# Source: https://langfuse.com/self-hosting/administration/headless-initialization.md

---
title: Headless Initialization (self-hosted)
description: Learn how to automatically initialize Langfuse resources via environment variables.
label: "Version: v3"
sidebarTitle: "Headless Initialization"
---

# Headless Initialization

By default, you need to create a user account, organization and project via the Langfuse UI before being able to use the API. You can find the API keys in the project settings within the UI.

If you want to automatically initialize these resources, you can optionally use the following `LANGFUSE_INIT_*` environment variables. When these variables are set, Langfuse will automatically create the specified resources on startup if they don't already exist. This allows for easy integration with infrastructure-as-code and automated deployment pipelines.

<Callout type="info">

For more programmatic control over the provisioning process, you can also use the [Instance Management API](/self-hosting/administration/instance-management-api).

</Callout>

## Resource Dependencies

The different resources depend on each other.

You can e.g. initialize an organization and a user without having to also initialize a project and API keys, but you cannot initialize a project or user without also initializing an organization.

```
Organization
├── Project      (part of organization)
│   └── API Keys (set for project)
└── User         (owner of organization)
```

## Environment Variables

| Environment Variable               | Description                                                                                    | Required to Create Resource | Example            |
| ---------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------- | ------------------ |
| `LANGFUSE_INIT_ORG_ID`             | Unique identifier for the organization                                                         | Yes                         | `my-org`           |
| `LANGFUSE_INIT_ORG_NAME`           | Name of the organization                                                                       | No                          | `My Org`           |
| `LANGFUSE_INIT_PROJECT_ID`         | Unique identifier for the project                                                              | Yes                         | `my-project`       |
| `LANGFUSE_INIT_PROJECT_NAME`       | Name of the project                                                                            | No                          | `My Project`       |
| `LANGFUSE_INIT_PROJECT_RETENTION`  | [Data Retention](/docs/data-retention) in days for project. Leave blank to retain data forever | No                          | `30`               |
| `LANGFUSE_INIT_PROJECT_PUBLIC_KEY` | Public API key for the project                                                                 | Yes                         | `lf_pk_1234567890` |
| `LANGFUSE_INIT_PROJECT_SECRET_KEY` | Secret API key for the project                                                                 | Yes                         | `lf_sk_1234567890` |
| `LANGFUSE_INIT_USER_EMAIL`         | Email address of the initial user                                                              | Yes                         | `user@example.com` |
| `LANGFUSE_INIT_USER_NAME`          | Name of the initial user                                                                       | No                          | `John Doe`         |
| `LANGFUSE_INIT_USER_PASSWORD`      | Password for the initial user                                                                  | Yes                         | `password123`      |

## Troubleshooting

- If you use `LANGFUSE_INIT_*` in Docker Compose, do not double-quote the values ([GitHub issue](https://github.com/langfuse/langfuse/issues/3398)).
- The resources depend on one another (see note above). For example, you must create an organization to initialize a project.