Configuration Artifacts and Static Validation

Configuration artifacts are the files that switch the selected features on in Artemis. This page explains how a selection becomes these files and how the generated configuration is checked without starting Artemis. Every deployment package builds on these artifacts.

From a selection to files

The diagram shows what ArtifactGenerationService does with a selection.

The service validates the selection with the same rules as the validation endpoint and refuses an invalid one with ARTIFACT_GENERATION_INVALID_SELECTION. It then resolves the artifact mappings of all features and writes the files in memory. The result is the same for the same input, byte for byte.

The configuration overlay

The overlay config/application-feature-model.yml contains every artifact mapping that targets this file:

artemis:
  text:
    enabled: true
  athena:
    enabled: false
  atlas:
    enabled: true
    chat-model: ${ARTEMIS_ATLAS_CHAT_MODEL}

A selection mapping is written for every feature, with the selected or the deselected value, so the overlay states each module explicitly. An environment mapping is written only when its feature is selected, and always as a placeholder. Artemis loads the overlay as additional Spring configuration, and Spring fills the placeholders from the environment.

The name of a placeholder comes from the configuration path: artemis.atlas.chat-model becomes ARTEMIS_ATLAS_CHAT_MODEL. The model integrity check rejects two mappings that would produce the same name.

Environment variables and secrets

env/.env.example lists every placeholder of the overlay with an empty value and a comment that names its feature, configuration key, and type. A mapping marked secret gets a comment that says to take the value from the deployment's secret store. The application never writes a secret value.

Generation always runs in DEMO mode, and the files say so. The local Docker and IDE packages add visibly fake demo values on top, so that a local test starts without any setup.

Metadata and report

File	Content
metadata/selected-features.json	The selected features with their names
metadata/deployment-profile-summary.json	The profile the files were generated against
metadata/generation-report.json	Status, warnings, and the environment variables the deployment must provide
README.md	What the files are and how to use them

Static validation of the overlay

A typo in a configuration key would make Artemis ignore the setting silently. StaticConfigValidationService therefore checks the generated overlay against the Artemis config-key catalog, src/main/resources/feature-model/artemis-config-key-catalog.json. Every key must exist in the catalog, and every value must have the catalog type: boolean, string, or url. A placeholder passes every type check, because its value is only known at deployment time.

The check needs no running Artemis, so it runs in several places with the same rules:

• Every deployment package contains its result as metadata/static-config-validation.json.
• The package's runtime checks include it as static-config-keys, and its validate-package.sh script fails on it.
• StaticConfigValidationServiceTest fails when a mapping in the model uses a key that the catalog does not contain.

The extraction pipeline generates the catalog from the configuration defaults in the Artemis source, together with the model, so the two stay in step.

The download endpoint

POST /api/feature-model/artifacts/download returns the configuration artifacts alone as artemis-feature-model-artifacts.zip. The review page of the Configurator offers deployment packages instead, which contain these artifacts.

Where it lives in the code

Path	Responsibility
export/service/ArtifactGenerationService	Validates the selection and assembles the artifacts
export/service/ArtifactMappingResolver	Turns mappings into overlay entries and environment requirements
export/service/YamlOverlayWriter	Writes the overlay YAML
export/service/EnvExampleWriter	Writes .env.example
export/service/StaticConfigValidationService	Checks the overlay against the catalog
export/service/ArtifactPackageService	Packs files into a deterministic ZIP
export/web/ArtifactGenerationResource	The download endpoint

Paths are relative to src/main/java/de/tum/cit/aet/artemis/featuremodel/.