owntone-server/docs/configuration.md

# Configuration

The configuration of OwnTone is usually located in `/etc/owntone.conf`.

## Format

Each setting consists of a name and a value. There are different types of settings: string, integer, boolean, and list.

Comments are preceded by a hash sign.

The format is as follow:

```conf
# Section
section {
    # String value
    setting = "<string-value>"
    # Integer value
    setting = <integer-value>
    # Boolean
    setting = <true|false>
    # List
    setting = { "value a", "value b", "value n"}
}
```

Some settings are device specific, in which case you add a section where you specify the device name in the heading. Say you're tired of loud death metal coming from your teenager's room:

```conf
airplay "Jared's Room" {
    max_volume = 3
}
```

## Most important settings

### general: uid

Identifier of the user running OwnTone.

Make sure that this user has read access to your configuration of `directories` in the `library` config section, and has write access to the database (`db_path`), cache directory (`cache_dir`) and log file (`logfile`). If you plan on using local audio then the user must also have access to that.

### library: directories

Path to the directory or directories containing the media to index (your library).

## Other settings

See the [template configuration file](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/owntone/owntone-server/refs/heads/master/owntone.conf.in) for a description of all the settings.