Introduction
Configu is a proposed standard for managing and collaborating on software configurations. It is intended to provide a common, flexible, and extensible process for storing and sharing configuration data across different environments and systems.
Configu is designed to be easy to integrate into existing systems and workflow, and to be adaptable to the specific needs of different teams and projects. It provides a level of abstraction above configuration data, making it easier for developers to deploy their software more efficiently and to collaborate with other team members.
Background
In software development lifecycle, developers usually extract some of the configuration items or metadata of the application from the code and manage them in a separate locations like configuration files. These separately managed content is called application configuration, and is an important aspect of software development, as it allows developers to customize the behavior of their applications to meet the needs of different users and environments. This can include things like environment variables, secrets, feature flags, and any other data that is used to configure the behavior of an application.
Motivation
Software configurations refer to the data that determines how a software application or system behaves. As a codebase grows and becomes more complex, it may require more configuration data to customize its behavior and ensure that it functions correctly.
In modern, distributed and microservices-based systems, configuration data is often scattered across multiple systems and environments, making it challenging for teams to work together and ensure that their applications are properly configured. Incorrect or outdated configuration data can cause bugs and errors that can result in significant downtime and lost revenue.
Effective configuration management is critical for ensuring the stability and reliability of a system, as well as for maintaining the efficiency and productivity of a team. It is essential for teams to have a clear understanding of the configuration data that is being used, and to have processes in place to ensure that it is accurate and up to date.
Philosophy
As developers, we believe in the power of open-source software and are committed to developing Configu openly on github.com/configu. We are always eager to collaborate with other developers and devops engineers, and are happy to assist with anything related to Configu or configurations in general.
If you would like to contribute code to Configu or provide feedback, we welcome you to join our Discord channel or reach out via email at support@configu.com. We believe that by working together and inviting others to be part of the project, we can create a strong and supportive community around Configu and help it continue to grow and evolve.
We believe that by providing a standard, consistent, and extensible way to define, validate, and apply configuration data, we can help teams work more efficiently and avoid mismanagement and errors that can arise from using raw text or other ad-hoc approaches to configuration management.