Configuration Defaults

When a process configuration doesn't specify a value, Runix applies defaults. These come from two sources:

1. Built-in defaults — hardcoded in internal/config/defaults.go
2. Config-level defaults — specified in the defaults: section of runix.yaml

Precedence

Process-level config > Config-level defaults > Built-in defaults

Process-level fields always override config-level defaults, which always override built-in defaults.

Built-in Defaults

Field	Default Value
restart_policy	on-failure
max_restarts	5
backoff_base	1s
backoff_max	60s
stop_timeout	5s
stop_signal	SIGTERM
namespace	default
instances	1
priority	0
health_check.interval	10s
health_check.timeout	5s
health_check.retries	3
health_check.grace_period	0s
watch.debounce	100ms
logging.max_size	10485760 (10MB)
logging.max_files	5
logging.max_age	168h (7 days)

Config-Level Defaults

Override built-in defaults for all processes in a config file:

defaults:
  restart_policy: always
  max_restarts: 20
  backoff_base: 2s
  backoff_max: 120s
  stop_timeout: 10s
  stop_signal: SIGTERM

processes:
  api:
    entrypoint: ./cmd/api
    # Inherits restart_policy: always, max_restarts: 20, etc.

  worker:
    entrypoint: worker.py
    max_restarts: 3
    # Overrides max_restarts to 3, inherits everything else

Environment Profiles

Profiles let you override defaults for different environments:

defaults:
  restart_policy: on-failure
  max_restarts: 5

profiles:
  production:
    defaults:
      restart_policy: always
      max_restarts: 50
      backoff_max: 300s
  staging:
    defaults:
      restart_policy: on-failure
      max_restarts: 10

  development:
    defaults:
      restart_policy: never
      max_restarts: 0

Select a profile with the --profile flag:

runix start --profile production

What's Next

• Configuration Reference — Full YAML schema
• Extends — Config file inheritance