Configuration Runtime Policy

configuration-runtime-policy

Registry Trigger

Use when

• configuration runtime policy typed config default validation fail fast hot reload feature flag owner expiry cleanup kill switch stale flag mode kind switch tenant user experiment rollout rollback config observability

Do not use when

• no task-local configuration runtime policy decision is required

Skill Role

Define configuration as a typed, observable, reversible policy boundary. Prevent flags, modes, and overrides from becoming invariant bypasses, hidden strategy systems, or stale rollout mechanisms.

High-Value Rules

• Define each configurable behavior's schema, values, owner, default, precedence, and read boundary from current source of truth.
• Select consequence-derived defaults that fail closed unless an approved degradation design preserves protected invariants.
• Reject invalid configuration before effect unless the selected degradation, alert, and rollback behavior is explicitly safe.
• Reject switches that bypass domain, permission, tenant, transaction, encryption, audit, or compliance invariants.
• Bound flags, modes, providers, and strategies by explicit semantics, owner, lifecycle, telemetry, and old/new behavior proof; avoid hidden registries.
• When hot reload is required, validate before atomic publication and preserve current-state visibility and recovery to a known-good version.
• Map config-driven wiring to affected source and validation, and require an owned cleanup decision for temporary configuration.

Anti-Patterns

• Treating build-, deploy-, and runtime-time configuration as interchangeable hides when behavior can change.
• Leaving precedence implicit makes code, file, environment, CLI, remote, tenant, experiment, and operator values nondeterministic.
• Using test-friendly defaults in production silently changes safety behavior.
• Publishing hot reloads before validation exposes partial or invalid state.
• Creating untyped or ownerless flags leaves obsolete branches and unverifiable rollout state.
• Packing unrelated strategies into one mode parameter creates an unbounded policy registry.

Stop Conditions

• Untyped config stale flags and vague mode switches bypass invariants create hidden strategy systems and make rollout rollback unsafe

Output Contract

• Return a Configuration Policy: define scope, schema, defaults, fail-fast validation, flag lifecycle, kill/runtime-switch rationale, test matrix, cleanup owner, rollout, rollback, and residual risk

Targeted References