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Enabling password authentication

If you’re using an external Redis service and need to provide a password you can do this by setting the OVERLEAF_REDIS_PASS and REDIS_PASSWORD environment variables in the config/variables.env file and running the bin/up -d command to recreate the sharelatex container. If you’re running a local instance of Redis, you’ll need to configure the redis service to start with password authentication. After setting the above environment variables, you’ll also need to complete these additional steps: Create a docker-compose.override.yml file in the config/ directory with the following content:
config/docker-compose.override.yml
If you have AOF persistence enabled, you’ll need to add --appendonly yes to the command.
Run bin/up -d to recreate the containers.

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Enabling Append-Only File Persistence

(Original: https://docs.overleaf.com/on-premises/configuration/overleaf-toolkit/redis#enabling-append-only-file-persistence) Redis AOF (Append-Only File) persistence provides a robust way to ensure data durability by logging every write operation received by the server. Unlike RDB snapshots, which take point-in-time copies of your dataset, AOF keeps a complete record of all changes made to your data.
Disabling RDB is optional. It’s generally recommended that both persistence methods be used together. Before making any changes in production, review the advantages and disadvantages of running AOF and RDB together.
You can read more about enabling AOF persistence in Redis here: https://redis.io/docs/latest/operate/oss_and_stack/management/persistence/#how-i-can-switch-to-aof-if-im-currently-using-dumprdb-snapshotsarrow-up-right
  1. Schedule a maintenance window for the upgrade.
  2. Stop the instance using bin/stop and take a backup of the config/ and data/ folders.
  3. Run bin/up to start the instance
  4. Run the command docker exec -it redis sh
  5. Run the command redis-cli to open the Redis command line interface
  6. In the redis-cli, run the command config set appendonly yes
  7. Now you’ll need to wait for AOF rewrite to finish persisting the data. You can do that by typing INFO persistence into the redis-cli and waiting for aof_rewrite_in_progress and aof_rewrite_scheduled to be 0, and validating that aof_last_bgrewrite_status is ok.
  8. Exit the redis-cli by typing exit and pressing the return key
  9. Exit the redis container by typing exit and pressing the return key
  10. ​Run the command ls ./data/redis and confirm you can see the appendonly.aof file
  11. Edit the config/overleaf.rc file and change the REDIS_AOF_PERSISTENCE environment variable from false to true
  12. Run bin/up -d and make sure the application works (The project editor and history pane are functional).
Last modified on October 5, 2026