Virtually all Lychee settings are stored in the database, alongside the metadata of the images and albums. While all the settings can be changed using the web browser, some of them are featured in an easy-to-use high-level GUI whereas others require the use of a more textual, lower-level interface.
Settings are accessible to the administrator after logging in by clicking on the cogwheel icon in the top-left corner and selecting Settings from the menu that pops up.
The following settings can be changed via the easy-to-use GUI.
The text input fields at the top of the page can be used to change the username and password of the current user. These settings are available for non-administrator users as well, provided that their account is not restricted. Current username and password must be provided for verification (with the exception of the administrator, who does not need to provide the username).
Changes the order in which albums/subalbums and photos are displayed.
Albums can be sorted by their Creation Time, Title, Description, Public status, and the earliest and latest Take Date of the photos inside the album.
Photos can be sorted by their Upload Time, Take Date (extracted from the metadata inside the file such as EXIF), Title (which defaults to the file name), Description, Public status, Star (favorite) status, and Photo Format.
Order can be either Ascending or Descending.
Textual fields (Title, Description) are sorted case-insensitively and using natural ordering (9 precedes 10, etc.).
This key is required to use the Import from Dropbox feature of Lychee. You can get your personal drop-ins app key from the Dropbox website.
Changes the language of the Lychee user interface.
Sets the license of any subsequently uploaded or imported photos. Need help choosing?
Selects the layout of the photos inside the albums. Available options include: * Square thumbnails: The photos will be displayed as square thumbnails cropped from the center of each original photo, laid out in a uniform grid. * With aspect, justified: The photos will be displayed as thumbnails that preserve the originals' aspect ratio; each row will be scaled up or down to ensure that the photos are justified to both margins. * With aspect, unjustified: The photos will be displayed as thumbnails that preserve the originals' aspect ratio; all photos will have a uniform height, therefore the rows will not be justified to the right margin.
Note: the albums/subalbums are always laid out using the Square thumbnails layout.
Determines whether the search bar is available when nobody is logged in (in the public mode).
Determines if an overlay with metadata is displayed at the bottom of the screen in the photo view. The overlay can display the following data: * Photo EXIF data: shutter speed, aperture value, ISO value, focal length, and lens used * Photo description * Photo date taken
Note that these settings determine the defaults but the person viewing the gallery is free to override them. The overlay can be toggled on/off by clicking on the image in the photo view, and the data displayed can be changed using the o keyboard shortcut.
Determines the availability of the standalone map view as well as the small map preview in the info sidebar in the photo view, used for displaying the location where the photos were taken. Maps can be enabled just for the logged-in users or also in the public mode. The standalone map view can display photos from the current album only or also including its subalbums.
Note that enabling the maps adds a viewing-time dependency of your gallery on an external server belonging to the map tile provider and, in the process, leaks coarse location data to that provider. You can choose between several available map tile providers. All the providers use the OpenStreetMap data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Much of the appearance of the Lychee web interface is determined by the CSS. The bottom of the basic settings screen features a text input field where custom CSS can be entered to tweak the Lychee user interface. Effective use of this feature requires the knowledge of CSS and the internals of the Lychee front end which go beyond the scope of this document, but check the FAQ for a few examples.
Unlike the rest of the config, this field is stored in the text file public/dist/user.css and can be modified directly there using your favorite editor.
Clicking More at the bottom of the basic settings screen brings up the full settings, where every configuration option from the database can be modified. This is a low-level interface so be careful what you are doing! Any modifications made are validated and take effect after clicking on the Save my modification, I accept the Risk! button at the bottom of the screen.
version(integer; default value: 040000)
Internal Lychee database version number. Do not change it.
username and password(string; empty by default)
The administrator's username and password, encoded using bcrypt. If you ever forget either of them and can't access your gallery, see this FAQ.
check_for_updates(boolean; default value: 0)
If activated, the server will periodically (at most once a day) check with GitHub if a newer release of Lychee is available and if so, it will display information about it in the login dialog and the About Lychee dialog.
Note that this functionality is currently not available with Lychee v4.
dropbox_key(string; empty by default)
See Dropbox Key.
api_key(string; empty by default)
Makes it possible to bypass the default Lychee CSRF token validation by providing a valid key in the request header. This is of importance exclusively for developers who want to interact with the Lychee server outside of the Lychee front end.
allow_online_git_pull and force_migration_in_production(boolean; default values: 1 and 0, respectively)
FIXME refer to installation or update wiki.
site_title(string; default value: Lychee v4)
Sets the site title of the Lychee gallery in the web browser.
site_copyright_enable(boolean; default value 1)
Determines whether to display the copyright message at the bottom of the gallery. See also site_copyright_begin and landing_owner.
site_copyright_begin and site_copyright_end(integer; default values 2019)
Determine the year range in the copyright message at the bottom of the gallery (see site_copyright_enable).
additional_footer_text(string; empty by default)
Adds an additional paragraph of personal text underneath the copyright message at the bottom of the gallery.
display_social_in_gallery(boolean; default value 0)
Adds icons linking to social sites above the copyright message at the bottom of the gallery. See also landing_facebook.
public_search(boolean; default value 0)
See Public search.
hide_version_number(boolean; default value 0)
Suppresses the displaying of Lychee version information in the login dialog.
downloadable(boolean; default value 0)
Determines whether users can download photos that are not owned by them. Note that this setting is not applicable to the most common case of photos in a public album – in that case, the owner specifies download permissions on a per-album basis via the album visibility dialog while making the album public. The setting is applicable in the remaining cases though, such as public photos in private albums and private albums shared with individual users.
See also full_photo.
share_button_visible(boolean; default value 0)
Determines whether display social media sharing links. Note that this setting is not applicable to the most common case of photos in a public album – in that case, the owner specifies sharing links visibility per-album basis via the album visibility dialog while making the album public. The setting is applicable in the remaining cases though, such as public photos in private albums and private albums shared with individual users.
raw_formats(string; default value .tex)
List of filename extensions of raw photos, |-separated.
zip64(boolean; default value 1)
Determines whether to use the Zip64 archive format when downloading multiple photos at a time. This is the preferred format as it is not subject to any restrictive limits, but some unzip implementations are reported to not support it. Changing this value to 0 will use an older, more universally supported zip format that is, however, limited to a 4GB archive size and 64K archived files total.
force_32bit_ids(boolean; default value 0)
Lychee uses 64-bit IDs for albums and photos when the server is running on a 64-bit platform, which ensures a better uniqueness of these IDs. It uses shorter, 32-bit IDs when running on a 32-bit platform. This setting forces the use of 32-bit IDs even on 64-bit platforms. This may be required for proper operation in some strangely configured shared hosting environments but in general, using this setting is not recommended.
update_check_every_days(integer; default value 3)
FIXME refer to installation or update wiki.
sorting_Photos_col(possible values: id|takestamp|title|description|public|star|type; default value takestamp)
See Sorting.
sorting_Albums_col(possible values: id|title|description|public|max_takestamp|min_takestamp|created_at; default value max_takestamp)
See Sorting.
sorting_Photos_order and sorting_Albums_order(possible values: ASC|DESC; default values ASC)
See Sorting.
lang(string; default value en)
See Language.
layout(possible values: 0|1|2 for square, justified, and unjustified, respectively; default value 1)
See Layout.
image_overlay(boolean; default value 1)
See Overlay.
image_overlay_type(possible values: exif|desc|takedate; default value desc)
See Overlay.
default_license(string; default value none)
See License.
full_photo(boolean; default value 1)
Determines whether users can view original (full-size) photos that are not owned by them. Note that this setting is not applicable to the most common case of photos in a public album – in that case, the owner specifies full-photo permissions on a per-album basis via the album visibility dialog while making the album public. The setting is applicable in the remaining cases though, such as public photos in private albums and private albums shared with individual users.
See also downloadable.
photos_wraparound(boolean; default value 1)
Determines whether the next/previous arrows (or left/right swipes) in the photo view wrap from the last photo in the album to the first one and vice versa.
imagick(boolean; default value 1)
Determines the use of ImageMagick for image processing during upload/import time, if it is available. Otherwise, the built-in GD library will be used.
FIXME link to FAQ
skip_duplicates(boolean; default value 0)
Determines whether to skip photos and albums during upload/import time if they already exist in the gallery. Can be handy with the Import from Server if one wishes to periodically synchronize an external directory with the Lychee gallery, as it will import only the newly added albums and photos then.
small_max_width and small_max_height(integer; default values 0 and 360, respectively)
Specify the size limits, in pixels, of the smaller of the aspect-preserving intermediate images generated during the photo upload/import time. These images are used in the album view for displaying photo thumbnails in the justified and unjustified layouts.
A value of 0 for one of the limits (as is the case with small_max_width by default) results in that limit being ignored while the other dimension equals the other limit (e.g., by default, a 6000x4000 original will be scaled down to 540x360). Setting both limits to 0 will disable the generation of that intermediate image size.
Note that for a given intermediate image to be generated, the original must be larger than the generated intermediate image would be. E.g., by default, a 320x240 original will result in no intermediate image.
FIXME link to FAQ
medium_max_width and medium_max_height(integer; default values 1920 and 1080, respectively)
Specify the size limits, in pixels, of the larger of the aspect-preserving intermediate images generated during the photo upload/import time. These images are used in the photo view and can thus be displayed in sizes up to full-screen.
See small_max_width for a detailed explanation of how these limits work. As an example, by default, a 6000x4000 original will be scaled down to 1620x1080.
FIXME link to FAQ
compression_quality(integer in the 0-100 range; default value 90)
Determines the compression quality of the intermediate images generated in the JPEG format.
delete_imported(boolean; default value 0)
Specifies whether to delete the original files during an Import from Server operation. Note that the initial dialog window has a checkbox that enables the user to override the value set here.
thumb_2x, small_2x, and medium_2x(boolean; default value 1)
Determine whether to generate HiDPI variants of each intermediate image type (in addition to the regular ones), for use on high-resolution displays. thumb refers to the thumbnails used in the square layout, small to the thumbnails used in the justified and unjustified layouts (see also small_max_width), and medium to the images used in the photo view (see also medium_max_width).
For each intermediate image type, the size limits of the HiDPI variant are taken from the corresponding regular variant, multiplied by 2. E.g., by default, a 6000x4000 original will be scaled down to a small image of 540x360 and a small_2x image of 1080x720.
Note that thumb images have a fixed size of 200x200 (400x400 for thumb_2x).
FIXME link to FAQ
Mod_Frame(boolean; default value 1)
Enables the picture frame mode.
FIXME link to usage page
Mod_Frame_refresh(integer; default value 30)
Specifies the refresh time in the picture frame mode, in seconds.
FIXME link to usage page
map_display and map_display_public(boolean; default values 0)
See Maps.
map_provider(possible values: Wikimedia|OpenStreetMap.org|OpenStreetMap.de|OpenStreetMap.fr|RRZE; default value Wikimedia)
See Maps.
map_include_subalbums(boolean; default value 0)
See Maps.
landing_page_enable(boolean; default value 1)
Enables the landing page.
FIXME link to usage
landing_owner(string; default value John Smith)
Specifies the name of the owner of the gallery, displayed in the copyright note at the bottom of the screen (see site_copyright_enable).
landing_title and landing_subtitle(string; default values John Smith and Cats, Dogs & Humans Photography, respectively)
Specify the title and subtitle displayed on the landing page of the gallery.
landing_facebook, landing_flickr, landing_twitter, landing_instagram, and landing_youtube(string; default values https://www.facebook.com/JohnSmith, https://www.flickr.com/JohnSmith, https://www.twitter.com/JohnSmith, https://instagram.com/JohnSmith, and https://www.youtube.com/JohnSmith, respectively)
Specify the URLs to the various social media spaces associated with the gallery. To disable a particular media icon, set the corresponding setting to an empty string.
landing_background(string; default value dist/cat.jpg)
Image displayed in the background of the landing page.
public_recent(boolean; default value 0)
Determines whether the Recent smart album is displayed in the public mode.
recent_age(integer; default value 1)
Specifies the age of photos to be included in the Recent smart album, in days.
public_starred(boolean; default value 0)
Determines whether the Starred smart album is displayed in the public mode.
SL_enable and SL_for_admin(boolean; default values 0)
This functionality is disabled by default.
Specify whether symbolic linking should be enabled for regular users (including the public mode) and the administrator, respectively.
The idea is to create symbolic links that will be removed after a set period of time. The goal of this approach is to avoid someone finding upload/small/1234567890abcdef.jpg or upload/thumb/1234567890abcdef.jpeg and deduce the url of the full sized picture: upload/big/1234567890abcdef.jpg In such way we protect the access to full sized pictures.
Enabling this might impact performances since when the life time expires, the entire set of links needs to be recreated before the gallery can be visible. This will impact on huge galleries.
SL_life_time_days(integer; default value 1)
Specifies the life time of symbolic links, in days. After that time, the links are removed and new ones are created in their place, as needed.
{tip} Caught a mistake or want to contribute to the documentation? Edit this page on Github!