Using JSON for Configuration: Best Practices & Patterns

JSON is ideal for application configuration because it's human-readable, language-agnostic, and easily parsed. A well-structured configuration file can significantly simplify deployment, environment management, and feature flags.

Configuration File Structure

{
  "app": {
    "name": "My API",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "port": 3000,
    "debug": false
  },
  "database": {
    "host": "localhost",
    "port": 5432,
    "name": "mydb",
    "pool": {
      "min": 2,
      "max": 10
    }
  },
  "features": {
    "analyticsEnabled": true,
    "cachingEnabled": false
  }
}

Environment-Specific Config

• config.development.json — local dev settings (localhost, verbose logging)
• config.staging.json — staging environment (test DB, some monitoring)
• config.production.json — production settings (encrypted secrets, strict limits)

Secrets Management

Never commit secrets to version control. Store sensitive values (API keys, database passwords) in environment variables, and reference them from your JSON config.

{
  "database": {
    "password": "{{DB_PASSWORD}}",
    "username": "{{DB_USER}}"
  }
}