iii / worker
$worker

configuration

v0.16.0

Configuration worker for the iii engine.

engine module
baked into the iii engine; no separate install required.

skill doc

skills/SKILL.md

configuration

The configuration worker is a server-side registry of named entries. Every entry has an id (e.g. iii-stream, billing-service), a human-readable name and description, a JSON Schema describing the value shape, and a JSON value validated against that schema. Workers call configuration::register once at startup to declare their schema and configuration::set to publish values; consumers call configuration::get / configuration::list to read and bind a configuration trigger to react to changes without polling.

The default fs adapter persists one YAML file per id under ./data/configuration and watches the directory for external edits, so manual edits to those files surface as configuration:updated events the same way SDK calls do. The bridge adapter delegates to a remote engine and re-broadcasts its events into the local fan-out — the function surface is identical across adapters. The worker is enabled by default in engine/config.yaml.

A per-id TTL (off by default) cleans up entries whose last subscriber trigger has unregistered, scoped to the lifecycle of ephemeral workers that come and go without an explicit teardown step.

When to Use

  • A worker is migrating its block out of engine/config.yaml and needs a typed, observable surface other workers can read and validate against.
  • Two workers need to agree on the same configuration values without one polling the other or hardcoding a path on disk.
  • An operator should be able to edit a single YAML file (or the remote control plane) and have the change propagate to every subscriber without a worker restart.
  • A worker comes and goes (sandboxes, ephemeral consumers) and its configuration should be cleaned up automatically when no one is left subscribing.

Boundaries

  • Not a general-purpose key/value store — every entry must have a registered JSON Schema. Use iii-state for free-form values.
  • No partial-update surface; set always replaces the whole value. Build the new value client-side and ship it in one call.
  • The bridge adapter cannot delete entries on the remote engine; cleanup over the bridge happens via TTL or directly on the source engine.
  • Schemas are not version-checked across re-registrations — re-registering with an incompatible schema simply replaces it. Coordinate schema migrations out-of-band.

Functions

  • configuration::register — declare an id with name, description, JSON Schema, and an optional initial_value; idempotent re-registration replaces the schema and metadata.
  • configuration::set — replace the value for a registered id; validates against the registered schema and emits configuration:updated.
  • configuration::get — read one entry by id; expands ${VAR:default} against live env unless raw: true.
  • configuration::list — enumerate every registered id with name, description, and schema; never returns the value.
  • configuration::schema — read schema/name/description for one id without exposing the value.

register and set are the only mutators; the read-side functions are cache-backed and cheap. Reads expand ${VAR:default} placeholders against the live process env on every call, so env changes propagate without restarts — pass raw: true to configuration::get when you need the stored template form.

Reactive triggers

Bind a configuration trigger when a function should run automatically on every register / set / delete — including external fs file edits and bridge-forwarded events from a remote engine. The engine invokes matching handlers asynchronously after each successful mutation and after TTL-driven cleanup, so a worker stays in sync with its configuration without polling.

Reach for it when:

  • A worker needs to reload in-memory state when its configuration is rewritten by another component or by an operator editing the YAML directly.
  • The same handler should run regardless of who edited the configuration (local SDK call, remote engine via the bridge adapter, or a file edit).

If you only need the new value inside the same function that wrote it, configuration::set already returns old_value / new_value — register a trigger only when a different worker should react.

How to bind

  1. Register a handler: iii.registerFunction('stream::on-config-change', handler).
  2. Register the trigger:
iii.registerTrigger({
  type: 'configuration',
  function_id: 'stream::on-config-change',
  config: {
    configuration_id: 'iii-stream',          // optional. Omit to receive every id.
    event_types: ['configuration:updated'],  // optional. Subset of configuration:registered|configuration:updated|configuration:deleted.
    // condition_function_id is also supported — see get function info.
  },
})

Mutations that fire triggers: configuration::register (:registered on first call, :updated on re-registration), configuration::set (:updated), TTL cleanup (:deleted), and external fs create/edit/delete events. Reads do not fire triggers.

The worker also respects per-id TTL: when ttl_seconds > 0 is configured and the last trigger bound to a configuration_id is unregistered, the entry is deleted after the TTL elapses. A new trigger registration before the countdown fires aborts the cleanup.

For the event payload shape, call iii get function info on the trigger type or handler function id.