Change your relay's settings in the form instead of relay.json

What it is for

All settings of your relay are in the file relay.json. You do not have to edit it by hand: the console shows it as a form with sections. Passwords and other secrets never leave the server — you only see whether one is set.

What you need

• Your own relay from version 20260924.12 (B2).
• A console account with the system administrator role. Other roles do not see this page.

How to do it

1. In the console open Settings. Under Initial setup click Configuration.
2. Open the matching section. Among others there are:

| Section | What you set there | |---|---| | Server | port, bind address, allowed browser origins, retention of recordings, waiting viewers per address | | TLS certificate | PFX file and password; on Windows the thumbprint from the certificate store | | STUN and TURN | public IP, ports, TURN over TLS, port range for relayed media | | Self-update and mirror | relay self-update, feed address, mirror of the program feeds | | Administration and database | database connection | | Sign-in via SSO (OIDC), Provisioning via SCIM, Sign-in via LDAP / Active Directory | company sign-in for console accounts (B4) | | Device certificates (mTLS) | certificates for devices (B9) | | Email (SMTP) | the relay's mail delivery |

1. Change values. Below each field there is a hint on what it does.
2. Secrets (passwords, client secret, database connection): - leave empty = unchanged, - type new text = set anew, - tick Clear secret = empty it.
3. Click Save. Port, bind address, TLS, TURN and database need a restart — use Save & restart relay for those. Everything else applies at once.

For values without a field of their own there is Advanced: relay.json as text at the bottom. It shows the whole file, secrets as placeholders. What you save there replaces the whole file; placeholders are kept.

How you know it worked

• After Save you see “Saved. Port, TLS and TURN take effect after the next relay restart.”
• After Save & restart relay you see “Saved. Relay is restarting… (wait a moment, then reload)”. After reloading, the form shows your values.
• A secret shows “set — leave empty to keep” instead of “not set”.

Good to know

• During a restart running sessions reconnect by themselves; the viewer shows this.
• On Windows the restart from the console has not yet been tested on a real relay. If the relay does not come back, restart the BrowserDeskRelay service in the Windows services console.
• Every change lands in the audit log — with the names of the fields, never with the values.
• Secrets are stored encrypted. You must back up the key for that (B9).
• Manual edits to the file only take effect after a restart. If the file is then not valid JSON, the relay does not start and writes a copy relay.json.broken-<time>. The form checks your input beforehand.
• Form and text changed at the same time: the console asks Form or text?. The text is saved; the form changes are lost.
• The path of the file is shown under Advanced: relay.json as text.

If it does not work