Configuration is the set of parameters, options, and settings that determine how a system or application operates. It's the stuff that developers argue about in long Slack threads and then forget to document in the repo.

How to use it in a sentence

• "I pushed my configuration changes to the staging environment, but now the site is just a blank page with a spinner that never loads. Guess I'll be spending my weekend debugging this."

• "After the merger, we need to integrate their legacy systems into our configuration management pipeline. It's like trying to mix oil and water, except the oil is 10 years old and the water is a bunch of shell scripts written by an intern who quit 6 months ago."

If you actually want to learn more...

• Configuration Synchronization: Martin Fowler dives into the challenges of keeping server configurations in sync using tools like Puppet or Chef, and why aiming for 100% consistency is a fool's errand. Read more

• Feature Toggles: If you want to feel better about the spaghetti configuration logic in your codebase, check out this article on feature toggles (aka feature flags) and the various ways to manage them. Read more

• 12 Factor App Config: The 12 Factor App methodology has some opinionated ideas about how to handle configuration for modern web apps. Prepare to have your mind blown (or at least mildly impressed). Read more

Note: the Developer Dictionary is in Beta. Please direct feedback to skye@statsig.com.