> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://ayakaleaf-pro.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# 5. Personalizing your instance

### Personalizing your instance

Before you start your Overleaf instance for the first time, update the `config/variables.env` configuration file with your custom information.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Edit the variables file">
    Open `config/variables.env` in your favorite text editor and update the environment variables below with the required values.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Required environment variables">
    Update the following variables in `config/variables.env`:

    | Name | Description | Example |
    | - | - | - |
    | `OVERLEAF_SITE_URL` | Where your instance of Overleaf is publicly available. This is used in public links, and when connecting over websockets, so **must be configured correctly**! | `https://overleaf.lilliput.com` |
    | `OVERLEAF_EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS` | This email address will be used as the `from` address for all outgoing emails. | `no-reply@lilliput.com` |
    | `OVERLEAF_ADMIN_EMAIL` | The email address where users can reach the person who runs the site. | `it-services@lilliput.com` |

    Once you have updated these environment variables, save and quit.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Setup Sandbox Compile">
    Next, configure TeX Live Full for [sandboxed-compiles.md](/on-premises/configuration/overleaf-toolkit/sandboxed-compiles "mention"). Open `config/variables.env` and update the following environment variables:

    ```dotenv title="config/variables.env" wrap theme={null}
    ALL_TEX_LIVE_DOCKER_IMAGES=ghcr.io/ayaka-notes/texlive-full:2026.1, ghcr.io/ayaka-notes/texlive-full:2025.1
    ALL_TEX_LIVE_DOCKER_IMAGE_NAMES=Texlive 2026, Texlive 2025
    TEX_LIVE_DOCKER_IMAGE=ghcr.io/ayaka-notes/texlive-full:2026.1
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Start your instance">
    To start your instance run:

    ```text title="Start the instance" theme={null}
    bin/up
    ```

    This command will download the required images including texlive, create the containers (using your customizations), and start the instance. You should see log output from the various Docker containers.

    To start them up again later (without attaching to the log output) run:

    ```text title="Start without attaching to logs" theme={null}
    bin/start
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Info>
  The Toolkit uses `docker compose` to manage the Overleaf Docker containers. The Toolkit provides a set of scripts which wrap `docker compose` and take care of most details for you.
</Info>

If all goes well, you should be able to view the login page for your new Overleaf instance by navigating to [http://127.0.0.1/](http://127.0.0.1/) or [http://localhost/](http://localhost/) in your browser.

<Warning>
  Depending on your network configuration and where your Overleaf instance is hosted, you may need to make additional configuration changes. See the Toolkit settings for more details: [toolkit-settings.md](/on-premises/configuration/overleaf-toolkit/toolkit-settings "mention")
</Warning>


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.