What causes "No sync server configured." in actualbudget/actual?

Set the SERVER_URL environment variable to the sync server's base URL before calling bootstrap.

No sync server configured.

Error message

No sync server configured.

What it means

bootstrap calls getServer() to find the configured sync server; if no server URL is configured (SERVER_URL unset), there is no endpoint to POST /bootstrap to, so it throws immediately.

Source

Thrown at packages/loot-core/src/server/auth/app.ts:103

  return {
    bootstrapped: res.data.bootstrapped,
    availableLoginMethods: res.data.availableLoginMethods || [
      { method: 'password', active: true, displayName: 'Password' },
    ],
    multiuser: res.data.multiuser || false,
    hasServer: true,
  };
}

async function bootstrap(loginConfig: {
  password?: string;
  openId?: OpenIdConfig;
}) {
  try {
    const serverConfig = getServer();
    if (!serverConfig) {
      throw new Error('No sync server configured.');
    }
    await post(serverConfig.SIGNUP_SERVER + '/bootstrap', loginConfig);
  } catch (err) {
    if (err instanceof PostError) {
      return {
        error: err.reason || 'network-failure',
      };
    }

    throw err;
  }
  return {};
}

async function getLoginMethods() {
  let res: {
    methods?: Array<{ method: string; displayName: string; active: boolean }>;
  };

View on GitHub (pinned to d4334cb6e6)

Solutions

Set the SERVER_URL environment variable to the sync server's base URL before calling bootstrap.
If you do not use a sync server, do not call bootstrap — configure the app in local-only mode.
Verify getServer() configuration loading (dotenv/config file) is actually applied in your process.

Example fix

// before
yarn workspace @actual-app/sync-server start   # SERVER_URL unset, bootstrap fails
// after
SERVER_URL=http://localhost:5006 yarn workspace @actual-app/sync-server start

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

function isSyncConfigured() {
  return typeof process.env.SERVER_URL === 'string' && process.env.SERVER_URL.length > 0;
}
if (!isSyncConfigured()) throw new Error('Set SERVER_URL before bootstrapping a sync server');

Try / catch

try {
  await app.bootstrap(loginConfig);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message === 'No sync server configured.') {
    console.error('SERVER_URL is not set; start the app in local-only mode or configure the sync server.');
  } else throw e;
}

Prevention

Always export SERVER_URL in deployment env files
Do not call server bootstrap RPCs when running local-only
Add a startup healthcheck that logs when SERVER_URL is missing

When it happens

Trigger: Calling app.bootstrap() (server bootstrapping of first user/password) in an environment without SERVER_URL set, e.g. a pure local-only deployment.

Common situations: Self-hosters running without a sync server who invoke the bootstrap RPC; missing or empty SERVER_URL env var in the sync-server deployment; confusing local budget bootstrapping with remote server bootstrapping.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of actualbudget/actual@d4334cb6e6 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/50129d90735bf2bd. Report an issue: GitHub.