The buf
CLI interacts with several configuration files depending on the operation. A complete list of the relevant
buf
configuration files for v1
is shown below:
buf.yaml
The buf.yaml
is used to define a module. The buf.yaml
is the primary configuration file,
and is responsible for the module's name, the module's dependencies, as well as the module's lint
and breaking
configuration.
For more on the buf.yaml
file, refer to the buf.yaml
page!
buf.lock
The buf.lock
file contains the module's dependency manifest, and represents a single, reproducible build of your
module's dependencies.
For more on the buf.lock
file, refer to the buf.lock
page!
buf.gen.yaml
The buf.gen.yaml
file is used to define a local plugin template that works directly with the buf generate
command. In short, the buf.gen.yaml
file is used to easily generate code with protoc
plugins and simplifies the
protoc
experience significantly.
For more on the buf.gen.yaml
file, refer to the buf.gen.yaml
page!
buf.work.yaml
The buf.work.yaml
file is used to define a workspace, which is an advanced local
development feature. In short, the buf.work.yaml
file makes it possible to consolidate one or more modules into a
single buildable unit. Workspaces also allow users to run buf
operations across multiple modules with a single
execution (such as buf lint
).
For more on the buf.work.yaml
file, refer to the buf.work.yaml
page!
Default configuration
The default configuration location depends on the input. If buf
is executed with an input that
contains buf.{mod,lock,work}
files, those files are used for the given operation. Running buf lint
, for example,
would use the lint
configuration found in the inputs buf.yaml
, if it exists.
If a buf.yaml
file is not contained in the input, buf
operates as if there is a buf.yaml
file with the
default values. The buf.{lock,work}
files do not have a default value.
It's important to note that, unlike the buf.{mod,lock,work}
files, the buf.gen.yaml
file found in the input is
not used by default. Instead, the buf.gen.yaml
found in the current working directory is used by default. You
can manually specify the buf.gen.yaml
file to use with the --template
flag, which is explained further in the
generate usage. The buf.gen.yaml
file does not have a default value, so running
buf generate
without a buf.gen.yaml
file in the current working directory yields an error (unless a --template
is
explicitly specified).
Configuration override
Specifying an alternative configuration location is an advanced feature and is not necessary in most cases.
A large number of the buf
commands support a --config
flag that is used to override the buf.yaml
configuration
with a file path or direct JSON or YAML data. This is useful for situations where you may want to specify all options
via the command line, for example with Bazel integrations and/or when using the protoc
plugins.
All commands have one or more --.*config
flags that control this behavior. For example:
buf build --config
specifies the config for the source input.buf lint --config
specifies the config for the source or Buf image input.buf breaking --config
specifies the config for the source or image input.buf breaking --against-config
specifies the config for the source or image input to compare against.
The value of this flag is interpreted as follows:
- If the value ends in
.json
, this is interpreted to be a local path to a JSON file. - If the value ends in
.yaml
, this is interpreted to be a local path to a YAML file. - Otherwise, this is interpreted to be either JSON or YAML data, which is directly parsed.
For example:
# Read the JSON file foo/bar.json.
buf lint --config foo/bar.json
# Read the YAML file foo/bar.yaml.
buf lint --config foo/bar.yaml
# Use the given JSON data.
# This results in only using the ENUM_NO_ALLOW_ALIAS lint rule for linting.
buf lint --config '{"version":"v1","lint":{"use":["ENUM_NO_ALLOW_ALIAS"]}}'