Configuration

Qdrant ships with sensible defaults for collection and network settings that are suitable for most use cases. You can view these defaults in the Qdrant source. If you need to customize the settings, you can do so using configuration files and environment variables.

Configuration Files

To customize Qdrant, you can mount your configuration file in any of the following locations. This guide uses .yaml files, but Qdrant also supports other formats such as .toml, .json, and .ini.

  1. Main Configuration: qdrant/config/config.yaml

    Mount your custom config.yaml file to override default settings:

    docker run -p 6333:6333 \
        -v $(pwd)/config.yaml:/qdrant/config/config.yaml \
        qdrant/qdrant
    
  2. Environment-Specific Configuration: config/{RUN_MODE}.yaml

    Qdrant looks for an environment-specific configuration file based on the RUN_MODE variable. By default, the official Docker image uses RUN_MODE=production, meaning it will look for config/production.yaml.

    You can override this by setting RUN_MODE to another value (e.g., dev), and providing the corresponding file:

    docker run -p 6333:6333 \
        -v $(pwd)/dev.yaml:/qdrant/config/dev.yaml \
        -e RUN_MODE=dev \
        qdrant/qdrant
    
  3. Local Configuration: config/local.yaml

    The local.yaml file is typically used for machine-specific settings that are not tracked in version control:

    docker run -p 6333:6333 \
        -v $(pwd)/local.yaml:/qdrant/config/local.yaml \
        qdrant/qdrant
    
  4. Custom Configuration via --config-path

    You can specify a custom configuration file path using the --config-path argument. This will override other configuration files:

    docker run -p 6333:6333 \
        -v $(pwd)/config.yaml:/path/to/config.yaml \
        qdrant/qdrant \
        ./qdrant --config-path /path/to/config.yaml
    

For details on how these configurations are loaded and merged, see the loading order and priority. The full list of available configuration options can be found below.

Environment Variables

You can also configure Qdrant using environment variables, which always take the highest priority and override any file-based settings.

Environment variables follow this format: they should be prefixed with QDRANT__, and nested properties should be separated by double underscores (__). For example:

docker run -p 6333:6333 \
    -e QDRANT__LOG_LEVEL=INFO \
    -e QDRANT__SERVICE__API_KEY=<MY_SECRET_KEY> \
    -e QDRANT__SERVICE__ENABLE_TLS=1 \
    -e QDRANT__TLS__CERT=./tls/cert.pem \
    qdrant/qdrant

This results in the following configuration:

log_level: INFO
service:
  enable_tls: true
  api_key: <MY_SECRET_KEY>
tls:
  cert: ./tls/cert.pem

Loading Order and Priority

During startup, Qdrant merges multiple configuration sources into a single effective configuration. The loading order is as follows (from least to most significant):

  1. Embedded default configuration
  2. config/config.yaml
  3. config/{RUN_MODE}.yaml
  4. config/local.yaml
  5. Custom configuration file
  6. Environment variables

Overriding Behavior

Settings from later sources in the list override those from earlier sources:

  • Settings in config/{RUN_MODE}.yaml (3) will override those in config/config.yaml (2).
  • A custom configuration file provided via --config-path (5) will override all other file-based settings.
  • Environment variables (6) have the highest priority and will override any settings from files.

Configuration Validation

Qdrant validates the configuration during startup. If any issues are found, the server will terminate immediately, providing information about the error. For example:

Error: invalid type: 64-bit integer `-1`, expected an unsigned 64-bit or smaller integer for key `storage.hnsw_index.max_indexing_threads` in config/production.yaml

This ensures that misconfigurations are caught early, preventing Qdrant from running with invalid settings.

Configuration Options

The following YAML example describes the available configuration options.

log_level: INFO

# Logging configuration
# Qdrant logs to stdout. You may configure to also write logs to a file on disk.
# Be aware that this file may grow indefinitely.
# logger:
#   on_disk:
#     enabled: true
#     log_file: path/to/log/file.log
#     log_level: INFO

storage:
  # Where to store all the data
  storage_path: ./storage

  # Where to store snapshots
  snapshots_path: ./snapshots

  snapshots_config:
    # "local" or "s3" - where to store snapshots
    snapshots_storage: local
    # s3_config:
    #   bucket: ""
    #   region: ""
    #   access_key: ""
    #   secret_key: ""

  # Where to store temporary files
  # If null, temporary snapshots are stored in: storage/snapshots_temp/
  temp_path: null

  # If true - point payloads will not be stored in memory.
  # It will be read from the disk every time it is requested.
  # This setting saves RAM by (slightly) increasing the response time.
  # Note: those payload values that are involved in filtering and are indexed - remain in RAM.
  # 
  # Default: true
  on_disk_payload: true

  # Maximum number of concurrent updates to shard replicas
  # If `null` - maximum concurrency is used.
  update_concurrency: null

  # Write-ahead-log related configuration
  wal:
    # Size of a single WAL segment
    wal_capacity_mb: 32

    # Number of WAL segments to create ahead of actual data requirement
    wal_segments_ahead: 0

  # Normal node - receives all updates and answers all queries
  node_type: "Normal"

  # Listener node - receives all updates, but does not answer search/read queries
  # Useful for setting up a dedicated backup node
  # node_type: "Listener"

  performance:
    # Number of parallel threads used for search operations. If 0 - auto selection.
    max_search_threads: 0

    # Max number of threads (jobs) for running optimizations across all collections, each thread runs one job.
    # If 0 - have no limit and choose dynamically to saturate CPU.
    # Note: each optimization job will also use `max_indexing_threads` threads by itself for index building.
    max_optimization_threads: 0

    # CPU budget, how many CPUs (threads) to allocate for an optimization job.
    # If 0 - auto selection, keep 1 or more CPUs unallocated depending on CPU size
    # If negative - subtract this number of CPUs from the available CPUs.
    # If positive - use this exact number of CPUs.
    optimizer_cpu_budget: 0

    # Prevent DDoS of too many concurrent updates in distributed mode.
    # One external update usually triggers multiple internal updates, which breaks internal
    # timings. For example, the health check timing and consensus timing.
    # If null - auto selection.
    update_rate_limit: null

    # Limit for number of incoming automatic shard transfers per collection on this node, does not affect user-requested transfers.
    # The same value should be used on all nodes in a cluster.
    # Default is to allow 1 transfer.
    # If null - allow unlimited transfers.
    #incoming_shard_transfers_limit: 1

    # Limit for number of outgoing automatic shard transfers per collection on this node, does not affect user-requested transfers.
    # The same value should be used on all nodes in a cluster.
    # Default is to allow 1 transfer.
    # If null - allow unlimited transfers.
    #outgoing_shard_transfers_limit: 1

    # Enable async scorer which uses io_uring when rescoring.
    # Only supported on Linux, must be enabled in your kernel.
    # See: <https://qdrant.tech/articles/io_uring/#and-what-about-qdrant>
    #async_scorer: false

  optimizers:
    # The minimal fraction of deleted vectors in a segment, required to perform segment optimization
    deleted_threshold: 0.2

    # The minimal number of vectors in a segment, required to perform segment optimization
    vacuum_min_vector_number: 1000

    # Target amount of segments optimizer will try to keep.
    # Real amount of segments may vary depending on multiple parameters:
    #  - Amount of stored points
    #  - Current write RPS
    #
    # It is recommended to select default number of segments as a factor of the number of search threads,
    # so that each segment would be handled evenly by one of the threads.
    # If `default_segment_number = 0`, will be automatically selected by the number of available CPUs
    default_segment_number: 0

    # Do not create segments larger this size (in KiloBytes).
    # Large segments might require disproportionately long indexation times,
    # therefore it makes sense to limit the size of segments.
    #
    # If indexation speed have more priority for your - make this parameter lower.
    # If search speed is more important - make this parameter higher.
    # Note: 1Kb = 1 vector of size 256
    # If not set, will be automatically selected considering the number of available CPUs.
    max_segment_size_kb: null

    # Maximum size (in KiloBytes) of vectors to store in-memory per segment.
    # Segments larger than this threshold will be stored as read-only memmapped file.
    # To enable memmap storage, lower the threshold
    # Note: 1Kb = 1 vector of size 256
    # To explicitly disable mmap optimization, set to `0`.
    # If not set, will be disabled by default.
    memmap_threshold_kb: null

    # Maximum size (in KiloBytes) of vectors allowed for plain index.
    # Default value based on https://github.com/google-research/google-research/blob/master/scann/docs/algorithms.md
    # Note: 1Kb = 1 vector of size 256
    # To explicitly disable vector indexing, set to `0`.
    # If not set, the default value will be used.
    indexing_threshold_kb: 20000

    # Interval between forced flushes.
    flush_interval_sec: 5

    # Max number of threads (jobs) for running optimizations per shard.
    # Note: each optimization job will also use `max_indexing_threads` threads by itself for index building.
    # If null - have no limit and choose dynamically to saturate CPU.
    # If 0 - no optimization threads, optimizations will be disabled.
    max_optimization_threads: null

  # This section has the same options as 'optimizers' above. All values specified here will overwrite the collections
  # optimizers configs regardless of the config above and the options specified at collection creation.
  #optimizers_overwrite:
  #  deleted_threshold: 0.2
  #  vacuum_min_vector_number: 1000
  #  default_segment_number: 0
  #  max_segment_size_kb: null
  #  memmap_threshold_kb: null
  #  indexing_threshold_kb: 20000
  #  flush_interval_sec: 5
  #  max_optimization_threads: null

  # Default parameters of HNSW Index. Could be overridden for each collection or named vector individually
  hnsw_index:
    # Number of edges per node in the index graph. Larger the value - more accurate the search, more space required.
    m: 16

    # Number of neighbours to consider during the index building. Larger the value - more accurate the search, more time required to build index.
    ef_construct: 100

    # Minimal size (in KiloBytes) of vectors for additional payload-based indexing.
    # If payload chunk is smaller than `full_scan_threshold_kb` additional indexing won't be used -
    # in this case full-scan search should be preferred by query planner and additional indexing is not required.
    # Note: 1Kb = 1 vector of size 256
    full_scan_threshold_kb: 10000

    # Number of parallel threads used for background index building.
    # If 0 - automatically select.
    # Best to keep between 8 and 16 to prevent likelihood of building broken/inefficient HNSW graphs.
    # On small CPUs, less threads are used.
    max_indexing_threads: 0

    # Store HNSW index on disk. If set to false, index will be stored in RAM. Default: false
    on_disk: false

    # Custom M param for hnsw graph built for payload index. If not set, default M will be used.
    payload_m: null

  # Default shard transfer method to use if none is defined.
  # If null - don't have a shard transfer preference, choose automatically.
  # If stream_records, snapshot or wal_delta - prefer this specific method.
  # More info: https://qdrant.tech/documentation/guides/distributed_deployment/#shard-transfer-method
  shard_transfer_method: null

  # Default parameters for collections
  collection:
    # Number of replicas of each shard that network tries to maintain
    replication_factor: 1

    # How many replicas should apply the operation for us to consider it successful
    write_consistency_factor: 1

    # Default parameters for vectors.
    vectors:
      # Whether vectors should be stored in memory or on disk.
      on_disk: null

    # shard_number_per_node: 1

    # Default quantization configuration.
    # More info: https://qdrant.tech/documentation/guides/quantization
    quantization: null

    # Default strict mode parameters for newly created collections.
    strict_mode:
      # Whether strict mode is enabled for a collection or not.
      enabled: false

      # Max allowed `limit` parameter for all APIs that don't have their own max limit.
      max_query_limit: null

      # Max allowed `timeout` parameter.
      max_timeout: null

      # Allow usage of unindexed fields in retrieval based (eg. search) filters.
      unindexed_filtering_retrieve: null

      # Allow usage of unindexed fields in filtered updates (eg. delete by payload).
      unindexed_filtering_update: null

      # Max HNSW value allowed in search parameters.
      search_max_hnsw_ef: null

      # Whether exact search is allowed or not.
      search_allow_exact: null

      # Max oversampling value allowed in search.
      search_max_oversampling: null

service:
  # Maximum size of POST data in a single request in megabytes
  max_request_size_mb: 32

  # Number of parallel workers used for serving the api. If 0 - equal to the number of available cores.
  # If missing - Same as storage.max_search_threads
  max_workers: 0

  # Host to bind the service on
  host: 0.0.0.0

  # HTTP(S) port to bind the service on
  http_port: 6333

  # gRPC port to bind the service on.
  # If `null` - gRPC is disabled. Default: null
  # Comment to disable gRPC:
  grpc_port: 6334

  # Enable CORS headers in REST API.
  # If enabled, browsers would be allowed to query REST endpoints regardless of query origin.
  # More info: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CORS
  # Default: true
  enable_cors: true

  # Enable HTTPS for the REST and gRPC API
  enable_tls: false

  # Check user HTTPS client certificate against CA file specified in tls config
  verify_https_client_certificate: false

  # Set an api-key.
  # If set, all requests must include a header with the api-key.
  # example header: `api-key: <API-KEY>`
  #
  # If you enable this you should also enable TLS.
  # (Either above or via an external service like nginx.)
  # Sending an api-key over an unencrypted channel is insecure.
  #
  # Uncomment to enable.
  # api_key: your_secret_api_key_here

  # Set an api-key for read-only operations.
  # If set, all requests must include a header with the api-key.
  # example header: `api-key: <API-KEY>`
  #
  # If you enable this you should also enable TLS.
  # (Either above or via an external service like nginx.)
  # Sending an api-key over an unencrypted channel is insecure.
  #
  # Uncomment to enable.
  # read_only_api_key: your_secret_read_only_api_key_here

  # Uncomment to enable JWT Role Based Access Control (RBAC).
  # If enabled, you can generate JWT tokens with fine-grained rules for access control.
  # Use generated token instead of API key.
  #
  # jwt_rbac: true

cluster:
  # Use `enabled: true` to run Qdrant in distributed deployment mode
  enabled: false

  # Configuration of the inter-cluster communication
  p2p:
    # Port for internal communication between peers
    port: 6335

    # Use TLS for communication between peers
    enable_tls: false

  # Configuration related to distributed consensus algorithm
  consensus:
    # How frequently peers should ping each other.
    # Setting this parameter to lower value will allow consensus
    # to detect disconnected nodes earlier, but too frequent
    # tick period may create significant network and CPU overhead.
    # We encourage you NOT to change this parameter unless you know what you are doing.
    tick_period_ms: 100

# Set to true to prevent service from sending usage statistics to the developers.
# Read more: https://qdrant.tech/documentation/guides/telemetry
telemetry_disabled: false

# TLS configuration.
# Required if either service.enable_tls or cluster.p2p.enable_tls is true.
tls:
  # Server certificate chain file
  cert: ./tls/cert.pem

  # Server private key file
  key: ./tls/key.pem

  # Certificate authority certificate file.
  # This certificate will be used to validate the certificates
  # presented by other nodes during inter-cluster communication.
  #
  # If verify_https_client_certificate is true, it will verify
  # HTTPS client certificate
  #
  # Required if cluster.p2p.enable_tls is true.
  ca_cert: ./tls/cacert.pem

  # TTL in seconds to reload certificate from disk, useful for certificate rotations.
  # Only works for HTTPS endpoints. Does not support gRPC (and intra-cluster communication).
  # If `null` - TTL is disabled.
  cert_ttl: 3600
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