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Configuration

arield is configured entirely through environment variables. It has no configuration file and no command-line options beyond --help and --version.

Reference

VariableDefaultMeaning
ARIEL_HEALTH_ADDR0.0.0.0:8081Socket address /healthz is served on. A value that is not a socket address (for example a bare port) stops arield at startup.
ARIEL_DISCORD_TOKEN_FILEunsetPath to a file holding the Discord bot token.
ARIEL_GONZALO_TOKEN_FILEunsetPath to a file holding arield's bearer token for gonzalod.
ARIEL_PROSPERO_TOKEN_FILEunsetPath to a file holding arield's API token for prosperod. Required once prosperod runs with API authentication on (prospero v0.8+); use a token with operate scope (ADR 0013). Without it, requests carry no token.
ARIEL_PROSPERO_URLunsetprosperod's base URL, for example http://prosperod:8080. https works too, verified against the platform's trust store.
ARIEL_GONZALO_URLunsetgonzalod's base URL, where the channel and access-control records live. http or https.
ARIEL_DASHBOARD_URLunsetLinked from every notification. A value that is not a URL stops arield at startup.
ARIEL_CHANNEL_RELOAD_SECS60How often arield re-reads the channel configuration records, so a channel added, retired or re-scoped takes effect without a restart. A value that is not a whole number of seconds above zero stops arield at startup.
RUST_LOGwarn,arield=info,ariel_daemon=info,ariel_core=info,ariel_discord=infoWhich log lines arield writes to stderr, as tracing filter directives. The default shows Ariel's own info lines and only warnings from its dependencies. A filter that does not parse stops arield at startup.
ARIEL_LOG_FORMATtexttext for one human-readable line per event, or json for one JSON object per line, for log shipping. Any other value stops arield at startup.
ARIEL_DISCORD_GUILD_IDunsetThe guild /ariel is registered in. Numeric; anything else stops arield at startup.
ARIEL_DISCORD_APPLICATION_IDunsetThe Discord application answering interactions. Numeric.

What arield does with less than all of it

arield always serves /healthz. The bridge itself needs prosperod, gonzalod and a chat provider:

  • Without ARIEL_PROSPERO_URL or ARIEL_GONZALO_URL it serves health only, and says so on startup.
  • Without a complete Discord configuration (token file, guild ID and application ID) there is no chat provider, so it serves health only.
  • With all of it, it reads every channel configuration record belonging to the running provider, watches the fleet, and notifies each channel that follows an event's workspace. A channel record naming another provider is skipped: it belongs to a different backend in the same fleet.
  • With no channel records at all it runs and notifies nothing, logging a warning.

After a restart it does not replay what it missed (ADR 0011): agents already finished are not announced, and each running agent gets a fresh live message.

Credentials are files

Per ADR 0008, a credential never arrives as a plain environment variable. Each is a file, normally a mounted Kubernetes Secret, named by an ARIEL_*_TOKEN_FILE variable.

  • An unset variable means that credential is absent.

  • A set variable whose file is missing, unreadable, or empty stops arield with a non-zero exit. The error names the variable and path, never the contents:

    arield: ARIEL_DISCORD_TOKEN_FILE: cannot read /run/secrets/ariel/discord-token: No such file or directory (os error 2)

  • One trailing newline (\n or \r\n) is removed, so a file written with echo works.

  • Tokens are held in a type that formats as [redacted], so they cannot reach logs.

Rotating a token means replacing the file and restarting arield.

gonzalo compatibility

Ariel keeps its people, bindings, role grants, channel configuration, link tokens and audit trail as gonzalo records (ADR 0003). Those record kinds are defined by gonzalo ADR 0022, and the channel configuration record by gonzalo ADR 0023.

  • Minimum gonzalo: 0.7.0, the first release carrying the access-control record kinds (gonzalo v0.7.0). 0.6.0 and earlier cannot decode them.
  • Upgrade gonzalo first. A gonzalod, or any gonzalo peer that syncs with it, older than that cannot decode these kinds. Upgrade every gonzalo binary that will hold or sync Ariel's records before arield writes one.

Health endpoint

GET /healthz answers 200 with body ok; every other path is 404. It reports only that the process is up and serving, and is suitable for liveness and readiness probes. The container image exposes port 8081.

Build-time selection

Which chat providers exist in a binary is decided by Cargo features, not configuration: ariel-daemon's discord feature is on by default. arield names them on its startup log line, providers=["discord"], or providers=[] for a --no-default-features build. Which compiled provider actually runs is configuration: today, whether ARIEL_DISCORD_TOKEN_FILE, ARIEL_DISCORD_GUILD_ID and ARIEL_DISCORD_APPLICATION_ID are all set. A binary built without discord has no provider to configure and serves health only.