DbConfig

Database-backed IConfiguration provider for .NET with an embedded React editor UI.

Mimics the ergonomics of a secrets manager, but persists configuration in your existing application database. No additional external service required.

Packages

Package	Purpose
Moberg.DbConfig.Core	IConfigurationSource / IConfigurationProvider, IConfigStore abstraction, options
Moberg.DbConfig.Http	JSON API endpoints (MapDbConfigHttp); auth is host-owned via RequireAuthorization
Moberg.DbConfig.Ui	React editor UI shipped as embedded static assets (MapDbConfigUi); optional built-in cookie login
Moberg.DbConfig.Provider.SqlServer	SQL Server EF Core provider + dialect specifics
Moberg.DbConfig.Provider.PostgreSql	PostgreSQL (Npgsql) EF Core provider + dialect specifics

Try it out

A runnable sample app — multi-tenant payments processor — lives at samples/PaymentsApi/. Demonstrates per-tenant config overrides, IOptionsSnapshot<T> binding, at-rest encryption, audit log, and live reload via the embedded admin UI.

cd samples/PaymentsApi
docker compose up -d
dotnet run

Then open http://localhost:5000/admin/dbconfig — the UI loads all your entries immediately and the filter fields in the toolbar narrow by Scope, Environment, or Tenant.

Security

Per-entry encryption via IsSecret flag:

• Mark sensitive entries (IsSecret = true) → encrypted at rest using ASP.NET Core Data Protection (default). Non-secret values stay plaintext for debuggability.

• The default Data Protection key ring is ephemeral and process-scoped. For multi-instance or restart-stable deployments, persist keys BEFORE AddDbConfig:

  builder.Services.AddDataProtection()
      .PersistKeysToFileSystem(new DirectoryInfo("/var/dbconfig/keys"))
      .ProtectKeysWithCertificate("thumbprint");
  builder.AddDbConfig(b => { ... });

• Custom key management (Azure Key Vault, AWS KMS, etc.): register a custom IConfigEncryptor in builder.Services BEFORE AddDbConfig. Both instance and type-mapped registrations are supported:

  // Type-mapped (DI resolves dependencies)
  builder.Services.AddSingleton<IConfigEncryptor, MyAzureKeyVaultEncryptor>();
  builder.AddDbConfig(b => { ... });
  
  // Or instance-registered (when you already have an instance)
  builder.Services.AddSingleton<IConfigEncryptor>(myEncryptorInstance);
  builder.AddDbConfig(b => { ... });

  Type-mapped caveat: the polling provider's decryption is deferred until host construction completes (an IHostedService resolves the encryptor and activates decryption). Reading secret config values BEFORE host.RunAsync() (or host.StartAsync()) is unsupported and throws a clear InvalidOperationException. Reading non-secret values pre-build is unaffected. Most code reads config from request handlers or hosted services, which run after build, so this is rarely hit in practice.

• Non-secret values are NOT encrypted by design — feature flags, polling intervals, log levels stay plaintext for psql / SSMS debugging convenience.

Getting started

// 1. Single call — wires services, configuration source, and reload signal
builder.AddDbConfig(b =>
{
    b.Options.Scope = "MyApp";
    b.Options.Environment = builder.Environment.EnvironmentName;
    b.Options.ReloadInterval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30);
    b.UseSqlServer(connectionString); // or b.UsePostgreSql(connectionString)
});

// 2. Map the admin surface (UI + API under one prefix, one cookie)
builder.Services.AddScoped<IDbConfigCredentialValidator, MyValidator>();
app.MapDbConfigAdmin("/admin/dbconfig", opts =>
{
    opts.UseBuiltInLogin<MyValidator>();
});
// → UI at  /admin/dbconfig
// → API at /admin/dbconfig/api

AddDbConfig is an extension on IHostApplicationBuilder, so it works for both WebApplicationBuilder (ASP.NET Core) and HostApplicationBuilder (worker services / generic host).

The connection string must be present before AddDbConfig is called. If it is missing, an InvalidOperationException is thrown at startup — the provider does not silently return empty values.

See samples/PaymentsApi/ for a full working example — multi-tenant payments processor demonstrating per-tenant overrides, IOptionsSnapshot<T> binding, at-rest encryption, audit log, and live reload via the embedded admin UI.

Authentication

MapDbConfigAdmin, MapDbConfigHttp, and MapDbConfigUi are all open by default and return RouteGroupBuilder. Five supported patterns:

Pattern	When
MapDbConfigAdmin(prefix, opts => opts.UseBuiltInLogin<T>())	Recommended — one cookie covers UI + API
Open (no auth)	Private network, dev only
.RequireAuthorization("policy")	The host already has OIDC / Windows Auth / JWT
Split prefixes + opts.UseBuiltInLogin<T>()	UI behind CDN, API at different origin
opts.Authorization = new MyFilter()	Header-based, IP allowlist, custom JWT cookie

The unified MapDbConfigAdmin is the common case — one call mounts UI and HTTP API under one prefix with one shared cookie, so the React app can call its own backend right after sign-in.

See Authentication & authorization for the full walkthrough.

Programmatic access

Most code reads config through IOptionsSnapshot<T> (tenant-aware automatically) or IConfiguration. For admin endpoints, background jobs, or diagnostic surfaces that need to read another tenant's settings explicitly, two services are available:

// Typed bind via the standard pipeline. Uses the SAME section path you
// registered for IOptionsSnapshot<T>; no new convention to learn.
public class AdminController(ITenantConfigReader reader)
{
    public IActionResult ShowAcmeStripe()
    {
        // Reuses `services.Configure<StripeSettings>(config.GetSection("Stripe"))`
        // — picks Acme's entries with global fallback, runs PostConfigure delegates.
        var stripe = reader.GetForTenant<StripeSettings>("Acme");
        return Ok(stripe);
    }
}

// Direct DB read with raw entries (IsSecret, ModifiedUtc, ModifiedBy).
// Bypasses IConfiguration; section name is typeof(T).Name verbatim.
public class AuditEndpoint(IConfigStore store)
{
    public async Task<IActionResult> GetEntry(CancellationToken ct)
    {
        var entry = await store.GetForTenantAsync("Acme", "Stripe:ApiKey", ct);
        return Ok(new { entry?.Value, entry?.IsSecret, entry?.ModifiedUtc });
    }
}

ITenantConfigReader is the right tool for typed-POCO reads in application code. It respects every services.Configure<T>(...) registration including custom section paths and PostConfigure delegates — internally it sets an AsyncLocal tenant override on the polling provider and resolves IOptionsSnapshot<T> in a fresh DI scope.

IConfigStore is the right tool for admin tooling that needs raw entries with metadata (IsSecret, ModifiedUtc, ModifiedBy) or for binding a type that has no IConfigureOptions<T> registration. Its typed-bind overloads use typeof(T).Name verbatim — StripeOptions reads StripeOptions: keys.

See Programmatic access to configuration for the full walkthrough.

Migrations

DbConfig owns its own schema (tables DbConfig_Entries and DbConfig_AuditEntries).

Default — auto-create on startup

The library applies pending migrations during AddDbConfig. No extra code needed:

builder.AddDbConfig(b =>
{
    b.UseSqlServer(connStr);
    b.Options.Scope = "MyApp";
    // b.Options.SchemaMode = SchemaMode.CreateIfMissing;  // default
});

This mirrors how Hangfire, Marten, and Wolverine handle schema. Good for dev, demos, and small-team production.

DBA-controlled / CI-pipeline workflows

Production teams that prefer to apply schema out of band (via init container, SQL review by DBA, CI/CD step) can disable auto-create:

builder.AddDbConfig(b =>
{
    b.UseSqlServer(connStr);
    b.Options.Scope = "MyApp";
    b.Options.SchemaMode = SchemaMode.None;  // host assumes schema is ready
});

To extract SQL for offline application:

// In a tiny build-time helper console app:
using DbConfig.EntityFrameworkCore;
using DbConfig.Provider.SqlServer;

var opts = SqlServerDbConfigOptions.ForSqlServer(connStr);
var sql = DbConfigMigrator.GenerateMigrationScript(opts, idempotent: true);
File.WriteAllText("dbconfig-upgrade.sql", sql);

DbConfigMigrator exposes three methods:

• MigrateAsync(opts) — apply pending migrations programmatically
• GenerateCreateScript(opts) — full schema DDL for a fresh database
• GenerateMigrationScript(opts, fromMigration?, toMigration?, idempotent: true) — incremental upgrade SQL

For PostgreSQL hosts use PostgreSqlDbConfigOptions.ForPostgreSql(connStr).

Shared scopes

To pull configuration from one or more shared scopes in addition to your app's own:

builder.AddDbConfig(b =>
{
    b.UseSqlServer(connectionString);
    b.Options.Scope = "PaymentService";
    b.Options.Environment = builder.Environment.EnvironmentName;
    b.Options.IncludeScopes = ["PlatformDefaults", "Shared"];
    // Precedence (lowest → highest): PlatformDefaults < Shared < PaymentService
    // Own scope (Scope) always wins ties.
});

The polling provider reads from all listed scopes in one DB query and merges them with the configured precedence. A change in any included scope advances the watermark and triggers reload across all consumers within one poll interval.

Per-scope authorization (host pattern):

// App-team writes — only own scope
app.MapDbConfigHttp("/api/dbconfig", scopeFilter: "PaymentService")
   .RequireAuthorization("AppTeamAdmin");

// Platform-team writes — only Shared scope
app.MapDbConfigHttp("/api/dbconfig-shared", scopeFilter: "Shared")
   .RequireAuthorization("PlatformAdmin");

When scopeFilter is set, the group rejects writes (and reads) to other Scopes with 403. The /reload endpoint is always allowed.

Audit log

Every mutation (Upsert/Delete) writes a row to DbConfig_AuditEntries in the same transaction. The UI's per-row "History" button surfaces this; programmatic access via GET /{scope}/{environment}/audit/{*key}?take=50 returns ConfigAuditEntry[].

Audit log values are encrypted-at-rest using the same IConfigEncryptor as the main store. The history endpoint decrypts for the response, so callers see plaintext.

Disable per-host with b.Options.EnableAuditLog = false. Retention is the consumer's responsibility — recommended DELETE FROM DbConfig_AuditEntries WHERE ModifiedUtc < NOW() - INTERVAL '90 days' on a schedule.

Read auditing (opt-in)

By default DbConfig audits only mutations (Insert/Update/Delete). For compliance scenarios that require "who read this secret?" trails, enable read auditing:

builder.AddDbConfig(b =>
{
    b.UseSqlServer(connStr);
    b.Options.Scope = "PaymentService";
    b.Options.AuditReads = true;
});

When enabled, HTTP GET /{app}/{env} and GET /{app}/{env}/{*key} write fire-and-forget audit rows with Action=Read. Old/New values are null (the read itself isn't a state change). Failures to write the audit row log a warning; the GET still returns successfully.

Read audit rows are written for both 200 and 404 responses — a key probe is recorded even when the key doesn't exist. This is intentional for compliance posture (record access attempts, not just successful accesses).

The audit-history endpoint never generates read audits (no recursion).

Reload semantics

The configuration provider polls the store on a configurable interval (default 30 s). When the highest-watermark ModifiedUtc in the store advances, the provider fires an IChangeToken, which triggers IOptionsMonitor callbacks in the consuming application.

Important: Direct SQL DELETE on the DbConfig_Entries table will not be reflected by the polling provider until another row's ModifiedUtc advances. Always mutate via the API — the HTTP DELETE/PUT endpoints fire the in-process reload signal. Direct DB writes from migrations or DBA tools are not first-class.

The HTTP POST /reload endpoint (mapped by MapDbConfigHttp) triggers an immediate in-process reload without waiting for the next poll interval.

Theming

The UI editor supports light and dark themes. Toggle via the sun/moon button in the page header; choice persists to localStorage. The Docusaurus docs site has its own light/dark toggle (top-right navbar). See website/docs/ui-editor/theming.md for implementation details.

Documentation

Full documentation lives under website/ (Docusaurus 3.10). To browse locally:

cd website
npm install
npm run start         # http://localhost:3000

Or build static HTML:

cd website
npm run build
npm run serve         # serve build/ on http://localhost:3000

UI screenshots in the docs are produced by a Playwright suite against a deterministic demo-mode of the UI. To regenerate them:

cd ui
npm run screenshots:install   # one-time: playwright install chromium
npm run screenshots           # produces 10 PNGs in website/static/img/screenshots/

The screenshots cover the major features: entries list, editing, history with diff, bulk operations, import/export, scope selector, and the access warning banner.

Feature scope

• SQL Server and PostgreSQL via EF Core
• Hierarchical keys; Scope + Environment + TenantId + Key scoping
• Polling-based reload with immediate-reload signal on HTTP mutations
• Embedded React editor UI with CRUD, secret masking, scope badges, view-mode toggle, per-row audit history, and a global Audit Log timeline
• Per-entry encryption via IConfigEncryptor (IsSecret = true → encrypted at rest via ASP.NET Core Data Protection or a custom implementation)
• Audit log (DbConfig_AuditEntries) with in-transaction writes for mutations and fire-and-forget read audits (opt-in)
• Multi-tenant configuration via ITenantResolver; IOptionsSnapshot<T> is automatically tenant-aware
• Cross-tenant typed reads via ITenantConfigReader.GetForTenant<T>(tenantId) (uses the same services.Configure<T>(...) registration) and raw-metadata reads via IConfigStore convenience overloads
• Authorization: open by default; opt into built-in cookie login via IDbConfigCredentialValidator, plug in IDbConfigAuthorizationFilter, or compose with the host's existing pipeline via RequireAuthorization
• Auto-migrating schema (SchemaMode.CreateIfMissing default); production teams that prefer DBA-owned schema use SchemaMode.None plus DbConfigMigrator helpers
• IncludeScopes — pull config from one or more shared scopes with explicit precedence
• MapDbConfigHttp(scopeFilter: "X") — per-scope authorization at the group level

Known limitations:

• No audit log retention pruner (manual cleanup documented in Audit retention)
• Direct DB mutations bypass the reload signal AND audit log — always mutate via the API
• Two EfCoreConfigStore instances per host (polling provider + HTTP layer) both pointed at the same DB. They share no in-process state by design — the DB is the source of truth and the reload signal coordinates cache invalidation
• Ephemeral Data Protection key ring by default — see Security section for PersistKeysToXxx configuration

See Releases for the changelog.