settings-lib

Settings Library

This library intends to allow configuration settings from multiple config sources to be combined, in layers, starting with a base configuration, adding environment settings to that and finally applying command line settings.

A base configuration file can be specified that contains settings necessary for development. Subsequent configuration can be applied to augment and override configuration settings in the base config, either via NODE_ENV, other environment variables, via command line switches or all of the above!

This module is useful in that it allows you to abstract configuration management from your application and deployment at runtime, thus enabling you to avoid checking in sensitive configuration values (i.e. usernames, passwords, secret keys, etc.) to source control.

Installation

npm install settings-lib

Usage

var
  settings = require('settings-lib'),
  options = { baseConfigPath : './config/config.json' };

settings.initialize(options, function (err, config) {
  // work with config
});

Options

The options parameter is optional. When it is not supplied or when only a portion of it is supplied, the default options take precidence.

defaultOptions = {
  baseConfigPath : '',
  commandLineSwitches : ['--config-file'],
  environmentSearchPaths : ['./', './config', './settings'],
  readCommandLineMap : {},
  readEnvironmentMap : {}
};

Base Config Path

The base configuration path is specified as a single string value in the options object passed to settings via initialize(options, callback). If no baseConfigPath field exists or the value is blank, the settings library will attempt to construct configuration via environment based configuration and command line based configuration.

Environment Search Paths

Environment search paths are supplied as an array to the field environmentSearchPaths in the options parameter. When specified, any value supplied in the NODE_ENV environment variable will be used to attempt to locate a .json file.

For example, notice the following command line:

NODE_ENV=develop node app.js

In the above example, settings-lib will attempt to locate a file named develop.json in each of the supplied environment search paths. The first configuration file found will be the one used, so if there are multiple matches, only one configuration file (the first matched) will be used. In the above example, if a file exists in ./config/develop.json, that file will be loaded and will override any settings specified in the base configuration.

Command Line Switches

Command line switches work similarly to environment search paths. They can be supplied as an array to the settings-lib and any command line arguments supplied to the node application will be searched to determine if a configuration file is found.

For example, notice the following command line:

node app.js --config-file "./config/production.json"

In the above example, settings-lib will attempt to locate the file specifed (./config/production.json) provided that options includes --config-file as a switch in the commandLineSwitches field specified within options at initialization (by default, --config-file is used when settings-lib is initialized with no options).

Read Environment Mapping

In the event that you wish to override specific configuration keys directly via an environment variable, simply specify and environment variable mapping in the options when initializing the module:

var
  settings = require('settings-lib'),
  options = {
    readEnvironmentMap : {
      APP_HOSTNAME : 'server.hostname'
    }
  };

settings.initialize(options, function (err, config) {
  // work with config
  console.log('hostname: %s', config.server.hostname);
});

When executing your node application, simply supply the configured environment variable:

APP_HOSTNAME=myapp.mydomain.com node app.js

Read Command Line Mapping

Similar to environment variable configuration key mapping, command line configuration key mapping is possible as well. Specify a command line key mapping in the options when initializing the module:

var
  settings = require('settings-lib'),
  options = {
    readCommandLineMap : {
      '--hostname' : 'server.hostname'
    }
  };

settings.initialize(options, function (err, config) {
  // work with config
  console.log('hostname: %s', config.server.hostname);
});

When executing your node application, simply supply the configured environment variable:

node app.js --hostname myapp.mydomain.com