Configuration

The Dory Orchestrator is configured through four layers — environment variables, CLI flags, a YAML config file, and built-in defaults — resolved into a single StartupConfig. This page documents every knob and the precedence rules.

See Deployment for how these are wired into the Kubernetes manifests, and HTTP API Reference / Metrics for the surfaces they expose.

Precedence

Environment Variables  >  CLI Flags  >  Config File  >  Defaults

All CLI flags default to empty/zero values so the layered loader can detect whether a flag was explicitly set before applying lower-priority sources.

CLI flags

Defined in cmd/orchestrator/main.go:

Flag	Default	Purpose
--config	""	Path to a YAML config file (overrides discovery).
--config-db	""	PostgreSQL connection string (ConfigDB).
--kubeconfig	""	Path to kubeconfig (in-cluster if empty).
--namespace	""	Namespace to operate in.
--poll-interval	0	Reconcile / poll interval.
--log-level	""	debug / info / warn / error.
--version	false	Print version and exit.
--enable-monitor	false	Enable the event monitor.

Environment variables

These are read directly by the Go code and have the highest priority:

Env var	Maps to	Notes
DORY_DATABASE_URL	ConfigDB	Applied unconditionally.
KUBECONFIG	Kubeconfig	Applied only if Kubeconfig is otherwise unset.
DORY_NAMESPACE	Namespace
DORY_LOG_LEVEL	LogLevel

Additional environment variables consumed elsewhere in the system:

Env var	Default	Consumed by
DORY_STATE_TOKEN	—	State transfer manager (see State Migration).
DORY_IMAGE_PULL_SECRET	ecr-registry-secret	Pod image pull secret.
DORY_DATABASE_SECRET	dory-db-secret	Secret name for the DB URL.
DORY_DATABASE_SECRET_KEY	database-url	Key within that secret.

Note

The deployment manifest interpolates DATABASE_URL, NAMESPACE, POLL_INTERVAL, and LOG_LEVEL into CLI flags (--config-db, --namespace, --poll-interval, --log-level). The Go code itself reads only the four DORY_* / KUBECONFIG variables above directly. See Deployment.

Config file (FileConfig)

A YAML file with the following sections:

Section	Contents
Database	DB connection settings.
Kubernetes	kubeconfig / namespace.
Scheduler	scheduling parameters.
Migration	migration timeouts.
Logging	log level.
Metrics	metrics.port (default 8080).
Monitoring	event monitor settings.
Operational	timeouts and operational tunables.
Watcher	config-watcher backoff/retries.

Note

metrics.port (default 8080) can be set only via the config file — there is no environment-variable override for it.

Discovery order

When --config is not given, the orchestrator searches these paths in order:

1. ./dory.yaml
2. ./config/dory.yaml
3. /etc/dory/dory.yaml
4. ~/.dory/config.yaml

StartupConfig surface & defaults

The fully resolved configuration:

Field	Default	Notes
ConfigDB	""	Required — postgres:// scheme.
Kubeconfig	""	In-cluster if empty.
Namespace	default	Must be DNS-1123.
PollInterval	30s	Range [1s, 10m].
LogLevel	info	debug/info/warn/error.
EnableMonitor	false
MigrationTimeout	5m	Range [30s, 30m].
GracefulShutdownTimeout	30s	Must be ≥5s.
MetricsPort	8080	Range [1, 65535].
ReconciliationTimeout	5m
HealthCheckTimeout	5s
DefaultContainerPort	8080
ImagePullSecretName	ecr-registry-secret
DatabaseSecretName	dory-db-secret
NodeFailureGracePeriod	30s	See Edge Failover.
ConsolidationCooldown	1m
EnableStartupValidation	true
WatcherMaxRetries	5
WatcherInitialBackoff	5s
WatcherMaxBackoff	2m

Validation

When EnableStartupValidation is true (the default), the resolved config is validated:

Field	Rule
ConfigDB	Required; must use postgres:// scheme.
Namespace	Valid DNS-1123 label.
PollInterval	[1s, 10m].
LogLevel	One of debug, info, warn, error.
MigrationTimeout	[30s, 30m].
GracefulShutdownTimeout	≥5s.
MetricsPort	[1, 65535].

Warning

ConfigDB is mandatory and must use the postgres:// scheme. Startup fails validation otherwise.