# Configuration

(opens new window) (opens new window)

npm install @feathersjs/configuration --save

@feathersjs/configuration is a wrapper for node-config (opens new window) which allows to configure a server side Feathers application.

By default this implementation will look in config/* for default.json which retains convention. It will be merged with other configuration files in the config/ folder using the NODE_ENV environment variable. So setting NODE_ENV=production will merge config/default.json with config/production.json.

As per the config docs (opens new window) you can organize "hierarchical configurations for your app deployments".

# Usage

The @feathersjs/configuration module is an app configuration function that takes a root directory (usually something like __dirname in your application) and the configuration folder (set to config by default):

const feathers = require('@feathersjs/feathers');
const configuration = require('@feathersjs/configuration');

// Use the application root and `config/` as the configuration folder
const app = feathers().configure(configuration())

Note: Direct access to nested config properties is not supported via app.get(). To access a nested config property (e.g. Customer.dbConfig.host, use app.get('Customer').dbConfig.host or require('config') directly and use it as documented (opens new window).

# Variable types

@feathersjs/configuration uses the following variable mechanisms:

Given a root and configuration path load a default.json in that path
Also try to load <NODE_ENV>.json in that path, and if found, extend the default configuration
Go through each configuration value and sets it on the application (via app.set(name, value)).
- If the value is a valid environment variable (e.v. NODE_ENV), use its value instead
- If the value starts with ./ or ../ turn it into an absolute path relative to the configuration file path
- If the value is escaped (starting with a \) always use that value (e.g. \\NODE_ENV will become NODE_ENV)
Both default and <env> configurations can be modules which provide their computed settings with module.exports = {...} and a .js file suffix. See test/config/testing.js for an example.
All rules listed above apply for .js modules.

# Configuration directory

By default, Feathers will use the config/ directory in the root of your project’s source directory. To change this, e.g., if you have Feathers installed under the server/ directory and you want your configuration at server/config/, you have to set the NODE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable in app.js before importing @feathersjs/configuration:

e.g., In server/app.js:

process.env['NODE_CONFIG_DIR'] = path.join(__dirname, 'config/')
const configuration = require('@feathersjs/configuration')

The above code is portable, so you can keep your config/ directory with the rest of your Feathers files. It will work, for example, even if you change the directory from server/ to amazing-server, etc.

(The NODE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable isn’t used directly by @feathersjs/configuration but by the node-config (opens new window) module that it uses. For more information on configuring node-config settings, see the Configuration Files Wiki page (opens new window).

# Example

In config/default.json we want to use the local development environment and default MongoDB connection string:

{
  "frontend": "../public",
  "host": "localhost",
  "port": 3030,
  "mongodb": "mongodb://localhost:27017/myapp",
  "templates": "../templates"
}

In config/production.json we are going to use environment variables (e.g. set by Heroku) and use public/dist to load the frontend production build:

{
  "frontend": "./public/dist",
  "host": "myapp.com",
  "port": "PORT",
  "mongodb": "MONGOHQ_URL"
}

Now it can be used in our app.js like this:

const feathers = require('@feathersjs/feathers');
const configuration = require('@feathersjs/configuration');

const app = feathers().configure(configuration());

console.log(app.get('frontend'));
console.log(app.get('host'));
console.log(app.get('port'));
console.log(app.get('mongodb'));
console.log(app.get('templates'));

If you now run

node app
// -> path/to/app/public
// -> localhost
// -> 3030
// -> mongodb://localhost:27017/myapp
// -> path/to/templates

Or via custom environment variables by setting them in config/custom-environment-variables.json:

{
  "port": "PORT",
  "mongodb": "MONGOHQ_URL"
}

PORT=8080 MONGOHQ_URL=mongodb://localhost:27017/production NODE_ENV=production node app
// -> path/to/app/public/dist
// -> myapp.com
// -> 8080
// -> mongodb://localhost:27017/production
// -> path/to/templates

You can also override these variables with arguments. Read more about how with node-config (opens new window)

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