Configuration

Database

The server requires a database DSN passed via the --db flag:

event-spec serve --db <dsn>

Database	DSN format	Use case
SQLite	file:./registry.db	Development, single-node deployments
PostgreSQL	postgres://user:pass@host:5432/dbname	Production, multi-instance deployments

The schema is applied automatically on first startup. You can safely stop the server, swap the binary, and restart — migrations are additive and applied automatically.

PostgreSQL example

event-spec serve \
  --port 8080 \
  --db "postgres://event_spec:secret@db.internal:5432/event_spec"

SQLite in CI

event-spec serve --db file:/tmp/registry.db &

Server flags

Flag	Default	Description
--port	8080	HTTP listen port
--db	(required)	Database DSN

Runtime configuration

Runtime settings are stored in the database and can be changed without restarting the server. Changes take effect immediately.

hooks_enabled

Controls whether the validation and sampling hooks run on relay events.

Value	Behavior
true (default)	Validation and sampling hooks run on every relay event
false	All relay events pass through to providers without hook processing

# Disable hooks (useful during migrations or debugging)
event-spec admin config set hooks_enabled false

# Re-enable
event-spec admin config set hooks_enabled true

Via the API:

curl -X PUT http://localhost:8080/v1/admin/config/hooks_enabled \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <admin-key>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"value": "false"}'

The startup value is true unless HooksDisabled: true is set in the server Config struct. The database setting overrides the startup value, so the admin endpoint persists across restarts.

Environment variables

The server does not read environment variables directly, but destination configs support ${VAR} expansion for provider credentials:

destinations/amplitude.yaml

config:
  api_key: "${AMPLITUDE_API_KEY}"

The variable is expanded when the destination is loaded from the database, using the server process's environment.