Settings

Project-wide configuration lives in settings.rat. It uses the same dialect as any other file — a > server-style block of key/value pairs, plus optional > database blocks. Settings are reloaded on every change; no restart required.

Common fields

settings.rat

Most projects need only a handful of fields. port and host control the dev server bind; title and description feed into the rendered <head>; default_route redirects bare / to a real landing page.

# settings.rat
port: 1445
host: '127.0.0.1'
title: 'My Rat Site'
description: 'Small, fast, opinionated.'
default_route: '/home'

Build modes

[] / [] section flags

Prefix a section header with [] or [] to keep it only when that mode is active. The active mode comes from the RAT_MODE env var (default dev). Use it for dev-only logging, prod-only API keys, anywhere the value should differ across environments.

# settings.rat
port: 1445

> [@dev] server
hot_reload: true
log_level: 'debug'

> [@prod] server
hot_reload: false
log_level: 'warn'

Database in settings

Often the only > database block

Many projects put their primary database directly in settings.rat. The block accepts the same fields as a standalone data/-declared database — see Databases for the field list.

# settings.rat
> database
provider: 'sqlite'
url: 'file:./dev.db'
auto_migrate: true

Next: Hot reload — what triggers a refresh, and what survives one.