
FOREST_PROOFS_ONLY_IPFS_GATEWAY	1 or true	false	1	Use only IPFS gateway for proofs parameters download
FOREST_FORCE_TRUST_PARAMS	1 or true	false	1	Trust the parameters downloaded from the Cloudflare/IPFS
IPFS_GATEWAY	URL	https://proofs.filecoin.io/ipfs/	https://proofs.filecoin.io/ipfs/	The IPFS gateway to use for downloading proofs parameters
FOREST_RPC_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT	Duration (in seconds)	60	10	The default timeout for RPC calls
FOREST_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQUEST_RESPONSE_STREAMS_PER_PEER	positive integer	10	10	the maximum concurrent streams per peer for request-response-based p2p protocols
FOREST_BLOCK_DELAY_SECS	positive integer	Depends on the network	30	Duration of each tipset epoch
FOREST_PROPAGATION_DELAY_SECS	positive integer	Depends on the network	20	How long to wait for a block to propagate through the network
FOREST_MAX_FILTERS	integer	100	100	The maximum number of filters
FOREST_MAX_FILTER_RESULTS	positive integer	10,000	10000	The maximum number of filter results
FOREST_MAX_FILTER_HEIGHT_RANGE	positive integer	2880	2880	The maximum filter height range allowed, a conservative limit of one day
FOREST_STATE_MIGRATION_THREADS	integer	Depends on the machine.	3	The number of threads for state migration thread-pool. Advanced users only.
FOREST_CONFIG_PATH	string	/$FOREST_HOME/com.ChainSafe.Forest/config.toml	/path/to/config.toml	Forest configuration path. Alternatively supplied via --config cli parameter.
FOREST_TEST_RNG_FIXED_SEED	non-negative integer	empty	0	Override RNG with a reproducible one seeded by the value. This should never be used out of test context for security.
RUST_LOG	string	empty	debug,forest_libp2p::service=info	Allows for log level customization.
FOREST_IGNORE_DRAND	1 or true	empty	1	Ignore Drand validation.
FOREST_LIBP2P_METRICS_ENABLED	1 or true	empty	1	Include libp2p metrics in Forest's Prometheus output.
FOREST_F3_SIDECAR_RPC_ENDPOINT	string	127.0.0.1:23456	127.0.0.1:23456	An RPC endpoint of F3 sidecar.
FOREST_F3_SIDECAR_FFI_ENABLED	1 or true	hard-coded per chain	1	Whether or not to start the F3 sidecar via FFI
FOREST_F3_CONSENSUS_ENABLED	1 or true	hard-coded per chain	1	Whether or not to apply the F3 consensus to the node
FOREST_F3_FINALITY	integer	inherited from chain configuration	900	Set the chain finality epochs in F3 manifest
FOREST_F3_PERMANENT_PARTICIPATING_MINER_ADDRESSES	comma delimited strings	empty	t0100,t0101	Set the miner addresses that participate in F3 permanently
FOREST_F3_INITIAL_POWER_TABLE	string	empty	bafyreicmaj5hhoy5mgqvamfhgexxyergw7hdeshizghodwkjg6qmpoco7i	Set the F3 initial power table CID
FOREST_F3_ROOT	string	[FOREST_DATA_ROOT]/f3	/var/tmp/f3	Set the data directory for F3
FOREST_F3_BOOTSTRAP_EPOCH	integer	-1	100	Set the bootstrap epoch for F3
FOREST_DRAND_MAINNET_CONFIG	string	empty	refer to Drand config format section	Override DRAND_MAINNET config
FOREST_DRAND_QUICKNET_CONFIG	string	empty	refer to Drand config format section	Override DRAND_QUICKNET config
FOREST_TRACE_FILTER_MAX_RESULT	positive integer	500	1000	Sets the maximum results returned per request by trace_filter
FOREST_CHAIN_INDEXER_ENABLED	1 or true	false	1	Whether or not to index the chain to support the Ethereum RPC API
FOREST_MESSAGES_IN_TIPSET_CACHE_SIZE	positive integer	100	42	The size of an internal cache of tipsets to messages
FOREST_STATE_MIGRATION_DB_WRITE_BUFFER	non-negative integer	10000	100000	The size of db write buffer for state migration (~10MB RAM per 10k buffer)
FOREST_SNAPSHOT_GC_INTERVAL_EPOCHS	non-negative integer	20160	8000	The interval in epochs for scheduling snapshot GC
FOREST_SNAPSHOT_GC_CHECK_INTERVAL_SECONDS	non-negative integer	300	60	The interval in seconds for checking if snapshot GC should run
FOREST_DISABLE_BAD_BLOCK_CACHE	1 or true	empty	1	Whether or not to disable bad block cache
FOREST_ZSTD_FRAME_CACHE_DEFAULT_MAX_SIZE	positive integer	268435456	536870912	The default zstd frame cache max size in bytes
FOREST_JWT_DISABLE_EXP_VALIDATION	1 or true	empty	1	Whether or not to disable JWT expiration validation

FOREST_F3_SIDECAR_FFI_BUILD_OPT_OUT

This is an environment variable that allows users to opt out of building the f3-sidecar. It's only useful when building the binary.

By default, the Go f3-sidecar is built and linked into Forest binary unless environment variable FOREST_F3_SIDECAR_FFI_BUILD_OPT_OUT=1 is set.

FOREST_DB_DEV_MODE

By default, Forest will create a database of its current version or try to migrate to it. This can be overridden with the FOREST_DB_DEV_MODE environmental variable.

Value	Description
current or (unset)	Forest will either create a new database with the current version or attempt a migration if possible. On failure, it will create a new database.
latest	Forest will use the latest versioned database. No migration will be performed.
other values (e.g., cthulhu)	Forest will use the provided database (if it exists, otherwise it will create one under this name)

The databases can be found, by default, under <DATA_DIR>/<chain>/, e.g., $HOME/.local/share/forest/calibnet.

FOREST_JWT_DISABLE_EXP_VALIDATION

🔧 Use Case

Intended for controlled cross-system token sharing where expiration validation must be bypassed (e.g., load balancing with Lotus).

⚠️ Warning

Disabling expiration checks for all JWTs will also allow expired tokens. This significantly weakens security and should only be used in tightly controlled environments. Not recommended for general use.

Drand config format

{
  "servers": ["https://api.drand.sh/"],
  "chain_info": {
    "public_key": "83cf0f2896adee7eb8b5f01fcad3912212c437e0073e911fb90022d3e760183c8c4b450b6a0a6c3ac6a5776a2d1064510d1fec758c921cc22b0e17e63aaf4bcb5ed66304de9cf809bd274ca73bab4af5a6e9c76a4bc09e76eae8991ef5ece45a",
    "period": 3,
    "genesis_time": 1692803367,
    "hash": "52db9ba70e0cc0f6eaf7803dd07447a1f5477735fd3f661792ba94600c84e971",
    "groupHash": "f477d5c89f21a17c863a7f937c6a6d15859414d2be09cd448d4279af331c5d3e"
  },
  "network_type": "Quicknet"
}