Skip to content

paperless-ngx/ansible

Repository files navigation

Status Event
Code Testing Weekly schedule
Code Testing Last PR

Ansible Role: paperless_ngx

Installs and configures paperless-ngx EDMS.

1. Requirements

1.1. Ansible

ansible_version_minimum: "2.15" or newer is required.

The following Ansible collections need to be installed (via ansible-galaxy collection install)

  • community.general
  • ansible.posix

1.2. Supported operating systems

  • Debian (>=11)
  • Ubuntu (>=focal)

2. Role Variables

Most configuration variables from paperless-ngx itself are available and accept their respective arguments. Every PAPERLESS_* configuration variable is lowercased and instead prefixed with paperless_ngx_conf_* in defaults/main.yml.

For a full listing including explanations and allowed values, see the current documentation.

The following sections are devided into:

  • Role specific variables
  • Original paperless-ngx configuration variables

2.1. Role specific variables

Name Default Value Description
paperless_ngx_db_type sqlite Available db types are sqlite and postgresql. If postgresql is chosen then the other db_ vars must be configured too.
paperless_ngx_dependency_install_tmp_dir /tmp/ Directory for temporary dependency installation files
paperless_ngx_dir_force_permission_exclude [] Which directories should be skipped from permission check/setting. See docs.
paperless_ngx_dir_installation /opt/paperless-ngx The directory where paperless-ngx static installation files are written to.
paperless_ngx_dir_python /opt/python/{{ paperless_ngx_python_version_short }} The directory where python binaries are compiled to.
paperless_ngx_dir_runtime_data /var/lib/paperless-ngx The directory where the runtime data will be stored.
paperless_ngx_dir_virtualenv "{{ paperless_ngx_dir_installation }}/.venv" The directory for the needed python venv.
paperless_ngx_jbig2enc_enabled true Whether to install and use jbig2enc for OCRmyPDF.
paperless_ngx_jbig2enc_lossy false Run jbig2enc in lossy mode or not.
paperless_ngx_jbig2enc_version 0.29 Which version to install.
paperless_ngx_redis_host localhost Redis host
paperless_ngx_redis_port 6379 Redis port
paperless_ngx_system_group paperlessngx The group to which the system user belongs.
paperless_ngx_system_user paperlessngx The user that will execute the services and own the data.
paperless_ngx_system_user_additional_groups [] Optionally add the system user to more groups. For example to read TLS certificates that can be read by the group ssl-cert.
paperless_ngx_version latest Sofware version to install. Use latest or any specific version in the format '2.0.0'. Only paperless_ngx_version_minimum: '2.0.0' and higher supported.
``

2.2. Paperless-ngx configuration variables

All the upcoming vars correspond with the vars from paperless-ngx docs. The following list of variables is sorted alphabetically to simplify maintenance of this role. In the official documentation, these are assigned to corresponding categories.

To save reading space a few abbreviations are used in the table down below:

  • I - Implemented in this role? [Y/N]
  • O - Variable is meant to be overridden? [Y/N] If No it should not be altered.
  • H - Hint
  • V - Version of paperless-ngx that introduced this var.
Name Default Value I O H V
paperless_ngx_conf_account_allow_signups false Y Y 2.5
paperless_ngx_conf_account_default_http_protocol https Y Y 2.5
paperless_ngx_conf_account_email_verification optional Y Y 2.6
paperless_ngx_conf_account_session_remember false Y Y 2.7
paperless_ngx_conf_admin_mail root@localhost Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_admin_password Y Y The superuser password. If not defined by the user, a random password will be generated -> see section below about passwords.
paperless_ngx_conf_admin_user admin Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_allowed_hosts "*" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_app_logo None Y Y 2.4
paperless_ngx_conf_app_title None Y Y 2.4
paperless_ngx_conf_apps None Y Y 2.5
paperless_ngx_conf_audit_log_enabled false Y Y 2.0
paperless_ngx_conf_auto_login_username "" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_bind_addr "[::]" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_asn_barcode_prefix ASN Y Y 1.12
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_collate_double_sided_subdir_name "double-sided" Y Y 1.17
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_collate_double_sided_tiff_support false Y Y 1.17
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_barcode_dpi 300 Y Y 1.16
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_barcode_max_pages 0 Y Y 2.12
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_barcode_scanner "PYZBAR" Y Y 1.14
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_barcode_string 'PATCHT' Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_barcode_tiff_support false Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_barcode_upscale 0.0 Y Y 1.16
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_delete_duplicates false Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_enable_asn_barcode false Y Y 1.12
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_enable_barcodes false Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_enable_collate_double_sided false Y Y 1.17
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_enable_tag_barcode false Y Y 2.5
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_ignore_patterns [".DS_STORE/", "._", ".stfolder/", ".stversions/", ".localized/*", "desktop.ini"] Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_inotify_delay 0.5 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_polling_delay 5 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_polling_retry_count 5 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_polling 0 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_recursive false Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_subdirs_as_tags false Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_consumer_tag_barcode_mapping '{"TAG:(.*)": "\\g<1>"}' Y Y 2.5
paperless_ngx_conf_consumption_dir "{{ paperless_ngx_dir_runtime_data }}/consumption" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_convert_binary convert Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_convert_memory_limit 0 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_convert_tmpdir "" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_cookie_prefix "" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_cors_allowed_hosts http://localhost:8000 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_csrf_trusted_origins Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_data_dir "{{ paperless_ngx_dir_runtime_data }}/data" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_date_order "DMY" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_db_timeout Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_dbengine Y N Not used by the role
paperless_ngx_conf_dbhost localhost Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_dbname paperlessngx Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_dbpass "" Y Y The db password. If not defined by the user, a random password will be generated -> see section below about passwords.
paperless_ngx_conf_dbport 5432 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_dbsslcert None Y Y 1.14
paperless_ngx_conf_dbsslkey None Y Y 1.14
paperless_ngx_conf_dbsslmode prefer Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_dbsslrootcert None Y Y 1.14
paperless_ngx_conf_dbuser paperlessngx Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_disable_regular_login false Y Y 2.6
paperless_ngx_conf_email_certificate_location None Y Y 1.17
paperless_ngx_conf_email_from {{ paperless_ngx_conf_email_host_user }} Y Y 2.0
paperless_ngx_conf_email_gnupg_home None Y Y 2.12
paperless_ngx_conf_email_host "localhost" Y Y 2.0
paperless_ngx_conf_email_host_user "" Y Y 2.0
paperless_ngx_conf_email_host_password "" Y Y 2.0
paperless_ngx_conf_email_port 25 Y Y 2.0
paperless_ngx_conf_email_task_cron "*/10 * * * *" Y Y 1.12
paperless_ngx_conf_email_use_ssl false Y Y 2.0
paperless_ngx_conf_email_use_tls false Y Y 2.0
paperless_ngx_conf_empty_trash_delay 30 Y Y 2.10
paperless_ngx_conf_empty_trash_dir "{{ paperless_ngx_dir_runtime_data }}/trash" Y Y 2.10
paperless_ngx_conf_empty_trash_task_cron "0 1 * * *" Y Y 2.10
paperless_ngx_conf_enable_compression true Y Y 1.13
paperless_ngx_conf_enable_flower false Y Y Whether to start flower or not. See using flower for more information 1.10
paperless_ngx_conf_enable_http_remote_user false Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_enable_http_remote_user_api false Y Y 2.5
paperless_ngx_conf_enable_gpg_decryptor false Y Y 2.12
paperless_ngx_conf_enable_nltk 1 Y Y 1.11
paperless_ngx_conf_enable_update_check Y Y Will be removed in the future
paperless_ngx_conf_filename_date_order "" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_filename_format_remove_none false Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_filename_format "" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_force_script_name "" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_gs_binary gs Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_http_remote_user_header_name HTTP_REMOTE_USER Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_ignore_dates "" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_index_task_cron "0 0 * * *" Y Y 1.12
paperless_ngx_conf_logging_dir "{{ paperless_ngx_dir_runtime_data }}/log"
paperless_ngx_conf_logout_redirect_url Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_logrotate_max_backups 20 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_logrotate_max_size 1024 * 1024 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_max_image_pixels None Y Y 2.6
paperless_ngx_conf_media_root "{{ paperless_ngx_dir_runtime_data }}/media" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_model_file "{{ paperless_ngx_conf_data_dir }}/classification_model.pickle" Y Y 2.9
paperless_ngx_conf_nltk_dir /usr/share/nltk_data Y Y 1.11
paperless_ngx_conf_number_of_suggested_dates 3 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_clean clean Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_color_conversion_strategy "RGB" Y Y 2.1
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_deskew true Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_image_dpi "" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_language eng Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_languages [eng,deu,fra,ita,spa] Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_max_image_pixels Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_mode skip Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_output_type pdfa Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_pages 0 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_rotate_pages_threshold 12 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_rotate_pages true Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_skip_archive_file "never" Y Y 1.14
paperless_ngx_conf_ocr_user_args [optimize=1] Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_port 8000 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_post_consume_script "" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_pre_consume_script "" Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_proxy_ssl_header None Y Y 1.14
paperless_ngx_conf_redirect_login_to_sso false Y Y 2.12
paperless_ngx_conf_redis redis://{{ paperless_ngx_redis_host }}:{{ paperless_ngx_redis_port }} Y N
paperless_ngx_conf_redis_prefix "" Y Y 1.17
paperless_ngx_conf_sanity_task_cron "30 0 * * sun" Y Y 1.12
paperless_ngx_conf_secret_key "" Y Y If not defined by the user, a random password will be generated -> see section below about passwords.
paperless_ngx_conf_social_auto_signup false Y Y 2.5
paperless_ngx_conf_socialaccount_allow_signups true Y Y 2.5
paperless_ngx_conf_socialaccount_providers "{}" Y Y 2.5
paperless_ngx_conf_static_url /static/ Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_staticdir ../static Y N
paperless_ngx_conf_supervisord_working_dir None Y Y 2.5
paperless_ngx_conf_task_workers 1 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_threads_per_worker paperless_ngx_conf_task_workers Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_thumbnail_font_name /usr/share/fonts/liberation/LiberationSerif-Regular.ttf Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_tika_enabled false Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_tika_endpoint http://localhost:9998 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_tika_gotenberg_endpoint http://localhost:3000 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_time_zone Europe/London Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_train_task_cron "5 */1 * * *" Y Y 1.12
paperless_ngx_conf_trusted_proxies "" Y Y 1.14
paperless_ngx_conf_url http://localhost:8000 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_use_x_forward_host False Y Y 1.14
paperless_ngx_conf_use_x_forward_port False Y Y 1.14
paperless_ngx_conf_usermap_gid Y Y System users gid
paperless_ngx_conf_usermap_uid Y Y System users id
paperless_ngx_conf_webserver_workers 1 Y Y
paperless_ngx_conf_worker_timeout 1800 Y Y

3. Usage advices

3.1. Updating Paperless-ngx

If you installed Paperless-ngx with the help of this role and you want to update to a newer version than all you have to do is to run this role again (if you chose latest as the version identifier). If you specified a specific version to install than all you need to do is to change this value to a newer one and run the role again.

This role will not update anything else than Paperless-ngx. So updates for the operating system and depended packages need to be handled seperately.

PLEASE THINK ABOUT BACKUPS before you upgrade.

3.2. Backup/Restore

Please be aware that this role does not offer any mechanism of backup or restore. This is intention. To seperate concerns this role is only focused towards 'deployments' of the software artifacts and its configuration. An example of a working backup strategy can be found here: Link to example backup strategy

3.3. Generated password

The role uses Ansible's password lookup:

  • If a password is generated by the role, ansible stores it locally in pngx_instances/{{ incentory_hostname }}/ (relative to the working directory)
  • if the file already exist, it reuse its content
  • see the ansible password lookup documentation for more info

3.4. Separation of static (~ installation) and dynamic (~ runtime) data

This role checks that you do not set one of the data dirs (like consumption etc.) as a subdirectory of the installation path. For making my life easier this role deletes the installation folder and creates a complete new one when upgrading. This is fresh and clean. Also this way you are kept from unwanted deletions of your data during upgrades.

3.5. PostgreSQL usage

If you want to use Paperless-ngx together with PostgreSQL a running instance of PostgreSQL is required. This role does not automatically install such a database instance for you. However, here is you can read an example how to set up such an instance from scretch: Link to example playbook

4. Dependencies

No dependencies

5. Example Playbooks

minimal_runnable_playbook.yml:

- hosts: all
    roles:
        - { role: paperless_ngx.paperless_ngx }
    vars:
        var1:
        var2:
        ...

6. Contributing

We encourage you to contribute to this role! Please check out the contributing guide for guidelines about how to proceed.

7. License

MIT