Reset the admin password

Japella’s primary web login uses the admin user (see Getting Started for the default credentials). If you are locked out, you can force the admin password back to admin on the next application startup by setting an environment variable.

How it works

When JAPELLA_RESET_ADMIN_PASSWORD is set to any non-empty value, Japella runs during its database startup sequence and:

  1. If a user named admin exists, its password is reset to admin.

  2. If no admin user exists but the variable is set, behaviour matches the “no users” path: a default admin account may be created with password admin (see application logs).

The variable is read once the database connection and bootstrap steps succeed. Check Japella logs for warnings and confirmation messages.

Security

  • Remove or unset JAPELLA_RESET_ADMIN_PASSWORD after you have logged in again.

  • Log in immediately and change the password to a strong value.

Leaving this variable set permanently would reset the password on every reconnect cycle where that code path runs; treat it as a one-time recovery switch.

Docker Compose

Add the environment variable to the Japella service, restart the container, sign in, then remove the variable and restart again.

services:
  japella:
    environment:
      - JAPELLA_RESET_ADMIN_PASSWORD=true
      # ... your other JAPELLA_DB_* settings ...

Or for a one-off run:

docker compose run --rm -e JAPELLA_RESET_ADMIN_PASSWORD=true japella

(Adjust the command to match how you normally start Japella; the important part is exporting the variable for a process that performs a full database bootstrap.)

Docker / Podman (single container)

docker run -e JAPELLA_RESET_ADMIN_PASSWORD=true ... ghcr.io/jamesread/japella

systemd

In your unit file’s [Service] section:

Environment=JAPELLA_RESET_ADMIN_PASSWORD=true

Remove the line after recovery and run systemctl daemon-reload before restarting permanently.

Bare metal or custom installs

export JAPELLA_RESET_ADMIN_PASSWORD=true
./japella   # or your usual start command
unset JAPELLA_RESET_ADMIN_PASSWORD

After reset, sign in with username admin and password admin, then change the password in the UI.