---
title: Paperless-ngx
---

<span class="badge badge--secondary">Support level: Community</span>

## What is Paperless-ngx

> Paperless-ngx is an application that indexes your scanned documents and allows you to easily search for documents and store metadata alongside your documents. It was a fork from paperless-ngx, in turn a fork from the original Paperless, neither of which are maintained any longer.
>
> -- https://github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx

## Preparation

The following placeholders will be used:

-   `paperless.company` is the FQDN of the Paperless-ngx install.
-   `authentik.company` is the FQDN of the authentik install.

## authentik Configuration

### Step 1 - OAuth2/OpenID Provider

Create a OAuth2/OpenID Provider (under Applications/Providers) with these settings:

    Name : Paperless
    Redirect URI: https://paperless.company/accounts/oidc/authentik/login/callback/

### Step 2 - Application

Create an application (under Resources/Applications) with these settings:

    Name: Paperless
    Slug: paperless
    Provider: Paperless

## Paperless Configuration

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  <TabItem value="docker">
If you have Paperless-ngx setup in Docker, add the following environment variables to your Paperless-ngx compose file:

```yaml
environment:
    PAPERLESS_APPS: allauth.socialaccount.providers.openid_connect
    PAPERLESS_SOCIALACCOUNT_PROVIDERS: >
        {
          "openid_connect": {
            "APPS": [
              {
                "provider_id": "authentik",
                "name": "Authentik",
                "client_id": "<Client ID>",
                "secret": "<Client Secret>",
                "settings": {
                  "server_url": "https://authentik.company/application/o/paperless/.well-known/openid-configuration"
                }
              }
            ],
            "OAUTH_PKCE_ENABLED": "True"
          }
        }
```

Now restart your container:
`docker compose down && docker compose up -d`

  </TabItem>
  <TabItem value="standalone">

You need to update your `paperless.conf` configuration file. Paperless will search for this configuration file in the following locations and use the first one it finds:

-   The environment variable `PAPERLESS_CONFIGURATION_PATH`
-   `/path/to/paperless/paperless.conf`
-   `/etc/paperless.conf`
-   `/usr/local/etc/paperless.conf`

Edit your `paperless.conf` and add the following:

```ini
PAPERLESS_APPS=allauth.socialaccount.providers.openid_connect
PAPERLESS_SOCIALACCOUNT_PROVIDERS={"openid_connect":{"OAUTH_PKCE_ENABLED":true,"APPS":[{"provider_id":"authentik","name":"Authentik","client_id":"<Client ID>","secret":<Client Secret>","settings":{"server_url":"https://authentik.company/application/o/paperless/.well-known/openid-configuration"}}]}}
```

Now restart your Paperless services using `sudo systemctl restart paperless-*`

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## Finished

Now you can access Paperless-ngx by logging in with authentik.

To add authentik authentication to an existing user, log in to Paperless with local authentication, click the profile icon in the top-right, click My Profile, then Connect new social account.