name: Spring Cloud Config Vocabulary
description: Domain vocabulary and taxonomy for Spring Cloud Config externalized configuration management.
version: "4.1.0"
created: "2026-05-02"
modified: "2026-05-02"
url: https://spring.io/projects/spring-cloud-config

terms:

  - term: Config Server
    definition: >-
      The server-side component of Spring Cloud Config that exposes configuration properties
      via an HTTP API. It reads properties from a backend repository (Git, SVN, or filesystem)
      and serves them to Config Clients on demand.
    category: Component
    tags:
      - Server
      - Configuration

  - term: Config Client
    definition: >-
      A Spring Boot application that consumes configuration from a Config Server at startup.
      Uses the spring.cloud.config.uri property to locate the server and fetches configuration
      for its application name and active profiles.
    category: Component
    tags:
      - Client
      - Configuration

  - term: Environment Repository
    definition: >-
      The backend storage mechanism for the Config Server. Supports Git repositories
      (including GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket), SVN, HashiCorp Vault, Consul, and native
      filesystem locations.
    category: Backend
    tags:
      - Git
      - Storage
      - Repository

  - term: Application Name
    definition: >-
      The spring.application.name value used as the primary key for configuration lookup.
      The Config Server resolves property files matching the application name.
    category: Configuration Routing
    tags:
      - Naming
      - Routing

  - term: Profile
    definition: >-
      The Spring active profile(s) used to resolve environment-specific configuration files.
      Files are resolved in order: application.yml, {app}.yml, {app}-{profile}.yml.
    category: Configuration Routing
    tags:
      - Environment
      - Routing

  - term: Label
    definition: >-
      A git branch, tag, or commit hash that determines which version of configuration
      files to serve. Defaults to 'main' or 'master' for Git backends.
    category: Configuration Routing
    tags:
      - Git
      - Versioning

  - term: Property Source
    definition: >-
      A single configuration file or location that contributes key-value pairs to the
      resolved Environment. Multiple property sources are listed in priority order.
    category: Configuration Model
    tags:
      - Properties
      - Priority

  - term: Cipher
    definition: >-
      An encrypted value stored in configuration using the {cipher} prefix notation.
      The Config Server decrypts these values before serving them to clients.
    category: Security
    tags:
      - Encryption
      - Security

  - term: Spring Cloud Bus
    definition: >-
      A messaging framework (using RabbitMQ or Kafka) that propagates configuration refresh
      events across all Config Clients without requiring individual restarts.
    category: Integration
    tags:
      - Messaging
      - Refresh
      - Bus

  - term: Refresh Scope
    definition: >-
      A Spring bean scope (@RefreshScope) that marks beans to be re-initialized when a
      configuration refresh event occurs, picking up new property values.
    category: Runtime Refresh
    tags:
      - Bean
      - Refresh
      - Dynamic Configuration

  - term: Bootstrap Context
    definition: >-
      The parent Spring ApplicationContext that initializes before the main application
      context to load configuration from the Config Server before bean initialization.
    category: Initialization
    tags:
      - Context
      - Startup

  - term: Native Profile
    definition: >-
      A Config Server backend that reads configuration files from the local filesystem
      rather than a Git repository. Useful for development and testing.
    category: Backend
    tags:
      - Filesystem
      - Development