cosmiconfig
Cosmiconfig searches for and loads configuration for your program.
It features smart defaults based on conventional expectations in the JavaScript ecosystem. But it's also flexible enough to search wherever you'd like to search, and load whatever you'd like to load.
By default, Cosmiconfig will start where you tell it to start and search up the directory tree for the following:
- a
package.json
property - a JSON or YAML, extensionless "rc file"
- an "rc file" with the extensions
.json
,.yaml
,.yml
,.js
, or.cjs
- a
.config.js
or.config.cjs
CommonJS module - a
.config.json
file in JSON format
For example, if your module's name is "myapp", cosmiconfig will search up the directory tree for configuration in the following places:
- a
myapp
property inpackage.json
- a
.myapprc
file in JSON or YAML format - a
.myapprc.json
,.myapprc.yaml
,.myapprc.yml
,.myapprc.js
, or.myapprc.cjs
file - a
myapp.config.js
ormyapp.config.cjs
CommonJS module exporting an object - a
myapp.config.json
file in JSON format
Cosmiconfig continues to search up the directory tree, checking each of these places in each directory, until it finds some acceptable configuration (or hits the home directory).
Table of contents
- Installation
- Usage
- Result
- Asynchronous API
- Synchronous API
- cosmiconfigOptions
- Caching
- Differences from rc
- Contributing & Development
Installation
npm install cosmiconfig
Tested in Node 10+.
Usage
Create a Cosmiconfig explorer, then either search
for or directly load
a configuration file.
const { cosmiconfig, cosmiconfigSync } = require('cosmiconfig');
// ...
const explorer = cosmiconfig(moduleName);
// Search for a configuration by walking up directories.
// See documentation for search, below.
explorer.search()
.then((result) => {
// result.config is the parsed configuration object.
// result.filepath is the path to the config file that was found.
// result.isEmpty is true if there was nothing to parse in the config file.
})
.catch((error) => {
// Do something constructive.
});
// Load a configuration directly when you know where it should be.
// The result object is the same as for search.
// See documentation for load, below.
explorer.load(pathToConfig).then(..);
// You can also search and load synchronously.
const explorerSync = cosmiconfigSync(moduleName);
const searchedFor = explorerSync.search();
const loaded = explorerSync.load(pathToConfig);
Result
The result object you get from search
or load
has the following properties:
- config: The parsed configuration object.
undefined
if the file is empty. - filepath: The path to the configuration file that was found.
- isEmpty:
true
if the configuration file is empty. This property will not be present if the configuration file is not empty.
Asynchronous API
cosmiconfig()
const { cosmiconfig } = require('cosmiconfig');
const explorer = cosmiconfig(moduleName[, cosmiconfigOptions])
Creates a cosmiconfig instance ("explorer") configured according to the arguments, and initializes its caches.
moduleName
Type: string
. Required.
Your module name. This is used to create the default searchPlaces
and packageProp
.
If your searchPlaces
value will include files, as it does by default (e.g. ${moduleName}rc
), your moduleName
must consist of characters allowed in filenames. That means you should not copy scoped package names, such as @my-org/my-package
, directly into moduleName
.
cosmiconfigOptions
are documented below.
You may not need them, and should first read about the functions you'll use.
explorer.search()
explorer.search([searchFrom]).then(result => {..})
Searches for a configuration file. Returns a Promise that resolves with a result or with null
, if no configuration file is found.
You can do the same thing synchronously with explorerSync.search()
.
Let's say your module name is goldengrahams
so you initialized with const explorer = cosmiconfig('goldengrahams');
.
Here's how your default search()
will work:
- Starting from
process.cwd()
(or some other directory defined by thesearchFrom
argument tosearch()
), look for configuration objects in the following places:- A
goldengrahams
property in apackage.json
file. - A
.goldengrahamsrc
file with JSON or YAML syntax. - A
.goldengrahamsrc.json
,.goldengrahamsrc.yaml
,.goldengrahamsrc.yml
,.goldengrahamsrc.js
, or.goldengrahamsrc.cjs
file. - A
goldengrahams.config.js
orgoldengrahams.config.cjs
CommonJS module exporting the object. - A
goldengrahams.config.json
file with JSON syntax.
- A
- If none of those searches reveal a configuration object, move up one directory level and try again.
So the search continues in
./
,../
,../../
,../../../
, etc., checking the same places in each directory. - Continue searching until arriving at your home directory (or some other directory defined by the cosmiconfig option
stopDir
). - If at any point a parsable configuration is found, the
search()
Promise resolves with its result (or, withexplorerSync.search()
, the result is returned). - If no configuration object is found, the
search()
Promise resolves withnull
(or, withexplorerSync.search()
,null
is returned). - If a configuration object is found but is malformed (causing a parsing error), the
search()
Promise rejects with that error (so you should.catch()
it). (Or, withexplorerSync.search()
, the error is thrown.)
If you know exactly where your configuration file should be, you can use load()
, instead.
The search process is highly customizable.
Use the cosmiconfig options searchPlaces
and loaders
to precisely define where you want to look for configurations and how you want to load them.
searchFrom
Type: string
.
Default: process.cwd()
.
A filename.
search()
will start its search here.
If the value is a directory, that's where the search starts. If it's a file, the search starts in that file's directory.
explorer.load()
explorer.load(loadPath).then(result => {..})
Loads a configuration file. Returns a Promise that resolves with a result or rejects with an error (if the file does not exist or cannot be loaded).
Use load
if you already know where the configuration file is and you just need to load it.
explorer.load('load/this/file.json'); // Tries to load load/this/file.json.
If you load a package.json
file, the result will be derived from whatever property is specified as your packageProp
.
You can do the same thing synchronously with explorerSync.load()
.
explorer.clearLoadCache()
Clears the cache used in load()
.
explorer.clearSearchCache()
Clears the cache used in search()
.
explorer.clearCaches()
Performs both clearLoadCache()
and clearSearchCache()
.
Synchronous API
cosmiconfigSync()
const { cosmiconfigSync } = require('cosmiconfig');
const explorerSync = cosmiconfigSync(moduleName[, cosmiconfigOptions])
Creates a synchronous cosmiconfig instance ("explorerSync") configured according to the arguments, and initializes its caches.
See cosmiconfig()
.
explorerSync.search()
const result = explorerSync.search([searchFrom]);
Synchronous version of explorer.search()
.
Returns a result or null
.
explorerSync.load()
const result = explorerSync.load(loadPath);
Synchronous version of explorer.load()
.
Returns a result.
explorerSync.clearLoadCache()
Clears the cache used in load()
.
explorerSync.clearSearchCache()
Clears the cache used in search()
.
explorerSync.clearCaches()
Performs both clearLoadCache()
and clearSearchCache()
.
cosmiconfigOptions
Type: Object
.
Possible options are documented below.
searchPlaces
Type: Array<string>
.
Default: See below.
An array of places that search()
will check in each directory as it moves up the directory tree.
Each place is relative to the directory being searched, and the places are checked in the specified order.
Default searchPlaces
:
[
'package.json',
`.${moduleName}rc`,
`.${moduleName}rc.json`,
`.${moduleName}rc.yaml`,
`.${moduleName}rc.yml`,
`.${moduleName}rc.js`,
`.${moduleName}rc.cjs`,
`${moduleName}.config.js`,
`${moduleName}.config.cjs`,
`${moduleName}.config.json`,
]
Create your own array to search more, fewer, or altogether different places.
Every item in searchPlaces
needs to have a loader in loaders
that corresponds to its extension.
(Common extensions are covered by default loaders.)
Read more about loaders
below.
package.json
is a special value: When it is included in searchPlaces
, Cosmiconfig will always parse it as JSON and load a property within it, not the whole file.
That property is defined with the packageProp
option, and defaults to your module name.
Examples, with a module named porgy
:
// Disallow extensions on rc files:
[
'package.json',
'.porgyrc',
'porgy.config.js'
]
// ESLint searches for configuration in these places:
[
'.eslintrc.js',
'.eslintrc.yaml',
'.eslintrc.yml',
'.eslintrc.json',
'.eslintrc',
'package.json'
]
// Babel looks in fewer places:
[
'package.json',
'.babelrc'
]
// Maybe you want to look for a wide variety of JS flavors:
[
'porgy.config.js',
'porgy.config.mjs',
'porgy.config.ts',
'porgy.config.coffee'
]
// ^^ You will need to designate custom loaders to tell
// Cosmiconfig how to handle these special JS flavors.
// Look within a .config/ subdirectory of every searched directory:
[
'package.json',
'.porgyrc',
'.config/.porgyrc',
'.porgyrc.json',
'.config/.porgyrc.json'
]
loaders
Type: Object
.
Default: See below.
An object that maps extensions to the loader functions responsible for loading and parsing files with those extensions.
Cosmiconfig exposes its default loaders on a named export defaultLoaders
.
Default loaders
:
const { defaultLoaders } = require('cosmiconfig');
console.log(Object.entries(defaultLoaders))
// [
// [ '.cjs', [Function: loadJs] ],
// [ '.js', [Function: loadJs] ],
// [ '.json', [Function: loadJson] ],
// [ '.yaml', [Function: loadYaml] ],
// [ '.yml', [Function: loadYaml] ],
// [ 'noExt', [Function: loadYaml] ]
// ]
(YAML is a superset of JSON; which means YAML parsers can parse JSON; which is how extensionless files can be either YAML or JSON with only one parser.)
If you provide a loaders
object, your object will be merged with the defaults.
So you can override one or two without having to override them all.
Keys in loaders
are extensions (starting with a period), or noExt
to specify the loader for files without extensions, like .myapprc
.
Values in loaders
are a loader function (described below) whose values are loader functions.
The most common use case for custom loaders value is to load extensionless rc
files as strict JSON, instead of JSON or YAML (the default).
To accomplish that, provide the following loaders
value:
{
noExt: defaultLoaders['.json']
}
If you want to load files that are not handled by the loader functions Cosmiconfig exposes, you can write a custom loader function or use one from NPM if it exists.
Third-party loaders:
Use cases for custom loader function:
- Allow configuration syntaxes that aren't handled by Cosmiconfig's defaults, like JSON5, INI, or XML.
- Allow ES2015 modules from
.mjs
configuration files. - Parse JS files with Babel before deriving the configuration.
Custom loader functions have the following signature:
// Sync
(filepath: string, content: string) => Object | null
// Async
(filepath: string, content: string) => Object | null | Promise<Object | null>
Cosmiconfig reads the file when it checks whether the file exists, so it will provide you with both the file's path and its content.
Do whatever you need to, and return either a configuration object or null
(or, for async-only loaders, a Promise that resolves with one of those).
null
indicates that no real configuration was found and the search should continue.
A few things to note:
- If you use a custom loader, be aware of whether it's sync or async: you cannot use async customer loaders with the sync API (
cosmiconfigSync()
). - Special JS syntax can also be handled by using a
require
hook, becausedefaultLoaders['.js']
just usesrequire
. Whether you use custom loaders or arequire
hook is up to you.
Examples:
// Allow JSON5 syntax:
{
'.json': json5Loader
}
// Allow a special configuration syntax of your own creation:
{
'.special': specialLoader
}
// Allow many flavors of JS, using custom loaders:
{
'.mjs': esmLoader,
'.ts': typeScriptLoader,
'.coffee': coffeeScriptLoader
}
// Allow many flavors of JS but rely on require hooks:
{
'.mjs': defaultLoaders['.js'],
'.ts': defaultLoaders['.js'],
'.coffee': defaultLoaders['.js']
}
packageProp
Type: string | Array<string>
.
Default: `${moduleName}`
.
Name of the property in package.json
to look for.
Use a period-delimited string or an array of strings to describe a path to nested properties.
For example, the value 'configs.myPackage'
or ['configs', 'myPackage']
will get you the "myPackage"
value in a package.json
like this:
{
"configs": {
"myPackage": {..}
}
}
If nested property names within the path include periods, you need to use an array of strings. For example, the value ['configs', 'foo.bar', 'baz']
will get you the "baz"
value in a package.json
like this:
{
"configs": {
"foo.bar": {
"baz": {..}
}
}
}
If a string includes period but corresponds to a top-level property name, it will not be interpreted as a period-delimited path. For example, the value 'one.two'
will get you the "three"
value in a package.json
like this:
{
"one.two": "three",
"one": {
"two": "four"
}
}
stopDir
Type: string
.
Default: Absolute path to your home directory.
Directory where the search will stop.
cache
Type: boolean
.
Default: true
.
If false
, no caches will be used.
Read more about "Caching" below.
transform
Type: (Result) => Promise<Result> | Result
.
A function that transforms the parsed configuration. Receives the result.
If using search()
or load()
(which are async), the transform function can return the transformed result or return a Promise that resolves with the transformed result.
If using cosmiconfigSync
, search()
or load()
, the function must be synchronous and return the transformed result.
The reason you might use this option — instead of simply applying your transform function some other way — is that the transformed result will be cached. If your transformation involves additional filesystem I/O or other potentially slow processing, you can use this option to avoid repeating those steps every time a given configuration is searched or loaded.
ignoreEmptySearchPlaces
Type: boolean
.
Default: true
.
By default, if search()
encounters an empty file (containing nothing but whitespace) in one of the searchPlaces
, it will ignore the empty file and move on.
If you'd like to load empty configuration files, instead, set this option to false
.
Why might you want to load empty configuration files? If you want to throw an error, or if an empty configuration file means something to your program.
Caching
As of v2, cosmiconfig uses caching to reduce the need for repetitious reading of the filesystem or expensive transforms. Every new cosmiconfig instance (created with cosmiconfig()
) has its own caches.
To avoid or work around caching, you can do the following:
- Set the
cosmiconfig
optioncache
tofalse
. - Use the cache-clearing methods
clearLoadCache()
,clearSearchCache()
, andclearCaches()
. - Create separate instances of cosmiconfig (separate "explorers").
rc
Differences fromrc serves its focused purpose well. cosmiconfig differs in a few key ways — making it more useful for some projects, less useful for others:
- Looks for configuration in some different places: in a
package.json
property, an rc file, a.config.js
file, and rc files with extensions. - Built-in support for JSON, YAML, and CommonJS formats.
- Stops at the first configuration found, instead of finding all that can be found up the directory tree and merging them automatically.
- Options.
- Asynchronous by default (though can be run synchronously).
Contributing & Development
Please note that this project is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.
And please do participate!