zulip/docs/production/settings.md

Server configuration

This page explains the configuration options in /etc/zulip/settings.py, the main configuration file used by system administrators to configure their Zulip server.

Organization administrators can also configure many options for a Zulip organization from the web or desktop app. See system and deployment configuration documentation for advanced configuration of the various services that make up a complete Zulip installation (/etc/zulip/zulip.conf).

Server settings overview

The Zulip server self-documents more than a hundred settings in the organized comments in /etc/zulip/settings.py. You can read the latest version of the settings.py template in a browser.

Important settings in /etc/zulip/settings.py include:

• The mandatory EXTERNAL_HOST and ZULIP_ADMINISTRATOR settings, which are prefilled by the installer.
• Authentication methods, including data synchronization options like LDAP and SCIM.
• The email gateway, which lets users send emails into Zulip.
• Video and voice call integrations.
• How the server should store uploaded files.

Changing server settings

To change any of the settings in /etc/zulip/settings.py, modify and save the file on your Zulip server, and restart the server with the following command:

su zulip -c '/home/zulip/deployments/current/scripts/restart-server'

If you have questions about how to configure your server, best-effort community support is available in the Zulip development community. Contact sales@zulip.com to learn about paid support options.

Customizing user onboarding

Navigation tour video

New users are offered a 2-minute video tour, which shows where to find everything to get started with Zulip.

You can modify NAVIGATION_TOUR_VIDEO_URL in /etc/zulip/settings.py in order to host the official video on your network, or to provide your own introductory video with information on how your organization uses Zulip. A value of None disables the navigation tour video experience.

Terms of Service and Privacy policy

:::{important}

If you are using this feature, please make sure the name of your organization appears prominently in all documents, to avoid confusion with policies for Zulip Cloud.

:::

Zulip lets you configure your server's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy pages.

Policy documents are stored as Markdown files in the configured POLICIES_DIRECTORY. We recommend using /etc/zulip/policies as the directory, so that your policies are naturally backed up with the server's other configurations.

To provide Terms of Service and a Privacy Policy for your users, place Markdown files named terms.md and privacy.md in the configured directory, and set TERMS_OF_SERVICE_VERSION to 1.0 to enable this feature.

You can put additional files in the same directory to document other policies; if you do so, you may want to:

• Create a Markdown file sidebar_index.md listing the pages in your policies site; this generates the policies site navigation.
• Create a Markdown file missing.md with custom content for 404s in this directory.