Runtime Configurator

Painless runtime configuration for Node.js applications.

Features:

• fills in configuration values with .js and .json files, environment variables and command line arguments,
• validates configuration values with declared validators,
• supports any kind of data types: booleans, numbers, strings, objects and arrays,
• freezes resolved configuration values for mistake proofing (according to poka-yoke principle),
• does not collide with most popular CLI tools like Commander.js, oclif or Yargs,
• prints configuration as table into standard output (useful to generate help commands),
• production ready!

Table of contents

1. Installation
2. Usage
3. Validators
4. Examples
5. FAQ
6. Development

Installation

$ npm install --save runtime-configurator

Usage

1. Import what you need

import {
    ConfigurationBagInterface,
    ConfigurationBag,
    ConfigurationItemInterface,
    ConfigurationItem,
 
    ConfigurationValidatorInterface,
    ArrayValidator,
    BooleanValidator,
    EnumerableValidator,
    NumberValidator,
    ObjectValidator,
    RegularExpressionValidator,
    StringValidator,
 
    ConfigurationSourceInterface,
    CommandLineArgumentsSource,
    DirectorySource,
    EnvironmentVariablesSource,
    FileSource,
 
    ConfigurationPrinterInterface,
    StandardOutputPrinter
} from "runtime-configurator";

2. Declare configuration items

const items: ConfigurationItemInterface[] = [
    new ConfigurationItem(
        "httpServer.port",
        "Port to be exposed by HTTP server.",
        8080,
        [
            new NumberValidator(true, 1024, 49151)
        ]
    )
];

Note: use camel case names and dots as separator. This library requires that convention to properly resolve env vars and cli args.

3. Declare configuration sources

const sources: ConfigurationSourceInterface[] = [
    new DirectorySource("/etc/app", false),
    new FileSource("/etc/app.json", false),
 
    new DirectorySource(path.join(os.homedir(), ".app"), false),
    new FileSource(path.join(os.homedir(), ".app.json"), false),
 
    new EnvironmentVariablesSource(process.env, "APP"),
    new CommandLineArgumentsSource(process.argv, "override")
];

Note: the order matters here. Every source might override values resolved by previous sources. It is recommended to place env vars and cli args at the bottom of the list.

4. Create a configuration bag

const configuration: ConfigurationBagInterface =
    new ConfigurationBag(items, sources);

5. Get value from the configuration bag

const port: number =
    configuration.get("httpServer.port") as number;

Btw. now you are able to override httpServer.port value with:

• any .js and .json file inside /etc/app directory,
• /etc/app.json file,
• any .js and .json file inside /home/<username>/.app directory,
• /home/<username>/.app.json file,
• following environment variables:
  • APP__HTTP_SERVER__PORT=1234,
  • APP__HTTP_SERVER='{"port":1234}',
  • APP='{"httpServer":{"port":1234}}',
• following command line arguments:
  • --override=http-server.port=1234,
  • --override=http-server='{"port":1234}',
  • --override='{"httpServer":{"port":1234}}'.

Enjoy!

Validators

Every configuration item can be validated with one or more validators. Example below shows how to ensure that mailer.enabled will always be a boolean.

const item: ConfigurationItemInterface = new ConfigurationItem(
    "mailer.enabled",
    "Enables or disables emails sending.",
    true,
    [
        new BooleanValidator()
    ]
);

Boolean validator

new BooleanValidator()

Just checks if value is a boolean.

Number validator

new NumberValidator(true, 1, 10)

Checks if value is an integer, bigger than or equal 1 and smaller than or equal 10.

String validator

new StringValidator(5, 10)

Checks if value is a string with minimum length of 5 and maximum length of 10.

Regular expression validator

new RegularExpressionValidator(/.*/)

Checks if value is a string and passes regular expression test.

Enumerable validator

new EnumerableValidator([null, true, 1, "foo"])

Checks if value equals null, true, 1 or "foo".

Object validator

new ObjectValidator({ foo: new BooleanValidator() })

Checks if value is an object and it's foo property is a boolean.

Array validator

new ArrayValidator(new BooleanValidator(), 1, 3)

Checks if value is an array of booleans with minimum length of 1 and maximum length of 3.

Ad-hoc validator

{
    validate(value: any): string[] {
        if (value === "0.0.0.0") {
            return ['Value can not equal "0.0.0.0".'];
        }
        return [];
    },
}

This specific validator checks if value does not equal "0.0.0.0".

Examples

There are two runnable examples. One with pure JavaScript and the second one with TypeScript.

FAQ

What is a runtime configuration?

Runtime configuration is a set of values which vary between application deployments, aka. values which we do not know during application development.

See more at The Twelve-Factor App.

Development

$ git clone git@github.com:damlys/nodejs-runtime-configurator.git
$ cd nodejs-runtime-configurator/
$ npm audit
$ npm install
$ npm run build
$ npm run lint(-fix)
$ npm run test(-coverage|-watch)