configbased

Configbased is a term used to describe software systems designed primarily around external configuration data rather than embedded literals or code paths. In a configbased architecture, behavior, parameters, and features are controlled by configuration sources, allowing changes without modifying or redeploying the application.

Characteristics include sources such as configuration files (YAML, JSON, or properties), environment variables, configuration services (Consul, Etcd, Spring Cloud Config), and secret stores for sensitive data. Config layers may be hierarchical and composable, supporting environment, region, and version-specific overrides. Many systems support hot-reload or dynamic refresh so that updates take effect without restarts.

Benefits include greater flexibility, easier environment parity, safer rollbacks, and improved testability. It aligns with practices such as the 12-factor app and infrastructure as code, and supports feature toggles and multi-tenant configurations.

Trade-offs involve added complexity in validation and schema management, risk of misconfiguration, potential performance costs, and security considerations around secrets management. Reliability depends on proper config governance and monitoring of configuration sources.

Common technologies and patterns in configbased designs include declarative configuration files, environment variable binding, config servers, Kubernetes ConfigMaps and Secrets, Helm charts, and feature flag systems. In practice, configbased approaches emphasize the separation of concerns between code and its operating parameters.

The term is used across software engineering, cloud services, and data processing pipelines to describe any system whose behavior can be controlled primarily through configuration rather than code changes.