Skip to content

Config Module (hierachain/config/*)

Overview

The Config module is the control center of HieraChain, responsible for managing hundreds of operational parameters, ensuring the security of secret keys, and providing a standardized logging mechanism for both development and production environments.

Core Components

  • Settings Management

    File: settings.py

    • Environment-based configuration system (HRC_ENV).
    • Automatic parameter validation.
    • Configuration separated by group: Blockchain, Consensus, Storage, P2P, etc.

  • Secret Manager

    File: secret_manager.py

    • Retrieves secrets independently of infrastructure.
    • Supports backends: Environment, HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager.
    • Automatic flexible fallback.

  • Structured Logging

    File: logging.py

    • Text format for developers (colored, readable).
    • JSON format for Production environments (compatible with ELK, Cloud Logging).
    • Supports embedding Request ID for error tracing.

Environment-based Configuration

HieraChain uses the HRC_ENV environment variable to automatically switch between optimized configurations:

Environment HRC_ENV Value Key Characteristics
Development dev (Default) DEBUG log level, SQLite/Memory storage, CORS allowed from everywhere.
Production product Enforces Auth, HSTS, P2P Strict Trust, JSON log format.
Testing test Fast configuration, small block size, Memory storage by default.

Secret Manager

This is a critical component for protecting sensitive keys such as HRC_CLUSTER_SECRET or IPFS_ENCRYPTION_KEY.

Usage Example in Code:

from hierachain.config.secret_manager import SecretManager

sm = SecretManager()
# Automatically retrieves from Vault, AWS, or Env depending on configuration
cluster_key = sm.get_secret("HRC_CLUSTER_SECRET")

Supported Backends:

  1. Environment (env): Default, reads directly from environment variables.
  2. Vault (vault): Connects to HashiCorp Vault KV v2.
  3. AWS (aws): Connects to AWS Secrets Manager.

Standardized Logging (Observability)

You can change the log format via the HRC_LOG_FORMAT environment variable:

  • For Dev (text): 

    INFO  hierachain.api.server  Starting HieraChain Node on localhost:2661...

  • For Ops (json): 

    {"timestamp": "2024-03-20T10:00:00", "level": "INFO", "logger": "hierachain.api", "message": "Node started", "request_id": "abc-123"}

Configuration Validation

HieraChain validates configuration at startup to prevent potential operational errors:

  • validate_config(): Checks logical values (e.g., Port must be 1-65535, Block size > 0).
  • check_security_config(): Warns if security settings in Production are insufficient (e.g., Auth disabled or CORS-all enabled).