[Bug]: Unable to activate SMTP for magic link login on Outline

[frans2526]

Error Message and Logs

Description:
Hello,

I've installed Outline on my self-hosted Coolify instance. After setting it up, I encountered an issue where SMTP configuration does not seem to activate, which prevents logging in via magic link email, even though my SMTP setup works correctly with other services.

Problem Details:
Despite configuring the SMTP settings as outlined, there is no indication in the logs that SMTP configuration is being loaded or if there’s an error with the configuration. This is unusual because similar issues reported online show SMTP-related log entries, either confirming SMTP loading or detailing errors. I suspect this might be related to Outline’s configuration template on Coolify or how the setup interacts with Coolify’s environment.

Steps Taken:

• Verified my SMTP configuration (provided below).
• Confirmed that the server firewall allows outgoing connections on port 587.
• Tested the same SMTP credentials successfully with other services, confirming their validity.

Expected Outcome:
Outline should activate the SMTP configuration without issue, allowing users to log in via magic link email, and log any configuration-related messages for troubleshooting if it fails.

Current Outcome:
SMTP configuration appears inactive or unresponsive with no corresponding log entries for debugging, making it difficult to diagnose the root cause.

Environment:

• Platform: Coolify (self-hosted instance)
• Outline Version: v0.80.2

SMTP YAML Configuration:

SMTP_HOST=smtp.mail.me.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USERNAME=_My Username with email address_
SMTP_PASSWORD=_My app password_
SMTP_FROM_EMAIL=_My Username with email address_
SMTP_TLS_CIPHERS=TLSv1.2
SMTP_SECURE=false

For reference, here are the configuration resources used:

Apple SMTP setup: Apple Support Guide
Outline SMTP configuration: Outline SMTP Documentation

Additional Context:
It’s possible I might be missing a specific setup step within Coolify or Outline. Any insights into this potential configuration issue or logging guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Outline from the service.
2. Configure an authentication system (Slack).
3. Connect to Outline.
4. Access the Docker container to assign admin privileges to the user.
5. Add an SMTP configuration (as described in their wiki: Outline SMTP Documentation).
6. Attempt to enable SMTP under Workspace -> Security – SMTP fails to activate.

Example Repository URL

No response

Coolify Version

v4.0.0-beta.360

Are you using Coolify Cloud?

No (self-hosted)

Operating System and Version (self-hosted)

Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS

Additional Information

No response

[theafolayan]

Hi @frans2526 , I encountered the same issue and have created a PR to fix this for everyone else.

[frans2526]

Thanks a lot for the follow-up, the project is awesome!