Declarative Configuration

Kind: principle

Layer: Declarative Core

Record: architecture:declarative-configuration

Severity: recommended

Scope: configuration, infrastructure, runtime

Canonical: Ontology

A design rule that a system's settings are declared as validated data, and the system configures itself from that data.

Listed in Architecture principles, after Metadata-Driven Design and before Convention over Configuration.

Requires

• Schema Validation
• Explicit Semantics

Reinforces

• Predictability
• Infrastructure as Code

Enables

• Runtime Configuration without Code Change

Conflicts with

• Hardcoded Configuration

In tension with

• Dynamic Complexity

Tensions

• Declarative Configuration / Dynamic Complexity

Contracts

• Declarative Core

Violated by

• Hardcoded Behavior

Refactored by

• Externalize Configuration
• Configuration Schema

Severity

• recommended

Category

• Metadata / Self-Description / Declarative Systems

Reinforced by

• Metadata-Driven Design
• Domain-Specific Language
• Registry-Held Order

Linked from

• Orchestration as declared structure
• Definitions own what, code owns how
• Anti-patterns
• Correctness / Determinism / Verification
• Portability / Infrastructure / Deployment
• Metadata / Self-Description / Declarative Systems
• Metaprogramming / Language-Oriented Architecture
• Schema / Canonical Data / Semantics
• Taxonomy / Classification / Naming
• Control / Coordination / Centralization
• Metadata / Self-Description / Declarative Systems
• Architectural Clusters
• Severity levels
• The resolutions

in this codebase

• configuration/constants
• configuration/icons