5. Personalizing your instance

Set the port, site URL and TeX Live image for a local instance on your Mac, check the Docker VM kernel, and start Ayakaleaf Pro.

1. Container settings

   Edit these existing entries in config/overleaf.rc:

   config/overleaf.rc

   PROJECT_NAME=ayakaleaf-macos
   SERVER_PRO=true
   OVERLEAF_LISTEN_IP=127.0.0.1
   OVERLEAF_PORT=8080
   SIBLING_CONTAINERS_ENABLED=true
   DOCKER_SOCKET_PATH=/var/run/docker.sock
   

   Keep the default data paths and the bundled MongoDB and Redis services. With OVERLEAF_LISTEN_IP=127.0.0.1, only browsers on this Mac can open the instance.

2. Application settings

   In config/variables.env, set these values, replacing any active entries with the same names:

   config/variables.env

   OVERLEAF_SITE_URL=http://localhost:8080
   TEX_LIVE_DOCKER_IMAGE=ghcr.io/ayaka-notes/texlive-full:2026.1
   ALL_TEX_LIVE_DOCKER_IMAGES=ghcr.io/ayaka-notes/texlive-full:2026.1
   ALL_TEX_LIVE_DOCKER_IMAGE_NAMES="TeX Live 2026"
   

   Generate a session secret:

   openssl rand -hex 32
   

   Add the result as OVERLEAF_SESSION_SECRET in config/variables.env. Without it, every bin/up that recreates the container logs all users out, see Environment Variables.

   For a local instance without email, leave the SMTP settings and OVERLEAF_EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS unset. Git Bridge, external authentication and the other integrations can be added later with their own configuration pages.

3. Check the Docker VM's Linux kernel

   MongoDB runs on the Linux kernel of Docker Desktop’s virtual machine, not on macOS. Check its version before the first start:

   docker info --format '{{.KernelVersion}}'
   

   MongoDB documents an incompatibility with Linux kernels 6.19 through 7.0.13, which also affects MongoDB in Docker. The fix is a kernel 7.0.14 or later, which comes with a Docker Desktop update, see MongoDB’s production notes.

   The tested Docker Desktop used 7.0.12-linuxkit. On that kernel, MongoDB started with the following setting. Add it to config/docker-compose.override.yml, merged with any services you already have there:

   config/docker-compose.override.yml

   services:
     mongo:
       environment:
         GLIBC_TUNABLES: glibc.pthread.rseq=1
   

   This is a workaround verified on the tested configuration, not a replacement for the kernel update that MongoDB recommends. If your kernel is outside the affected range, do not add it just because you use macOS.

4. Start your instance

   From the Toolkit directory, run:

   bin/up -d
   

   The Toolkit initializes MongoDB’s replica set, pulls the TeX Live image and starts the application. The first download takes a while. To follow the progress:

   bin/docker-compose ps
   bin/docker-compose logs --tail=100 -f sharelatex
   

   Press Ctrl+C to stop following the logs. The containers keep running.

   Check the published port and the first-run page:

   bin/docker-compose port sharelatex 80
   curl -I http://localhost:8080/launchpad
   

   The port should be 127.0.0.1:8080.

To open the instance from other computers later, change the listen address and site URL, and set up HTTPS, as described in 5. Personalizing your instance of the Linux guide. The Mac then has to stay awake, see Keep the instance available.

Next step

Continue with 6. Post-installation tasks.