# Docker/podman - how to use/pass variables -?

**URL:** <https://forum.ghost.org/t/docker-podman-how-to-use-pass-variables/32012>\
**Category:** Using Ghost\
**Created:** [August 15, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/docker-podman-how-to-use-pass-variables/32012 "2022-08-15T18:03:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lejeczek](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/lejeczek/32/18989_2.png) [@lejeczek](https://forum.ghost.org/u/lejeczek)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/docker-podman-how-to-use-pass-variables/32012/1 "2022-08-15T18:03:44Z")

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Hi guys, I’m new here so go easy on my please.

I try to use Ghost with podman - have no means to try Docker - and I checked the docs but found nothing which would really properly discuss variables users could use with ‘docker run’  
I’ve fiddled a bit blindly guessing, eg:  
… -e MYSQL\_HOST=“11.1.0.1” -e MYSQL\_USER  
or  
… -e database\_\_client=mysql -e database\_\_connection\_\_host=“11.1.0.1”  
but nothing of those end up in ‘config.production.json’ which I understand is the config which Ghost follow.

Would anybody be kind and point to documentation which covers this part(s) of Ghost?  
many thanks, L

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**Author:** ![Kevin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/kevin/32/32_2.png) [@Kevin](https://forum.ghost.org/u/Kevin)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/docker-podman-how-to-use-pass-variables/32012/2 "2022-08-15T18:40:56Z")

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If you pass environment variables they override whatever is in your config.production.js file - typically in a Docker setup that file is never touched and all of the config is provided via environment variables instead.

Environment variable format is the second style you mentioned. That’s detailed a bit more in the docs [https://ghost.org/docs/config/#running-ghost-with-config-env-variables](https://ghost.org/docs/config/#running-ghost-with-config-env-variables)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lejeczek](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/lejeczek/32/18989_2.png) [@lejeczek](https://forum.ghost.org/u/lejeczek)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 12:00pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/docker-podman-how-to-use-pass-variables/32012/3 "2022-08-16T12:00:21Z")

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Can those two be mixed together - I think it’s not playing up well - meaning that some vars are in .json and others are set with ‘-e’ ?