Configuration Layers

Manager uses a three-layer configuration system that provides flexible settings inheritance from project to application level.

The Three Layers

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│        Project Settings             │  ← Most General
│   (Defaults for all tenants/apps)   │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
              ↓ inherits
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│         Tenant Settings             │  ← Middle Layer
│  (Defaults for apps in this tenant) │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
              ↓ inherits
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│      Application Settings           │  ← Most Specific
│    (Specific to one application)    │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

How Inheritance Works

When an application needs a setting:

1. Check Application - Look in application settings first
2. Check Tenant - If not found, look in tenant settings
3. Check Project - If still not found, look in project settings
4. Use Default - If nowhere, use system default

Inheritance Example

Project: Customer Portal

{
  "theme": "light",
  "locale": "en",
  "features": ["basic-dashboard"]
}

Tenant: ACME Corp

{
  "theme": "dark",
  "support_email": "support@acme.com"
}

Application: Mobile App

{
  "locale": "es",
  "features": ["chat"]
}

Effective Configuration for Mobile App:

{
  "theme": "dark", // from Tenant (overrides Project)
  "locale": "es", // from Application (overrides Project)
  "support_email": "support@acme.com", // from Tenant
  "features": ["chat"] // from Application (overrides Project)
}

Configuration Types

Backend Settings

Server-side configuration:

• Modules - Which backend features are enabled
• Key-Value Pairs - Custom parameters

Example:

{
  "EnabledModules": ["auth", "api", "analytics"],
  "KeyValuePairs": [
    { "Key": "api_version", "Value": "v2" },
    { "Key": "rate_limit", "Value": "1000" }
  ]
}

Frontend Settings

Client-side configuration:

• Modules - UI components with versions
• Themes - Available and default theme
• Locales - Languages and default
• Key-Value Pairs - Custom UI parameters

Example:

{
  "EnabledModules": ["dashboard@1.2.0"],
  "EnabledThemes": ["light", "dark"],
  "DefaultTheme": "light",
  "EnabledLocales": ["en", "es"],
  "DefaultLocale": "en"
}

When to Configure at Each Layer

Project Level

Use for:

• Product line specific features
• Common settings for related tenants/apps
• Shared modules across all tenants
• Environment-specific configs (dev/staging/prod projects)

Examples:

{
  "features": ["advanced-reporting", "api-access"],
  "EnabledModules": ["analytics", "webhooks"],
  "environment": "production"
}

Tenant Level

Use for:

• Organization-wide branding (logo, colors)
• Company-wide settings (support email, timezone)
• Default language for tenant's apps
• Security policies per customer

Examples:

{
  "theme": "corporate-blue",
  "locale": "en",
  "support_email": "support@company.com",
  "logo_url": "https://cdn.company.com/logo.png"
}

Application Level

Use for:

• App-specific customizations
• Overrides for special cases
• Unique features per app
• A/B testing variants

Examples:

{
  "locale": "fr", // This app uses French
  "theme": "custom-dark", // Custom theme
  "experimental_features": true
}

Viewing Effective Configuration

In Settings Editor

1. Navigate to Application → Settings
2. Look for Layer Viewer sidebar
3. See configuration from all layers:
   • Values in bold = defined at current layer
   • Values in gray = inherited from parent
   • Highlighted = overriding parent value

Example Layer Viewer

┌─ Project (Customer Portal) ───────┐
│ theme: "light"                    │
│ locale: "en"                      │
└───────────────────────────────────┘
           ↓
┌─ Tenant (ACME Corp) ──────────────┐
│ theme: "dark"  ← OVERRIDES        │
│ locale: "en"   ← inherited        │
│ support_email: "support@acme.com" │
└───────────────────────────────────┘
           ↓
┌─ Application (Mobile App) ────────┐
│ theme: "dark"    ← inherited      │
│ locale: "es"     ← OVERRIDES      │
│ support_email: "..." ← inherited  │
└───────────────────────────────────┘

Override Strategies

Complete Override

Replace entire setting at lower layer:

Project: features: ["reporting", "analytics"]Application: features: ["admin-panel"]Result: Only ["admin-panel"] (completely replaced)

Additive Configuration

Add to parent settings (requires application logic):

Project: allowed_ips: ["10.0.0.0/8"]Tenant: Also allow ["192.168.0.0/16"]

Note: Manager doesn't merge arrays automatically. Design settings to be replaced, not merged.

Conditional Overrides

Override only in specific cases:

Example: Different theme for mobile app:

• Project/Tenant: theme: "standard"
• Mobile App: theme: "mobile-optimized"
• Web App: (inherits "standard")

Best Practices

DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself)

[NO] Bad: Define same setting at every level

Project: support_email = "support@company.com"
Tenant: support_email = "support@company.com"
App 1: support_email = "support@company.com"
App 2: support_email = "support@company.com"

[OK] Good: Define once at project level

Project: support_email = "support@company.com"
(Tenant and Apps inherit)

Override Only When Necessary

Only set values at lower layers if they differ from parent:

Project: theme = "light"
Tenant: (no theme setting - inherits "light")
Special App: theme = "dark"  ← Only this app needs override

Document Overrides

When overriding, document why:

{
  "theme": "high-contrast",
  "_comment": "Accessibility app requires high contrast theme"
}

Test Configuration Changes

1. Make changes in development/staging first
2. View effective configuration
3. Test application behavior
4. Apply to production

Common Patterns

Multi-Environment Setup

Use projects for environments:

Root Level
  ├─ Project: Production
  │   ├─ settings: { environment: "prod", debug: false }
  │   └─ Tenant: Customer A
  │       └─ Apps...
  ├─ Project: Staging
  │   ├─ settings: { environment: "staging", debug: true }
  │   └─ Tenant: Customer A (staging)
  │       └─ Apps...
  └─ Project: Development
      ├─ settings: { environment: "dev", debug: true, mock_data: true }
      └─ Tenant: Test Data
          └─ Apps...

Multi-Brand Setup

Use tenants for brands within a project:

Project: Multi-Brand Platform
  ├─ Tenant: Brand A
  │   ├─ settings: { theme: "brand-a-blue", logo: "brand-a.png" }
  │   └─ Apps...
  └─ Tenant: Brand B
      ├─ settings: { theme: "brand-b-green", logo: "brand-b.png" }
      └─ Apps...

Feature Flags

Control features at project level:

Project: Enterprise
  └─ settings: { features: ["advanced-analytics", "api-access", "sso"] }

Project: Basic
  └─ settings: { features: ["basic-analytics"] }

Troubleshooting

Setting Not Taking Effect

Check:

1. Is it defined at a more specific layer?
2. Is the setting key spelled correctly?
3. View effective configuration to see what value is being used
4. Is application caching the configuration?

Unexpected Value

Debug:

1. Open Layer Viewer
2. Check each layer from top to bottom
3. Find where the value is defined
4. Verify that's the intended behavior

Cannot Override Setting

Reason: Application may not support overriding that setting

Solution: Check application documentation for configurable settings

See Also

• Settings Editor - Edit configurations
• Multi-tenancy - Understanding tenants
• Managing Projects - Project organization
• Managing Applications - App configuration