#3146·documenso

Documentation != Reality, NEXT_PRIVATE_DIRECT_DATABASE_URL being not required

Author: BloodyIronCreated Aug 3, 2026Updated Sep 18, 2026
Labelsstatus: review needed

Issue Description

Spinning up Documenso for the first time in my kubernetes cluster.

Since this is a lower end implementation, I did not declare "NEXT_PRIVATE_DIRECT_DATABASE_URL", and according to the documentation ( https://docs.documenso.com/docs/self-hosting/configuration/environment#database-configuration ) "Defaults to NEXT_PRIVATE_DATABASE_URL when not set", and I have NEXT_PRIVATE_DATABASE_URL declared.

However the container spat out:

bash
️  Running database migrations...
Prisma schema loaded from ../../packages/prisma/schema.prisma
Error: Prisma schema validation - (get-config wasm)
Error code: P1012
error: Environment variable not found: NEXT_PRIVATE_DIRECT_DATABASE_URL.
  -->  /app/packages/prisma/schema.prisma:24
   | 
23 |   url       = env("NEXT_PRIVATE_DATABASE_URL")
24 |   directUrl = env("NEXT_PRIVATE_DIRECT_DATABASE_URL")
   | 
Validation Error Count: 1
[Context: getConfig]
Prisma CLI Version : 6.19.3
npm notice

Suggesting the declaration is actually required. Er-go, this reads as a bug to me, or perhaps inaccurate documentation.

This is with the container version as of writing, which I think is "v2.16.0" (I'm using the "latest" tag).

Steps to Reproduce

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Expected Behavior

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Current Behavior

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Screenshots (optional)

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Operating System [e.g., Windows 10]

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Browser [e.g., Chrome, Firefox]

No response

Version [e.g., 2.13.0]

2.16.0

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