configuration-management

SKILL.md

Configuration Management

Table of Contents

Overview

When to Use

Quick Start

Reference Guides

Best Practices

Overview

Comprehensive guide to managing application configuration across environments, including environment variables, configuration files, secrets, feature flags, and following 12-factor app methodology.

When to Use

Setting up configuration for different environments

Managing secrets and credentials

Implementing feature flags

Creating configuration hierarchies

Following 12-factor app principles

Migrating configuration to cloud services

Implementing dynamic configuration

Managing multi-tenant configurations

Quick Start

Minimal working example:

# .env.development
NODE_ENV=development
PORT=3000
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://localhost:5432/myapp_dev
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379
LOG_LEVEL=debug
API_KEY=dev-api-key-12345

# .env.production
NODE_ENV=production
PORT=8080
DATABASE_URL=${DATABASE_URL}  # From environment
REDIS_URL=${REDIS_URL}
LOG_LEVEL=info
API_KEY=${API_KEY}  # From secret manager

# .env.test
NODE_ENV=test
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://localhost:5432/myapp_test
LOG_LEVEL=error

Reference Guides

Detailed implementations in the references/ directory:

Guide
Contents

Environment Variables
Environment Variables

Configuration Hierarchies
Configuration Hierarchies

Secret Management
Secret Management

Feature Flags
Feature Flags

12-Factor App Configuration
12-Factor App Configuration

Configuration Validation
Configuration Validation

Dynamic Configuration (Remote Config)
Dynamic Configuration (Remote Config)

Best Practices

✅ DO

Store configuration in environment variables

Use different config files per environment

Validate configuration on startup

Use secret managers for sensitive data

Never commit secrets to version control

Provide sensible defaults

Document all configuration options

Use type-safe configuration objects

Implement configuration hierarchy (base + overrides)

Use feature flags for gradual rollouts

Follow 12-factor app principles

Implement graceful degradation for missing config

Cache secrets to reduce API calls

❌ DON'T

Hardcode configuration in source code

Commit .env files with real secrets

Use different config formats across services

Store secrets in plain text

Expose configuration through APIs

Use production credentials in development

Ignore configuration validation errors

Access process.env directly everywhere

Store configuration in databases (circular dependency)

Mix configuration with business logic

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