Project-Specific Configurations

Learn here about using cds.env to specify and access configuration options for the Node.js runtimes as well as the @sap/cds-dk CLI commands.

CLI cds env Command

Run the cds env command in the root folder of your project to see the effective configuration. The listed settings include global defaults as well as project-specific settings and process environment settings.

Here's a brief intro how to use it:

cds env               #> shortcut to `cds env ls`
cds env ls            #> lists all settings in properties format
cds env ls folders    #> lists the `folders` settings
cds env get           #> prints all settings in JSON-like format
cds env get folders   #> prints the `folders` settings
cds env get defaults  #> prints defaults only
cds env ?             #> get help

For example:

> cds env ls requires.db

requires.db.credentials.url = ':memory:'
requires.db.impl = '@cap-js/sqlite'
requires.db.kind = 'sqlite'

> cds env requires.db

{
  impl: '@cap-js/sqlite',
  credentials: { url: ':memory:' },
  kind: 'sqlite'
}

Alternatively, you can also use the cds eval or cds repl CLI commands to access the cds.env property, which provides programmatic access to the effective settings:

> cds -e .env.requires.db

{
  impl: '@cap-js/sqlite',
  credentials: { url: ':memory:' },
  kind: 'sqlite'
}

$ cds -r
Welcome to cds repl ...
> cds.env.requires.db
{
  impl: '@cap-js/sqlite',
  credentials: { url: ':memory:' },
  kind: 'sqlite'
}

The cds.env Module

The cds env CLI command and all configuration-related tasks and features in Node.js-based tools and runtimes are backed by the cds.env module, which can be accessed through the central cds facade. For example, you can use it as follows:

const cds = require('@sap/cds')
console.log (cds.env.requires.sql)

This would print the same output as the one above for cds env get requires.sql.

As depicted in the figure below cds.env provides one-stop convenient and transparent access to the effective configuration read from various sources, including global defaults, static, project-specific configuration as well as dynamic settings from process environment and service bindings. Different environments, for example, dev vs prod can be identified and selected by profiles.

Sources for cds.env

cds.env is actually a getter property, which on first usage loads settings from the following sources:

order	source
1	@sap/cds	built-in defaults
2	~/.cdsrc.json	user-specific defaults
3	./.cdsrc.json	static project settings
4	./package.json	static project settings → {"cds":{ ... }}
5	./.cdsrc-private.json	user-specific project config
6	./default-env.json	deprecated, see cds bind
7	./.env	user-specific project env (lines of name=value)
8	process.env.CDS_CONFIG	runtime settings from shell or cloud
9	process.env	runtime env vars from shell or cloud
10	process.env.VCAP_SERVICES	service bindings
11	~/.cds-services.json	service bindings for development profile

• ./ represents a project's root directory.
• ~/ represents a user's home directory.

WARNING

Private files are for you only and should not be checked into your source code management.

The settings are merged into cds.env starting from lower to higher order. Meaning that propertiers specified in a source of higher order will overwrite the value from a lower order.

For example, given the following sources:

cdsrc.json

{
  "requires": {
    "db": {
      "kind": "sql",
      "model": "./db",
      "credentials": { "url": ":memory:" }
    }
  }
}

package.json

{
  "cds": {
    "requires": {
      "db": {
        "kind": "sqlite"
      }
    }
  }
}

env.properties

cds.requires.db.credentials.database = my.sqlite

This would result in the following effective configuration:

cds.env = { ...,
  requires: {
    db: {
      kind: "sqlite",
      model: "./db",
      credentials: { database:"my.sqlite" }
    }
  }
}

Programmatic Settings

Node.js programs can also add and change settings by simply assigning values like so:

const cds = require('@sap/cds')
cds.env.requires.sql.kind = 'sqlite'
cds.env.requires.sql.credentials = { database:'my.sqlite' }

This would change the respective settings in the running program only, without writing back to the sources listed above.

Global Defaults

Built-In to @sap/cds

The lowest level of settings is read from built-in defaults, which comprise settings for these top-level properties:

Settings	Description
build	for build-related settings
features	to switch on/off cds features
folders	locations for app, srv, and db folders
i18n	for i18n-related settings
odata	for OData protocol-related settings
requires	to configure required services

As these properties are provided in the defaults, apps can safely access them, for example, through cds.env.requires.sql, without always checking for null values on the top-level entries.

User-Specific Defaults in ~/.cdsrc.json

You can also create a .cdsrc.json file in your user's home folder to specify settings to be used commonly across several projects.

Project Configuration

Settings, which are essential to your project topology go into static project settings. Examples are the folders layout of your project, specific build tasks, or the list of required services in requires — most frequently your primary database configured under requires.db.

TIP

The settings described here are part of your project's static content and delivery. They're checked in to your git repos and used also in productive deployments. Don't add environment-specific options as static settings but use one of the dynamic process environment options for that.

In ./package.json

You can provide static settings in a "cds" section of your project's package.json as in the following example:

"cds": {
  "requires": {
    "db": "sql"
  }
}

In ./.cdsrc.json

Alternatively, you can put static settings in .cdsrc.json file in your project root:

"requires": {
  "db": "sql"
}

Private Project Settings

In ./.cdsrc-private.json

A .cdsrc.json equivalent for your private settings used in local testing. The file should not be committed to your version control system.

Process Environment

On the Command Line

On UNIX-based systems (Mac, Linux) you can specify individual process env variables as prefixes to the command to start your server. For example:

CDS_REQUIRES_DB_KIND=sql cds run

In ./default-env.json

The use of default-env.json is deprecated. Please use cds bind.

In ./.env

Example for .env:

cds_requires_db_kind = sql

or

cds.requires.db.kind = sql

or

cds.requires.db = { "kind": "sql" }

WARNING

The dot (".") notation can only be used in .env files, because the dot is not a valid environment variable character. You can use it here if your config string contains underscore ("_") characters.

CDS_CONFIG env variable

You can use the CDS_CONFIG env variable in three different ways to add settings to the CDS environment:

1. Using a JSON string

   CDS_CONFIG='{"requires":{"db":{"kind":"sqlite"}}}' cds serve

2. Using a JSON file

   CDS_CONFIG=./my-cdsrc.json cds serve

3. Using a directory

   CDS_CONFIG=/etc/secrets/cds cds serve

   For each file and folder, a new property is added to the configuration with its name. For a file the property value is the string content of the file. But if a file contains a parsable JSON string starting with [ or { character, it is parsed and added as a substructure. For a directory an object is added and the algorithm continues there.

   /etc/secrets/cds/requires/auth/kind: xsuaa
   /etc/secrets/cds/requires/auth/credentials/clientid: capapp
   /etc/secrets/cds/requires/auth/credentials/clientsecret: dlfed4XYZ
   /etc/secrets/cds/requires/db:
     { kind: "hana", "credentials": { "user": "hana-user" } }

   Results in:

   {
     "requires": {
       "auth": {
         "kind": "xsuaa",
         "credentials": {
           "clientid": "cpapp",
           "clientsecret": "dlfed4XYZ"
         }
       },
       "db": {
         "kind": "hana",
         "credentials": {
           "user": "hana-user"
         }
       }
     }
   }

Required Services

If your app requires external services (databases, message brokers, ...), you must add them to the cds.requires section.

In cds.requires.<service> Settings

Here, you can configure the services. Find details about the individual options in the documentation of cds.connect.

Prototype-Chained Along .kind References

You can use the kind property to reference other services for prototype chaining.

CDS provides default service configurations for all supported services (hana, enterprise-messaging, ...).

Example:

package.json

{
  "cds": {
    "requires": {
      "serviceA": {
        "kind": "serviceB",
        "myProperty": "my overwritten property"
      },
      "serviceB": {
        "kind": "hana",
        "myProperty": "my property",
        "myOtherProperty": "my other property"
      }
    }
  }
}

serviceA will have the following properties:

{
  "kind": "serviceB",
  "myProperty": "my overwritten property",
  "myOtherProperty": "my other property", // from serviceB
  "impl": "[...]/hana/Service.js", // from hana
  "use": "hana" // where impl is defined
}

Configuration Profiles

Wrap entries into [<profile-name>]:{ ... } to provide settings for different environments. For example:

package.json

{
  "cds": {
    "requires": {
      "db": {
        "[development]": { "kind": "sqlite" },
        "[production]": { "kind": "hana" }
      }
    }
  }
}

The profile is determined at bootstrap time as follows:

1. from --production command line argument, if specified
2. from --profile command line argument, if specified
3. from NODE_ENV property, if specified
4. from CDS_ENV, if specified

If the profile is not set to production, the development profile is automatically enabled.

You can also introduce own custom profile names and use them as follows:

cds run --profile my-custom-profile

or

Mac/Linux

CDS_ENV=my-custom-profile cds run

Windows

set CDS_ENV=my-custom-profile
cds run

Powershell

$Env:CDS_ENV=my-custom-profile
cds run

App-Specific Settings

You can use the same machinery as documented above for app-specific configuration options:

package.json

"cds": { ... },
"my-app": { "myoption": "value" }

And access them from your app as follows:

const { myoption } = cds.env.for('my-app')