Configuration reference

doze reads HCL from doze.hcl (and any sibling *.doze.hcl, merged automatically — see splitting config). The file has a fixed root plus one block per instance, keyed by engine:

defaults { idle_timeout = "5m" }          # root settings

postgres "app"   { version = 16 }         # instances
valkey   "cache" { version = 9 }

Jump to an engine: postgres · valkey · kvrocks · ferret · mariadb · temporal · kafka · aws. Project-level blocks: modules · TLS.

This is the field-by-field reference. For what each engine is and when to use it, see The engines. Each engine’s page on the registry carries the same reference, generated from the module itself, so it can’t be stale.

Root

Field	Type	Default	Description
listen	string	127.0.0.1:6432	Base client address. Each instance gets the next port; override per instance with listen, or use a unix:/path.
home	string	$DOZE_HOME or ~/.doze	Shared toolchain store + cache (deduplicated across projects).
data_dir	string	<home>/projects/<slug>	This project’s state (data dirs, sockets, logs).
defaults { idle_timeout }	duration	5m	Reap an instance after this long at zero connections.
tls { … }	block	off	Terminate client TLS for Postgres — see TLS.

TLS

Field	Type	Default	Description
cert	string	auto	Path to a PEM certificate. Omit cert and key to auto-generate a self-signed cert.
key	string	auto	Path to the matching PEM private key.
required	bool	false	Reject plaintext TCP clients (require sslmode=require).

tls {}                          # auto self-signed cert; sslmode=require works

TLS is terminated at the proxy; the backend speaks plaintext over a local socket.

Common instance fields

Every <engine> "<name>" { … } block accepts:

Field	Type	Default	Description
version	string/number	—	The engine version: a major (16 → newest 16.x, pinned) or exact ("16.14"). Required for every engine except aws and process, which take none.
listen	string	next port from root listen	Per-instance client address ("127.0.0.1:5544" or "unix:/path.sock").

version is the only version you declare. The module (the plugin that provides the engine) is selected automatically — the newest release compatible with your doze and the engine versions you declared — and pinned in doze.lock. Some engine arguments are version-gated: using one below the engine version that introduced it fails at doze lint with the argument and required major named (docs mark these, e.g. engine ≥ 18). See modules for the rare overrides.

---

References & expressions

Values are HCL expressions, not just literals. You can call functions and—most usefully—reference other instances by <engine>.<name>.<attribute>:

process "api" {
  command = "go run ./cmd/api"
  port    = 8080
  env = {
    DATABASE_URL = postgres.app.url   # reference → builds the dependency edge
  }
}

A reference does two things: it resolves to the attribute’s value, and it makes the referencing instance depend on the referenced one (doze boots and holds the dependency first — no hand-declared ordering). Referencing an instance that isn’t declared is a parse-time error, and reference cycles are rejected.

Every instance exposes these baseline attributes:

Attribute	Description
name / engine	The instance name and its engine type.
address	Client-facing host:port (or unix:/path).
host / port	Split address (empty/0 for a unix socket).
socket	Unix socket path (empty for TCP).
url	The connection string doze injects (e.g. postgres://…).
env_var	The conventional variable name (DATABASE_URL, …).

Functions include the common string/collection/number/encoding helpers (upper, join, format, coalesce, merge, jsonencode, …) plus env("NAME") to read a host environment variable (with an optional default).

Variables & locals

variable "pg_version" {
  type    = number
  default = 16
}

locals {
  app_db = "app_${var.pg_version}"
}

postgres "app" {
  version = var.pg_version
  owner   = local.app_db
}

variable "<name>" { … } — a typed input.

Field	Type	Default	Description
type	type	any	Optional constraint: string, number, bool, list(string), map(string), …
default	any	—	Value when no override is given. Omit to make the variable required.
description	string	none	Human description.
sensitive	bool	false	Hint that the value is secret.

Values resolve by precedence (highest first): --var name=value › DOZE_VAR_<name> env var › a sibling *.auto.doze.vars file (name = value assignments) › the default. A required variable with no value is an error.

locals { … } — named intermediate values (local.<name>); may reference variables, functions, and earlier locals.

Stamping with for_each / count

Stamp several similar instances from one block. Each stamp becomes its own instance with a flat name — <label>_<key> (for_each) or <label>_<index> (count) — addressable like any other (valkey.shard_0.url, postgres.tenant_eu.url).

postgres "tenant" {
  for_each = toset(["eu", "us", "apac"])   # → tenant_eu, tenant_us, tenant_apac
  version  = 16
}

valkey "shard" {
  count     = 3                       # → shard_0, shard_1, shard_2
  version   = 9
  maxmemory = "${(count.index + 1) * 64}mb"
}

Meta-arg	Value	In-body	Names
for_each	a set of strings, or a map	each.key, each.value	<label>_<key>
count	a non-negative number	count.index (0-based)	<label>_<index>

count = 0 (or an empty for_each) produces no instances. A block can’t set both. Keys are sanitized for use in names/paths (orders.fifo → orders_fifo).

Explicit ordering: depends_on

References already create dependencies, so you rarely need this. For an ordering that isn’t expressed through a reference, depends_on adds it:

process "worker" {
  command    = "go run ./cmd/worker"
  depends_on = { "aws.cloud" = "healthy" }
}

The key is an instance address (or bare name); the value is the readiness condition — healthy (wait until it accepts connections / its health probe passes, the default for every reference) or started (wait only until the dependency’s process has spawned). started lets a service start before a peer process becomes healthy; for a database/queue, which is ready as soon as it accepts connections, the two are equivalent.

---

postgres

Real PostgreSQL (14–17). On boot, doze creates the database (named after the instance) and converges the declared roles, schemas, grants, and extensions.

postgres "app" {
  version = 16
  owner   = "app"
  role "app" { password = "app" }
  grant {
    role       = "app"
    database   = "app"
    privileges = ["ALL"]
  }
  extensions = ["uuid-ossp"]
}

Block fields

Field	Type	Default	Description
owner	string	postgres	Role that owns the database.
encoding	string	server default	Database encoding, e.g. "UTF8".
locale	string	server default	Database locale; shorthand for both lc_collate and lc_ctype.
lc_collate	string	locale	Collation, overriding locale.
lc_ctype	string	locale	Character classification, overriding locale.
template	string	server default	Template database to clone from.
connection_limit	number	-1 (unlimited)	Database CONNECTION LIMIT.
is_template	bool	false	Mark the database a template.
allow_connections	bool	true	Allow connections to the database.
tablespace	string	default	Tablespace for the database.
comment	string	none	COMMENT ON DATABASE.
shared_buffers	string	16MB	Postgres shared_buffers.
max_connections	number	50	Postgres max_connections.
fsync	bool	false	When off (default), also disables synchronous_commit and full_page_writes — fast, not crash-safe. Set true for durability.
autovacuum	bool	false	Enable autovacuum.
settings	map(string)	{}	Raw postgresql.conf passthrough for any parameter without a typed field (e.g. { work_mem = "8MB" }). Applied after the typed tuning; doze-locked params (listen_addresses, …) always win.
extensions	list(string)	[]	Shorthand for CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS per name.

role "<name>" { … } — a login user (default) or, with login = false, a group role.

Field	Type	Default	Description
password	string	none	Login password.
login	bool	true	false makes it a group role.
superuser	bool	false	Grant SUPERUSER.
createdb	bool	false	Grant CREATEDB.
createrole	bool	false	Grant CREATEROLE.
replication	bool	false	Grant REPLICATION.
inherit	bool	true	Inherit privileges of granted roles.
bypassrls	bool	false	Grant BYPASSRLS (skip row-level security).
connection_limit	number	-1 (unlimited)	Max concurrent connections.
valid_until	string	none	Password expiry timestamp.
member_of	list(string)	[]	Roles this role is a member of.
comment	string	none	COMMENT ON ROLE.
config	map(string)	{}	Per-role parameters via ALTER ROLE … SET (e.g. { search_path = "app, public" }).

schema "<name>" { … }

Field	Type	Default	Description
owner	string	database owner	Role that owns the schema.

grant { … }

Field	Type	Default	Description
role	string	—	Grantee role. Required.
privileges	list(string)	—	e.g. ["ALL"], ["SELECT","INSERT"]. Required.
database	string	none	Grant at the database level.
schema	string	none	Grant within a schema.
objects	string	none	With schema: tables / sequences / functions (covers current + future objects).
with_grant_option	bool	false	Allow the grantee to re-grant.

extension "<name>" { … } — for options beyond the extensions shorthand.

Field	Type	Default	Description
version	string	latest available	Specific extension version.
schema	string	default	Schema to install into.
source	string	none	Path to a source/bundle for an extension the binary doesn’t ship — see Extensions.
cascade	bool	false	Add CASCADE to also create dependency extensions.
optional	bool	false	When true, an unavailable or failed extension is a warning, not a hard error. By default a missing/failed extension fails convergence and taints the instance.

---

valkey

In-memory, Redis-protocol cache.

valkey "cache" {
  version   = 9
  maxmemory = "256mb"
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
version	string/number	—	Major or exact. Required.
password	string	none	requirepass.
maxmemory	string	unlimited	Memory cap, e.g. "256mb".
maxmemory_policy	string	server default	Eviction policy, e.g. "allkeys-lru".
appendonly	bool	false	Enable the AOF persistence log.
save	string	off	RDB snapshot schedule, e.g. "3600 1 300 100".
settings	map(string)	{}	Raw valkey.conf passthrough, e.g. { "lazyfree-lazy-eviction" = "yes" }. Applied last so it overrides typed fields.

---

kvrocks

RocksDB-backed, Redis-protocol durable KV store.

kvrocks "store" {
  version  = 2
  password = "default-token"
  namespace "tenant_a" { token = "tok-a" }
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
version	string/number	—	Major or exact. Required.
password	string	none	requirepass (also the default-namespace token).
workers	number	server default	Worker thread pool size.
settings	map(string)	{}	Raw kvrocks.conf passthrough, e.g. { "rocksdb.block_size" = "16384" }.

namespace "<name>" { … } — a kvrocks namespace with an access token. Requires password.

Field	Type	Default	Description
token	string	—	The namespace access token. Required.

---

ferret

A self-contained, MongoDB-compatible engine: doze runs a private PostgreSQL with Microsoft’s DocumentDB extension behind a FerretDB v2 gateway, exposing only the Mongo wire (MONGODB_URI). One declared instance is one composite backend — no separate postgres to wire up. See the DocumentDB recipe.

ferret "shop" {
  version = "2.7"
  port    = 27017

  database "catalog" {
    collection "products" { seed = "./seed/products.json" }
  }
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
version	string/number	—	FerretDB v2.x gateway version. Required.
database	block	—	A Mongo database to ensure (repeatable; label = name), with nested collection blocks.
settings	map(string)	—	Extra FERRETDB_* gateway settings.

Full argument/block reference: its registry page.

---

mariadb

MySQL-compatible relational database (the MariaDB 11.4 LTS series). Runs on macOS and Linux — doze repackages upstream’s x86_64-Linux binary and builds the other platforms from source.

mariadb "db" {
  version = 11.4

  user "app" { password = "app" }
  grant { user = "app"  privileges = "ALL"  database = "db" }
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
version	string	—	MariaDB server version (e.g. 11.4). Required.
character_set	string	—	Default charset for the instance database (e.g. utf8mb4).
collation	string	—	Default collation.
settings	map(string)	—	Extra [mysqld] my.cnf entries.

user "<name>" { … } — a MariaDB account (host, password). grant { … } — a privilege grant (user, privileges, database, table).

---

temporal

A durable workflow engine: the Temporal dev server (single pure-Go binary — services, SQLite store, Web UI). Workers long-poll it, which holds it awake.

temporal "dev" {
  version = 1.1
  port    = 7233
  ui_port = 8233

  namespace "orders" {}
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
version	string	—	Temporal CLI version (e.g. 1.1). Required.
port	number	7233	Frontend gRPC port.
ui_port	number	8233	Web UI port.
headless	bool	false	Disable the Web UI.

namespace "<name>" { … } — a namespace to create (retention, description). restart { … } — supervisor restart policy (policy, backoff, max_retries).

---

kafka

A single-node Kafka-protocol broker, no JVM. version is the advertised protocol profile (1–4), not a broker build. Its web console serves one port above the broker.

kafka "events" {
  version = 4

  auto_create_topics = true
  retention          = "168h"

  topic "orders"   { partitions = 3 }
  topic "payments" { config = { "cleanup.policy" = "compact" } }
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
version	number	—	Advertised Kafka protocol profile — 1, 2, 3, or 4. Required.
auto_create_topics	bool	true	Create unknown topics on first reference.
default_partitions	number	1	Partition count for auto-created topics.
retention	duration	unbounded	Delete segments older than this ("168h").
retention_bytes	number	0 (unbounded)	Delete old segments past this per-partition size.

topic "<name>" { … }

Field	Type	Default	Description
partitions	number	1	Partition count.
config	map(string)	—	Per-topic config (e.g. "cleanup.policy" = "compact").

References: kafka.<name>.address is the bootstrap host:port.

---

aws

The whole local AWS as one instance: S3, SQS, SNS, DynamoDB (with Streams), Lambda, EventBridge, KMS, SSM, and Secrets Manager behind a single endpoint, with a web console at /_console. Takes no version. Resources are nested blocks, converged on boot; their labels are the resource names your SDK uses.

aws "local" {
  port = 4566

  bucket "uploads" { versioning = true }
  queue "emails" {
    dlq          = "auto"
    max_receives = 5
  }

  queue "orders.fifo" {
    fifo          = true
    content_dedup = true
  }

  topic "signups" {
    subscribe {
      queue = "emails"
      raw   = true
    }
  }

  table "sessions" {
    key = "session_id:S"
    ttl = "expires_at"
  }

  function "resize" {
    code    = "./functions/resize"    # dir with a provided.al2 bootstrap
    timeout = 10
  }

  rule "order_placed" {
    pattern = "{\"source\":[\"shop.checkout\"]}"
    targets = ["lambda:resize", "queue:emails"]
  }

  key       "app_key"      {}
  parameter "/demo/flag"   { value = "on" }
  secret    "db_password"  { value = "local-only" }
}

Resource blocks (each repeatable; the label is the name):

Block	What it declares
bucket	An S3 bucket — versioning, object_lock (implies versioning).
queue	An SQS queue — fifo, content_dedup, dlq ("auto" creates + wires a dead-letter companion), max_receives, timing fields. FIFO names end in .fifo.
topic	An SNS topic with subscribe blocks (queue/lambda/http, raw, filter).
table	A DynamoDB table — key = "pk:S" shorthand (add sort = "at:N"), ttl, gsi/lsi blocks. Streams on.
function	A Lambda running as a real local process — code (local dir with a provided.al2 bootstrap), timeout, env.
rule	An EventBridge rule — pattern (a literal JSON string — HCL functions aren’t available here), targets as "kind:name" shorthand.
key / parameter / secret	KMS key (real local crypto) / SSM parameter (label = full /path) / Secrets Manager secret (never stomped without force).

References: aws.<name>.url is the endpoint for every AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_* variable. Resource names inside the block are plain strings to your app.

---

process

An application process run directly on the host — no Docker, no virtualization. Unlike the database/AWS engines (which doze proxies and idle-reaps), a process is a long-lived, supervised client of those backends: it binds its own port, is exempt from the idle reaper, gates readiness on a health probe, and restarts per a policy when it exits. Bring processes up with doze up; they boot eagerly (not on connection).

process "api" {
  cwd     = "../approvals-engine"          # working dir, relative to this file
  command = "go run main.go -program api"  # run via `sh -c` (pipes, &&, expansion OK)
  port    = 8080                           # the port the app binds (doze does NOT bind it)

  env = {
    DATABASE_URL  = postgres.app.url       # typed ref → dependency edge + injected value
    HTTP_API_PORT = "8080"
  }
  env_file = ".env.local"                  # optional; lower precedence than env{}

  depends_on = { postgres.app = "healthy" } # explicit; the env refs above also imply edges

  hooks {
    pre_start  = ["go run main.go -program migrate -command up"]  # after deps, before start
    post_start = ["./scripts/notify-ready.sh"]                    # after the app is healthy
    pre_stop   = ["./scripts/drain.sh"]                           # before SIGINT
  }

  health {
    http     = "http://localhost:8080/health/ready"
    interval = "2s"
    timeout  = "3s"
    retries  = 30                          # readiness budget = interval × retries
  }

  restart {
    policy      = "on_failure"             # no | on_failure | always
    backoff     = "1s"                     # exponential, capped at 30s
    max_retries = 5
  }
}

Field	Type	Default	Notes
command	string	—	Command line, run via sh -c. Required.
cwd	string	the file’s dir	Working directory, resolved relative to the declaring file.
port	number	none	The port the app listens on. Exposed as process.<name>.{url,host,port}; doze opens no proxy listener for it. Omit for a worker with no endpoint.
env	map	none	Environment for the process and its hooks. Highest precedence; values may reference other instances.
env_file	string	none	Path to a KEY=VALUE file (lower precedence than env).
hooks	block	none	pre_start / post_start / pre_stop command lists, each run via sh -c in cwd. A non-zero pre_start/post_start aborts the boot and taints the instance.
health	block	none	One probe kind — http (2xx), tcp (host:port accepts), exec (exit 0), or log_line (regex over logs) — plus interval, timeout, retries. With no health block, readiness = “the process stayed alive briefly”.
restart	block	policy = "no"	policy (no / on_failure / always), backoff (base, grown exponentially and capped), max_retries (defaults to 5 for a restarting policy).

The process runs with the full environment doze run injects (connection strings, AWS creds/region, DOZE_<NAME>_URL), layered as: os env → doze-injected → env_file → env {}. v1 runs go/bun/node from PATH; a .go-version/.prototools in cwd only triggers a warning on mismatch. The command and all its children are reaped as a process group on stop.

Note: HCL single-line blocks hold one argument only — write health { … } and restart { … } across multiple lines (one argument per line), as above.

---

modules

Every engine except process is provided by a module — a signed plugin doze fetches from the registry on first use. The defaults are right for almost everyone: engine type postgres resolves to source doze/postgres on the public registry, doze selects the newest module release compatible with your doze and your declared engine versions, and doze.lock freezes the choice. The optional modules {} block holds the overrides:

modules {
  mirror  = "file:///path/to/registry"   # air-gapped / dev registry base
  enabled = true                          # (implied when mirror is set)

  cache {                                 # per engine TYPE (the block keyword)
    source  = "acme/valkey"               # a third-party publisher's module
    version = "0.2.0"                     # rare: pin the MODULE release exactly
  }
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
mirror	string	the public registry	Registry base URL (or file:// path). Also settable via DOZE_MODULES_MIRROR.
enabled	bool	on	Fetch modules at all. DOZE_MODULES=off disables globally (offline / process-only).
<type> { source }	string	doze/<type>	Which <namespace>/<name> provides this engine type.
<type> { version }	string	auto	Exact module release pin — the escape hatch for holding back a regressed release. Not the engine version.

Module workflow in one breath: discovery and docs live on the registry; updates are explicit — doze modules upgrade --check reports, doze modules upgrade moves the pins (commit the updated doze.lock). A declared engine version the pinned module doesn’t support fails with exactly that upgrade command. See the CLI reference.

Splitting config across files

Root settings live in doze.hcl; instance blocks may be split across sibling *.doze.hcl files (merged automatically), or pass --config <dir> to merge every *.hcl in a directory. See Files & storage.

Versions & the lockfile

A bare major (version = 16) resolves to the newest minor and is pinned in doze.lock; a dotted string (version = "16.14") pins exactly. The lock also pins each engine’s module (release, plugin protocol, supported engine versions, per-platform checksums) and each registry namespace’s publisher key. Commit doze.lock — every machine then runs byte-identical modules and engine binaries. Run doze binaries available <engine> to see engine versions; doze modules upgrade --check to see waiting module updates. See Managing binaries and Files & storage.

Connection-string environment variables

A supervised process block receives these env vars for the dependencies it declares; the full set is also written to .doze/endpoints.yaml for external tooling. (doze run does not inject them — see Workflows.)

Variable	For
DOZE_<NAME>_URL	every instance, always
DATABASE_URL	the single postgres instance (if unambiguous)
REDIS_URL	the single valkey/kvrocks instance
MONGODB_URI	the single documentdb instance
AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3 / _SQS / _SNS	the AWS services, plus AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_REGION (dummy values)