Java Server SDK

Introduction

The Java Server SDK is a server-side SDK that evaluates configs and their targeting rules. Upon initialization, it retrieves configs and targeting rules from ConfigDirector services. From that point on, it evaluates configs locally for any user context, and receives updates via server sent events (SSE) when configs are updated on the dashboard or via the admin API.

The minimum Java version supported is 17.

The client is thread safe. Create one instance when your application starts, share it for the lifetime of the process, and close it on shutdown. Evaluations read config state the client already holds in memory, so they make no network calls on the request path.

Installation

The SDK is published to the ConfigDirector Maven repository. Add the repository and the dependency to your build. If your Gradle build declares its repositories in settings.gradle.kts or settings.gradle, under dependencyResolutionManagement, the repository block goes there instead.

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
    exclusiveContent {
        forRepository {
            maven {
                name = "ConfigDirector"
                url = uri("https://maven.configdirector.com")
            }
        }
        filter {
            includeGroup("com.configdirector")
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    implementation("com.configdirector:server-sdk:1.8.1")
}

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
    exclusiveContent {
        forRepository {
            maven {
                name = 'ConfigDirector'
                url = 'https://maven.configdirector.com'
            }
        }
        filter {
            includeGroup 'com.configdirector'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    implementation 'com.configdirector:server-sdk:1.8.1'
}

<repositories>
  <repository>
    <id>configdirector</id>
    <url>https://maven.configdirector.com</url>
    <releases><enabled>true</enabled></releases>
    <snapshots><enabled>false</enabled></snapshots>
  </repository>
</repositories>

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.configdirector</groupId>
  <artifactId>server-sdk</artifactId>
  <version>1.8.1</version>
</dependency>

Configure and initialize the client

1. Create an instance of the client providing your server SDK key. You can retrieve a server SDK key for each environment under SDK Keys in the dashboard's navigation panel.
2. Initialize the client to initiate its connection lifecycle.

import com.configdirector.ConfigDirector;
import com.configdirector.ConfigDirectorClient;

// IMPORTANT: Do not commit the server SDK key to your source code, it is a secret value.
// Building the client makes no network calls.
ConfigDirectorClient client = ConfigDirector.client("YOUR-SERVER-SDK-KEY");

// Blocks until the client is initialized or it times out.
// If initialization times out, the client will continue attempting to
// initialize in the background.
client.initialize();

The client is thread safe. Create one at startup, share it for the lifetime of the process, and call close on shutdown.

initialize blocks until the initial config state arrives or the configured timeout elapses, and it never throws on a connection failure. Check isReady to find out whether config state actually arrived. An overload accepts a Duration to override the configured timeout for that call:

client.initialize(Duration.ofSeconds(5));

Additional configuration options

Options are adjusted through the lambda passed to ConfigDirector.client. Every setter returns the options object, so calls chain. They are read once when the client is built; changing them afterwards has no effect.

metadata

The metadata option allows you to provide your application's name and version. These values can be used in targeting rules conditionals. For example, if a certain feature should only be enabled starting with a certain version of your application.

import com.configdirector.ConfigDirector;
import com.configdirector.ConfigDirectorClient;

ConfigDirectorClient client = ConfigDirector.client(
    "YOUR-SERVER-SDK-KEY",
    options -> options.metadata("YOUR-APP-NAME", "1.0.2"));

client.initialize();

logger

The SDK logs through SLF4J. Left to itself it writes to the logger named com.configdirector, so logging levels, formatting, and destinations can be controlled through your usual SLF4J configuration:

<logger name="com.configdirector" level="DEBUG" />

Alternatively, pass any SLF4J Logger to the logger option to put the SDK's output under your application's own logging namespace, where existing appenders and level configuration already apply:

import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;

ConfigDirectorClient client = ConfigDirector.client(
    "YOUR-SERVER-SDK-KEY",
    options -> options.logger(LoggerFactory.getLogger("my-app.configdirector")));

connection

The connection option accepts a lambda receiving a builder with the following optional values:

• mode
  • The connection mode, which can be ConnectionMode.STREAMING or ConnectionMode.POLLING. It is recommended to use the default of STREAMING unless you have a specific need to use POLLING instead.
  • Defaults to ConnectionMode.STREAMING
• pollingInterval
  • Only used in POLLING mode. The interval to poll ConfigDirector services for updates. A value below the minimum of 60 seconds is raised to 60 seconds and a warning is logged. See Polling intervals.
  • Defaults to 5 minutes
• timeout
  • The timeout to be used in initialization. This is how long the initialize method will wait for data from ConfigDirector services. If the timeout is reached, initialize will return but the client will still be in an unready status and returning default values. While streaming, the client will continue to attempt to connect and retrieve config values in the background.
  • Defaults to 3 seconds
• url
  • The base URL used to connect to ConfigDirector services
  • This should only be provided if your environment requires you to configure a proxy server in order to connect to ConfigDirector services

import com.configdirector.ConfigDirector;
import com.configdirector.ConnectionMode;
import java.time.Duration;

ConfigDirectorClient client = ConfigDirector.client(
    "YOUR-SERVER-SDK-KEY",
    options -> options.connection(connection -> connection
        .mode(ConnectionMode.POLLING)
        .pollingInterval(Duration.ofMinutes(10))
        .timeout(Duration.ofSeconds(5))));

Connection settings can also be built once with ConnectionOptions.builder() and shared by several clients:

import com.configdirector.ConnectionOptions;

ConnectionOptions connection = ConnectionOptions.builder()
    .mode(ConnectionMode.POLLING)
    .pollingInterval(Duration.ofMinutes(10))
    .build();

ConfigDirectorClient client = ConfigDirector.client(
    "YOUR-SERVER-SDK-KEY",
    options -> options.connection(connection));

telemetry

Telemetry tuning. It is unlikely these settings need to be adjusted. However, in cases where your application has a large number of evaluations per second, you can adjust these settings to tune the memory footprint and frequency of telemetry requests.

Keep in mind that ConfigDirector relies on these telemetry events to provide insights and features related to the configs being used.

The telemetry builder accepts the following optional values:

• eventQueueLimit
  • The size limit of telemetry event queues. If the size limit is reached before the events are flushed to the network, older events will be dropped.
  • ConfigDirector keeps a count of dropped events. If the number of dropped events is higher than 50% of the total events, ConfigDirector will issue an alert in the dashboard.
  • A number between 100 and 100,000. Defaults to 5,000.
• flushInterval
  • How often events are flushed and sent over the network.
  • Decrease this number if your application consistently captures a large number of events in short periods of time in order to reduce memory footprint from a large event queue.
  • Defaults to 30 seconds.

import java.time.Duration;

ConfigDirectorClient client = ConfigDirector.client(
    "YOUR-SERVER-SDK-KEY",
    options -> options.telemetry(telemetry -> telemetry
        .eventQueueLimit(10_000)
        .flushInterval(Duration.ofSeconds(15))));

A value outside the accepted range throws a ConfigDirectorValidationException when the client is built.

Hooks

Hooks are events you can subscribe to in order to be notified of some key actions from the client. Each registration method takes a handler and returns a Subscription, which cancels the registration when closed:

Subscription subscription = client.onConfigsUpdated(event -> System.out.println(event.keys()));

subscription.close(); // Cancels the registration

The following hooks are available:

• onClientReady(Consumer<ClientReadyEvent>)
  • Emitted when the client is initialized. When this event is emitted it means the client has received a payload from the ConfigDirector servers and is ready to evaluate configs. It is emitted once, and a handler registered after that point is never called.
• onConfigsUpdated(Consumer<ConfigsUpdatedEvent>)
  • Emitted when a payload is received from the ConfigDirector servers with config data. It is emitted during initialization when an entire config payload is received. After initialization, it is emitted when updates are pushed from the server (or discovered via polling if that connection mode is used).
  • keys(): List<String> - The config keys that were included in the payload from the server, and the keys of configs whose targeting rules use a segment the payload included, sorted.
  • removedKeys(): List<String> - The keys of configs the payload removed, sorted. A config is removed when a full payload no longer includes it. Empty when nothing was removed.
  • Handlers run on the transport thread, so one that blocks delays later updates.
• onConfigEvaluated(Consumer<ConfigEvaluatedEvent>)
  • Emitted whenever a config is evaluated. This includes calls to the getters and evaluations delivered to watchers.
  • evaluation(): ConfigEvaluation - A ConfigEvaluation record containing the details of the evaluation:
    • key(): String - The config key that was evaluated
    • value(): Object - The value the config evaluated to, in the type the caller's default asked for. It can be the default value provided to the getter or to the watch. For example, if the config was evaluated before the client was initialized.
    • valueId(): String - The value ID, which is a stable hash of the value that can be used for analytics or other third parties rather than sending the value. This can be useful for large values, like a JSON config, or to avoid disclosing the values themselves to third parties.
    • isDefault(): boolean - Whether or not the evaluation fell back to the default value provided in code.
    • reason(): EvaluationReason - The reason for the evaluation resolution. In the case the config successfully evaluated based on server-provided targeting rules, it will be FOUND_MATCH. If the evaluation had to fall back to the default value, the reason will encode why the fallback was required:
      • CLIENT_NOT_READY - The evaluation happened before the client finished initialization
      • CONFIG_STATE_MISSING - The requested config key was not present in the payload received from the server. This could be due to an incorrect config key, or a config that was not enabled to be available to client SDKs.
      • INVALID_NUMBER - The config was requested as a number but the value received from the server could not be converted to a number.
      • INVALID_BOOLEAN - The config was requested as a boolean but the value received from the server could not be converted to a boolean.
      • INVALID_JSON - The config was requested as JSON but the value received from the server could not be converted to a JSON object or array.
      • TYPE_MISMATCH - The config was requested with a data type that did not match the type of the config and no reasonable type conversion was possible.
      • VALUE_MISSING - The config key was present in the payload received from the server, but it carried no value.
    • context(): Context - The user context that was provided to the evaluation function, or null if no context was provided.
  • Handlers run on the calling thread, so one that blocks delays the getter that triggered it.

Retrieve config values

Retrieve config values via the typed getters, and subscribe to updates via the matching typed watches. The first argument is the config key and the second is the default value, which is returned if the config is not available or cannot be parsed as the given type:

import com.configdirector.Subscription;
import java.util.Map;

// Retrieve config values
int retries = client.getInteger("max-retries", 3);
String theme = client.getString("theme", "light");
boolean newCheckout = client.getBoolean("new-checkout", false);
Map<String, Object> limits = client.getJsonObject("rate-limits", Map.of("per_minute", 60)); // JSON config

// Watch for config updates
Subscription subscription = client.watchBoolean(
    "new-checkout",
    false,
    value -> System.out.println("new-checkout is now " + value));

// Call close when the subscription is no longer needed
subscription.close();

The type a config is parsed as is decided by the getter you call. Each one takes the value to return when the config is missing, the service is unreachable, or the value will not convert to the requested type — so the default should always be the safe choice:

• getBoolean(String configKey, boolean defaultValue)
• getString(String configKey, String defaultValue)
• getInteger(String configKey, int defaultValue)
• getDouble(String configKey, double defaultValue)
• getJsonObject(String configKey, Map<String, Object> defaultValue)
• getJsonArray(String configKey, List<Object> defaultValue)

There is also getValue, the counterpart to getValue in the other ConfigDirector SDKs. It takes the type from the default value, which must be a Boolean, String, Integer, Long, Double, Float, Map, or List, and must not be null:

boolean newCheckout = client.getValue("new-checkout", false);
String theme = client.getValue("theme", "light");

Evaluate config values with a user context

Every getter has an overload taking a Context as its last argument, which is what targeting rules are evaluated against. The same key can therefore resolve differently per user:

import com.configdirector.Context;

Context context = Context.builder()
    .id("user-id")
    .name("Example User")
    .trait("region", "North America")
    .build();

client.getBoolean("my-boolean-config-key", false, context);

Context is built with Context.builder() and accepts the following:

• id
  • The user's identifier. It decides their bucket in a percentage rollout, so changing it can move a user into a different percentile. If it is not provided, a percentage rollout assigns an unstable bucket.
• name
  • The user's display name.
• trait(String key, Object value) / traits(Map<String, Object> traits)
  • Arbitrary traits which can be referenced in targeting rules. Values are JSON-shaped: String, Number, Boolean, List, Map, or null. Anything else has no text form and will not match a targeting rule.
  • trait adds a single trait, keeping the rest. traits replaces every trait set so far.
• anonymous
  • Keeps the context out of the dashboard: it is evaluated but never persisted, and telemetry reports neither the context nor its id.

Watch for updates

The watches mirror the getters, one per type. Each accepts the config key, the default value used when an update will not convert to that type, a handler that runs when the config value is updated, and an optional user context as its last argument:

• watchBoolean(String configKey, boolean defaultValue, Consumer<Boolean> onChange)
• watchString(String configKey, String defaultValue, Consumer<String> onChange)
• watchInteger(String configKey, int defaultValue, Consumer<Integer> onChange)
• watchDouble(String configKey, double defaultValue, Consumer<Double> onChange)
• watchJsonObject(String configKey, Map<String, Object> defaultValue, Consumer<Map<String, Object>> onChange)
• watchJsonArray(String configKey, List<Object> defaultValue, Consumer<List<Object>> onChange)

Registering a watch before initialize means it is called for the first config state as well; one registered afterwards only sees later updates. When a full payload no longer includes the watched config, the handler is called with the default value, so it always agrees with what the getter would return. Handlers run on the transport thread, so one that blocks delays later updates.

import com.configdirector.Context;
import com.configdirector.Subscription;

Subscription subscription = client.watchBoolean(
    "new-checkout",
    false,
    value -> System.out.println("new-checkout is now " + value),
    Context.builder()
        .id("user-id")
        .name("Example User")
        .trait("region", "North America")
        .build());

Each watch returns a Subscription that cancels it when closed. Closing it twice is harmless.

Other useful client features

The client provides additional methods.

isReady

Returns a boolean indicating if the client has received config state and is ready to evaluate configs. It is initially false and becomes true once the first config state arrives. Until it does, every getter returns its default.

isClosed

Returns a boolean indicating if close has been called. A closed client cannot be reopened.

getAllConfigs

Returns every config the client currently holds as a Map<String, ConfigState>, evaluated but before type parsing. It optionally accepts a Context and a list of config keys to restrict the result to.

This is intended for handing state to a client SDK to hydrate with. It records no telemetry, since the SDK that receives the state reports its own evaluations.

unwatch

Cancels every watch on one config key.

unwatchAll

Cancels every watch on every config key.

close

Closes all connections to ConfigDirector services, reports whatever telemetry is pending, and cancels every watch and event handler. Calling it twice is harmless.

Only call close when your application shuts down and it will no longer make use of the client instance. ConfigDirectorClient implements AutoCloseable, so in a container such as Spring it is enough to let the container own the lifecycle:

@Bean(destroyMethod = "close")
public ConfigDirectorClient configDirectorClient() {
  ConfigDirectorClient client = ConfigDirector.client(System.getenv("CONFIGDIRECTOR_SERVER_KEY"));
  client.initialize();
  return client;
}

Test your code

Use the SDK's testing artifact, com.configdirector:server-sdk-testing, to test the code that reads your configs and flags. It creates a test client: the SDK's real client connected to an in-memory server that your test controls. Only the connection to ConfigDirector is replaced. Everything else is the same code that runs in production, so the code under test behaves exactly as it does against ConfigDirector, and no network connection is opened and no telemetry is sent.

The artifact is released together with the SDK and must be the same version as the server-sdk on your test classpath. Add it in test scope:

testImplementation 'com.configdirector:server-sdk-testing:1.8.1'

import com.configdirector.testing.ConfigDirectorTesting;
import com.configdirector.testing.TestClient;

try (TestClient testClient = ConfigDirectorTesting.createTestClient(Map.of("new-checkout", true, "max-items", 20))) {
  CheckoutService service = new CheckoutService(testClient.client());
  testClient.client().initialize();

  assertThat(service.isNewCheckoutEnabled("user-123")).isTrue();

  testClient.setValue("new-checkout", false);
  assertThat(service.isNewCheckoutEnabled("user-123")).isFalse();
}

testClient.client() is a ConfigDirectorClient, so it goes anywhere your code accepts one. It starts uninitialized, like a production client, because the code under test usually owns the call to initialize; with no hold or failure armed, initialize completes at once with the stored values. TestClient is AutoCloseable and closes its client.

With JUnit Jupiter

ConfigDirectorTestExtension creates one test client per test, seeds it from annotations on the test class and the test method, injects it, and closes it after the test. Annotations on the class apply to every test; annotations on a method add to or override them.

@ExtendWith(ConfigDirectorTestExtension.class)
class CheckoutTest {

  @Test
  @BooleanConfigValue(key = "new-checkout", value = true)
  @IntegerConfigValue(key = "max-items", value = 20)
  @JsonConfigValue(key = "theme", value = "{\"color\": \"blue\"}")
  void showsTheNewCheckout(TestClient testClient) {
    testClient.client().initialize();
    ...
  }
}

Each config type has its own annotation, because annotation attributes are compile-time constants: @BooleanConfigValue, @IntegerConfigValue (a long), @FloatConfigValue (a double), @StringConfigValue, and @JsonConfigValue, whose value is strict JSON text holding an object or an array. A ConfigDirectorClient parameter resolves to the same client as a TestClient parameter. The extension works with JUnit 5.10 or newer and JUnit 6.

Application contexts shared across tests

The extension is for code that receives the client from the test. A Spring, Micronaut, or Quarkus context that outlives a test keeps one test client in a static field, replaces the application's client bean with testClient.client(), initializes it where the application's own bean method would have, and calls replaceValues in each test's setup. Replacing matters: a second bean leaves the application's own client in place, which connects to ConfigDirector on startup.

Values

createTestClient, setValue, and replaceValues take native values, and the config type follows from each value: a Boolean, an Integer or Long (an integer config), a Float or Double (a float config), a String, or a Map with String keys or a List (a JSON config). setJsonValue takes strict JSON text holding an object or an array; a String given to setValue is always a string config. Every value is served as an unconditional config, so every context receives the same value; a test that needs different values per context is written as one test per value. A null value, a blank key, a non-finite number, another Number subclass such as BigDecimal, a Map with non-String keys, or JSON contents that cannot be encoded throw ConfigDirectorValidationException, and nothing changes.

Reads behave as they do in production: setValue("k", true) read as a string returns the in-code default value with the TYPE_MISMATCH reason, and setValue("k", "") serves the in-code default value with the VALUE_MISSING reason. Numbers inside JSON configs come back as Long and Double, so Map.of("n", 1) reads back as {n=1L}.

Controls

After a failed attempt, the next initialize succeeds and delivers the values stored in the meantime.

try (TestClient testClient =
    ConfigDirectorTesting.createTestClient(Map.of("new-checkout", true), options -> options.timeout(Duration.ofMillis(500)))) {
  testClient.failInitialization();

  testClient.client().initialize();

  assertThat(testClient.client().isReady()).isFalse();
  assertThat(service.isNewCheckoutEnabled("user-123")).isFalse();
}

Options

createTestClient(values, options -> ...) takes timeout (the client's connection timeout, which bounds how long a held initialize waits; defaults to the SDK's production timeout) and logger (defaults to the SDK's logger, com.configdirector).

What to expect

• The first update is delivered while initialize connects, so watches registered before initialize run before it returns, and configsUpdated fires before clientReady.
• Watches and handlers run on the thread that calls setValue, removeValue, replaceValues, completeInitialization, or initialize, not on a transport thread.
• A held initialize that times out, or that is interrupted by close, leaves the client not ready until the next initialize, and logs the SDK's timeout warning; production streaming would keep retrying in the background.
• Watches fire on every update carrying their key, whether or not the value changed, as in production. removeValue and replaceValues deliver a full update, so they also fire the watches of every remaining key.
• A RuntimeException thrown by a watch or handler is logged and does not propagate, as with the production transports. An Error, such as a failed assertion's AssertionError, propagates out of the call that delivered the update.
• After close, reads return the in-code default value with the CLIENT_NOT_READY reason, getAllConfigs returns an empty map, initialize throws ConfigDirectorValidationException, the test client's controls are silent no-ops, and no SDK thread is left running.