---
title: "Configuration file"
linkTitle: "Configuration file"
weight: 1
slug: configuration-file
---

{{ .GeneratedFileWarning }}

Cortex can be configured using a YAML file - specified using the `-config.file` flag - or CLI flags. In case you combine both, CLI flags take precedence over the YAML config file.

The current configuration of any Cortex component can be seen by visiting the `/config` HTTP path.
Passwords are filtered out of this endpoint.

## Reference

To specify which configuration file to load, pass the `-config.file` flag at the command line. The file is written in [YAML format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAML), defined by the scheme below. Brackets indicate that a parameter is optional.

### Generic placeholders

* `<boolean>`: a boolean that can take the values `true` or `false`
* `<int>`: any integer matching the regular expression `[1-9]+[0-9]*`
* `<duration>`: a duration matching the regular expression `[0-9]+(ns|us|µs|ms|s|m|h|d|w|y)` where y = 365 days.
* `<string>`: a regular string
* `<url>`: an URL
* `<prefix>`: a CLI flag prefix based on the context (look at the parent configuration block to see which CLI flags prefix should be used)
* `<relabel_config>`: a [Prometheus relabeling configuration](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#relabel_config).
* `<time>`: a timestamp, with available formats: `2006-01-20` (midnight, local timezone), `2006-01-20T15:04` (local timezone), and RFC 3339 formats: `2006-01-20T15:04:05Z` (UTC) or `2006-01-20T15:04:05+07:00` (explicit timezone)

### Use environment variables in the configuration

You can use environment variable references in the config file to set values that need to be configurable during deployment by using the `-config.expand-env` flag.
To do this, use:

```
${VAR}
```

Where VAR is the name of the environment variable.

Each variable reference is replaced at startup by the value of the environment variable.
The replacement is case-sensitive and occurs before the YAML file is parsed.
References to undefined variables are replaced by empty strings unless you specify a default value or custom error text.

To specify a default value, use:

```
${VAR:default_value}
```

Where default_value is the value to use if the environment variable is undefined.

### Supported contents and default values of the config file

{{ .ConfigFile }}
