Size limit on upload/sending documents of 100kb

[clshinde]

i am running openwa from docker using docker-compose.dev.yml, in development currently. I am facing the issue when i upload a base64, (a random pdf) about original=1154487 bytes, base64=1539316 bytes,
Response body (_send_media): {"statusCode":413,"message":"request entity too large"}
2026-06-29 23:49:54,610 ERROR Send media failed: 413 Client Error: Payload Too Large for url: http://localhost:2785/api/sessions/9bc73940-2a14-4d30-b0f8-8cc188b808c3/messages/send-document
In docker logs, i get the following,
[Nest] 7 - 06/29/2026, 6:19:54 PM ERROR [ExceptionsHandler] PayloadTooLargeError: request entity too large
at readStream (/app/node_modules/raw-body/index.js:163:17)
at getRawBody (/app/node_modules/raw-body/index.js:116:12)
at read (/app/node_modules/body-parser/lib/read.js:113:3)
at jsonParser (/app/node_modules/body-parser/lib/types/json.js:88:5)
at Layer.handleRequest (/app/node_modules/router/lib/layer.js:152:17)
at trimPrefix (/app/node_modules/router/index.js:342:13)
at /app/node_modules/router/index.js:297:9
at processParams (/app/node_modules/router/index.js:582:12)
at next (/app/node_modules/router/index.js:291:5)
at cors (/app/node_modules/cors/lib/index.js:188:7)
at /app/node_modules/cors/lib/index.js:224:17
at origin (/app/dist/main.js:122:24)
at /app/node_modules/cors/lib/index.js:219:13
at optionsCallback (/app/node_modules/cors/lib/index.js:199:9)
at corsMiddleware (/app/node_modules/cors/lib/index.js:204:7)
at Layer.handleRequest (/app/node_modules/router/lib/layer.js:152:17) {
expected: 1539459,
length: 1539459,
limit: 102400,
type: 'entity.too.large'
}
i have used - BODY_SIZE_LIMIT=50mb in docker-compose.dev.yml and recreated the docker, still not working. Any help would be welcome.

[VectorPeak]

The important bit in the log is:

limit: 102400

That means the running Nest/Express app is still using the default JSON body-parser limit of 100kb, so BODY_SIZE_LIMIT=50mb is either not reaching the container or the app is not applying it to the JSON parser.

Check the env var inside the running container:

docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml exec <service-name> printenv BODY_SIZE_LIMIT

If it is missing, add it under the API service, then recreate:

services:
 <service-name>:
 environment:
 BODY_SIZE_LIMIT: 50mb

docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up -d --build --force-recreate

If the env var is present but the limit is still 102400, the app needs to wire it into the body parser before routes are registered. In main.ts, it should be something like:

import { json, urlencoded } from 'express';

const limit = process.env.BODY_SIZE_LIMIT || '50mb';

app.use(json({ limit }));
app.use(urlencoded({ limit, extended: true }));

[rmyndharis]

Hi @clshinde — thanks for the detailed log, that pinpointed it. The line limit: 102400 in your stack trace is body-parser's hard-coded 100 KB default, which means your BODY_SIZE_LIMIT=50mb never reached the running process.

Root cause: BODY_SIZE_LIMIT is documented in .env.example and read correctly by the app, but neither docker-compose.yml nor docker-compose.dev.yml forwards it into the container. .env values are only used by Compose for ${VAR} interpolation; without an explicit BODY_SIZE_LIMIT=${BODY_SIZE_LIMIT:-} line under environment:, the value stays on the host and the container falls back to its default.

Tracked in #831, fix up in #832.

Workaround until that merges (drop into your docker-compose.dev.yml under the openwa: service):

    environment:
      # ... existing entries ...
      - BODY_SIZE_LIMIT=${BODY_SIZE_LIMIT:-}

Then docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up -d (a plain restart isn't enough — Compose needs to re-read the file and recreate the container with the new env line). Your existing .env with BODY_SIZE_LIMIT=50mb will then take effect.

Thanks again for reporting it — this one was easy to miss precisely because the env name was right there in .env.example 🙂