Skip to main content

Configuration and environment precedence

Configuration has an authored declaration, an Application-managed value, a deployment selection, and a final runtime installation. Keep those stages separate.

Authored variables​

For each manifest variable:

  1. current Application-managed value, if set;
  2. otherwise authored default, if present;
  3. otherwise missing.

A missing required variable blocks affected work. An explicit empty string is a value and must not be collapsed into missing.

Managed secrets​

The manifest names secretId, requiredness, and destination. It never holds plaintext. The deployment selects a stored encrypted secret version and issues a job-bound grant. Signed current-job installation is authoritative over stale ambient values. File secrets are confined below the configured secret base directory and written with restricted permissions.

Runtime lookup​

Before Liskov installation, the SDK looks for a named value in:

  1. supplied options.env or process.env;
  2. Acurast _STD_.env; then
  3. Acurast environment(name).

Signed runtime bootstrap then authenticates the current Application UID, policy, deployment, job, processor, and runtime instance; installs managed runtime-env values; obtains secrets; and attaches logging. Application code must use runtime.env after bootstrap.

Built-ins and reserved names​

Liskov supplies identity/bootstrap values. Literal names beginning with PROOF_SLIPWAY_, PROOF_LOCKBOX_, and BLACKBOX_ remain where compatibility requires them. They are implementation-facing wire inputs, not names for new customer variables. Do not declare, override, or copy them between jobs.

New Liskov-owned environment contracts use LISKOV_*.

Change timing​

A stored variable or secret version does not mutate a running process. Publication/configuration update creates a successor according to lifecycle. Runtime refreshNow() refreshes server-authorized runtime env and eligible background capabilities; it is not a bypass for successor policy or secret version selection.

Safe inspection​

Inspect names, presence, version/digest, source class, and final non-secret behavior. Never print secret values to verify precedence. When a required value is absent, record the exact name, Application UID, policy/deployment/job IDs, and runtime capability code.