bconf: better / builder configuration for go

bconf is a configuration framework that makes it easy to define, load, and validate application configuration values.

go get github.com/rheisen/bconf

Why bconf

bconf provides tooling to write your configuration package by package. With bconf, configuration lives right alongside the code that needs it. This also makes it so that configuration is more easily re-used and composible by multiple applications (just like your packages should be).

bconf accomplishes this with bconf.FieldSets, which provide a namespace and logical grouping for related configuration. Independent packages define their bconf.FieldSets, and then application executables can attach them to a bconf.AppConfig, which provides a unified structure for loading and retrieving configuration values.

Within bconf.FieldSets, you define bconf.Fields, with each field defining the expected format and behavior of a configuration value.

Check out the documentation and introductory examples below, and see if bconf is right for your project!

Supported Configuration Sources

• Environment (bconf.EnvironmentLoader)
• Flags (bconf.FlagLoader)
• JSON files (bconf.JSONFileLoader)
• Overrides (setter functions)

In Progress

• YAML files (bconf.YAMLFileLoader)
• TOML files (bconf.TOMLFileLoader)

Getting Values from bconf.AppConfig

• GetField(fieldSetKey, fieldKey string) (*bconf.Field, error)
• GetString(fieldSetKey, fieldKey string) (string, error)
• GetStrings(fieldSetKey, fieldKey string) ([]string, error)
• GetInt(fieldSetKey, fieldKey string) (int, error)
• GetInts(fieldSetKey, fieldKey string) ([]int, error)
• GetBool(fieldSetKey, fieldKey string) (bool, error)
• GetBools(fieldSetKey, fieldKey string) ([]bool, error)
• GetTime(fieldSetKey, fieldKey string) (time.Time, error)
• GetTimes(fieldSetKey, fieldKey string) ([]time.Time, error)
• GetDuration(fieldSetKey, fieldKey string) (time.Duration, error)
• GetDurations(fieldSetKey, fieldKey string) ([]time.Duration, error)

Additional Features

• Ability to generate default configuration values with the bconf.Field DefaultGenerator parameter
• Ability to define custom configuration value validation with the bconf.Field Validator parameter
• Ability to conditionally load a bconf.FieldSet by defining bconf.LoadConditions
• Ability to conditionally load a bconf.Field by defining bconf.LoadConditions
• Ability to get a safe map of configuration values from the bconf.AppConfig ConfigMap() function
  • (the configuration map will obfuscate values from fields with Sensitive parameter set to true)
• Ability to reload field-sets and individual fields via the bconf.AppConfig

Limitations

• No support for watching / automatically updating configuration values

Example

Below is an example of a bconf.AppConfig defined first with builders, and then with structs. Below these code blocks the behavior of the example is discussed.

configuration := bconf.NewAppConfig(
    "external_http_api",
    "HTTP API for user authentication and authorization",
)

_ = configuration.SetLoaders(
    &bconf.EnvironmentLoader{KeyPrefix: "ext_http_api"},
    &bconf.FlagLoader{},
)

_ = configuration.AddFieldSets(
    bconf.NewFieldSetBuilder().Key("app").Fields(
        bconf.NewFieldBuilder().
            Key("id").Type(bconf.String).
            Description("Application identifier").
            DefaultGenerator(
                func() (any, error) {
                    return fmt.Sprintf("%s", uuid.NewV4().String()), nil
                },
            ).Create(),
        bconf.FB(). // FB() is a shorthand function for NewFieldBuilder()
                Key("session_secret").Type(bconf.String).
                Description("Application secret for session management").
                Sensitive().Required().
                Validator(
                func(fieldValue any) error {
                    secret, _ := fieldValue.(string)

                    minLength := 20
                    if len(secret) < minLength {
                        return fmt.Errorf(
                            "expected string of minimum %d characters (len=%d)",
                            minLength,
                            len(secret),
                        )
                    }

                    return nil
                },
            ).Create(),
    ).Create(),
    bconf.FSB().Key("log").Fields( // FSB() is a shorthand function for NewFieldSetBuilder()
        bconf.FB().
            Key("level").Type(bconf.String).Default("info").
            Description("Logging level").
            Enumeration("debug", "info", "warn", "error").Create(),
        bconf.FB().
            Key("format").Type(bconf.String).Default("json").
            Description("Logging format").
            Enumeration("console", "json").Create(),
        bconf.FB().
            Key("color_enabled").Type(bconf.Bool).Default(true).
            Description("Colored logs when format is 'console'").
            Create(),
    ).Create(),
)

// Register with the option to handle --help / -h flag set to true
if errs := configuration.Register(true); len(errs) > 0 {
    // handle configuration load errors
}

// returns the log level found in order of: default -> environment -> flag -> user override
// (based on the loaders set above).
logLevel, err := configuration.GetString("log", "level")
if err != nil {
    // handle retrieval error
}

fmt.Printf("log-level: %s", logLevel)

configuration := bconf.NewAppConfig(
    "external_http_api",
    "HTTP API for user authentication and authorization",
)

_ = configuration.SetLoaders(
    &bconf.EnvironmentLoader{KeyPrefix: "ext_http_api"},
    &bconf.FlagLoader{},
)

_ = configuration.AddFieldSets(
    &bconf.FieldSet{
        Key: "app",
        Fields: bconf.Fields{
            {
                Key:         "id",
                Type:        bconf.String,
                Description: "Application identifier",
                DefaultGenerator: func() (any, error) {
                    return uuid.NewV4().String(), nil
                },
            },
            {
                Key:         "session_secret",
                Type:        bconf.String,
                Description: "Application secret for session management",
                Sensitive:   true,
                Required:    true,
                Validator: func(fieldValue any) error {
                    secret, _ := fieldValue.(string)

                    minLength := 20
                    if len(secret) < minLength {
                        return fmt.Errorf(
                            "expected string of minimum %d characters (len=%d)",
                            minLength,
                            len(secret),
                        )
                    }

                    return nil
                },
            },
        },
    },
    &bconf.FieldSet{
        Key: "log",
        Fields: bconf.Fields{
            {
                Key:         "level",
                Type:        bconf.String,
                Description: "Logging level",
                Default:     "info",
                Enumeration: []any{"debug", "info", "warn", "error"},
            },
            {
                Key:         "format",
                Type:        bconf.String,
                Description: "Logging format",
                Default:     "json",
                Enumeration: []any{"console", "json"},
            },
            {
                Key:         "color_enabled",
                Type:        bconf.Bool,
                Description: "Colored logs when format is 'console'",
                Default:     true,
            },
        },
    },
)

// Register with the option to handle --help / -h flag set to true
if errs := configuration.Register(true); len(errs) > 0 {
    // handle configuration load errors here
}

// returns the log level found in order of: default -> environment -> flag -> user override
// (based on the loaders set above).
logLevel, err := configuration.GetString("log", "level")
if err != nil {
    // handle retrieval error
}

fmt.Printf("log-level: %s", logLevel)

In both of the code blocks above, a bconf.AppConfig is defined with two field-sets (which group configuration related to the application and logging in this case), and registered with help flag parsing.

If this code was executed in a main() function, it would print the log level picked up by the configuration from the flags or run-time environment before falling back on the defined default value of "info".

If this code was executed inside the main() function and passed a --help or -h flag, it would print the following output:

Usage of 'external_http_api':
HTTP API for user authentication and authorization

Required Configuration:
        app_session_secret string
                Application secret for session management
                Environment key: 'EXT_HTTP_API_APP_SESSION_SECRET'
                Flag argument: '--app_session_secret'
Optional Configuration:
        app_id string
                Application identifier
                Default value: <generated-at-run-time>
                Environment key: 'EXT_HTTP_API_APP_ID'
                Flag argument: '--app_id'
        log_color_enabled bool
                Colored logs when format is 'console'
                Default value: 'true'
                Environment key: 'EXT_HTTP_API_LOG_COLOR_ENABLED'
                Flag argument: '--log_color_enabled'
        log_format string
                Logging format
                Accepted values: ['console', 'json']
                Default value: 'json'
                Environment key: 'EXT_HTTP_API_LOG_FORMAT'
                Flag argument: '--log_format'
        log_level string
                Logging level
                Accepted values: ['debug', 'info', 'warn', 'error']
                Default value: 'info'
                Environment key: 'EXT_HTTP_API_LOG_LEVEL'
                Flag argument: '--log_level'

This is a simple example where all the configuration code is in one place, but it doesn't need to be!

To view more examples, including a real-world example showcasing how configuration can live alongside package code, please visit github.com/rheisen/bconf-examples.

Roadmap Features / Improvements

• Additional -h / --help options
• Additional configuration loaders