Configuration reference

This page documents the configuration surface of the control plane engine — the single Go binary named olivares. It covers the flags accepted by the serve subcommand, the environment variables the engine reads at boot, how the store and policy decision point are selected, and the secure defaults that are in effect with no configuration at all.

Everything listed here is taken from the engine’s own command definitions and composition root. Where a setting cannot be confirmed in source it is not listed. For the conceptual security posture behind these defaults, see the security model; for the runnable end-to-end path, see self-hosting.

Configuration philosophy

The engine is configured by flags and by environment variables, not by a sprawling config file. Every variable it reads is listed below, generated from the sources themselves. Secrets that wire real sources stay in operator-held files referenced by environment variable — never in the store. The defaults are chosen to fail closed: loopback binds, TLS on, no default credentials.

The serve subcommand

olivares serve runs the REST/web HTTP server and the gRPC server in one process, with the web UI served from the same origin as the API. The flags below are the verified configuration inputs to that command.

Flag	Default	Purpose
--listen	127.0.0.1:8443	HTTP listen address (REST API + embedded web UI).
--grpc-listen	127.0.0.1:8444	gRPC listen address (control-plane / collector ingest API).
--data-dir	$OLIVARES_DATA_DIR, an existing ./olivares-data, else $XDG_DATA_HOME/olivares or ~/.local/share/olivares	Data directory: audit signing key, TLS material, and (for SQLite) the store file.
--engine	sqlite	Store engine: sqlite or postgres.
--dsn	empty (SQLite file in the data dir)	Store connection string.
--checkpoint-interval	1h	How often a signed audit checkpoint is written over every tenant chain. 0 disables.
--insecure	off	Serve plaintext HTTP/gRPC. Dangerous; localhost development only.
--seed-demo	off	Load a synthetic sample estate for demos/E2E. Refuses to start on a non-loopback bind.

TLS is on by default. With no --tls-cert/--tls-key supplied, the engine ensures a self-signed certificate in the data directory once, up front, before any listener accepts a connection, so both the HTTP and gRPC servers use the same certificate and neither falls back to plaintext. When it generates a self-signed certificate it logs cert_fingerprint_sha256 (the certificate digest, what a browser shows) and pin_sha256 (the leaf SPKI digest). --pin-sha256 takes the second one, in base64 or hex; the certificate fingerprint is a different digest — it parses, 32 bytes either way, and then fails at the handshake with TLS SPKI pin mismatch, which reports the value to use.

--insecure is loopback-only by intent

--insecure serves plaintext HTTP and gRPC, which would expose bearer tokens on the wire. The gRPC path fails closed: outside --insecure the server refuses to construct a plaintext listener rather than degrade silently. Use --insecure only against 127.0.0.1 during local development, never on a published address.

--seed-demo is synthetic and self-protecting

--seed-demo provisions a demo administrator with a public, source-tree password and fabricated estate data. It is for demos and E2E only. The engine refuses to start it on a non-loopback listener: if either --listen or --grpc-listen is not a loopback address the command exits with an error. Use a throwaway data directory; never point it at real data.

A full flag listing — including the Postgres-only and mutual-TLS flags used in distributed deployments — is in the CLI reference. This page documents the common configuration surface; some advanced flags govern multi-node topologies described in the architecture overview.

Environment variables

The three groups below are the ones an operator meets first, written out with their behaviour. The complete roster follows them, generated from the engine’s own sources so it cannot fall behind the binary.

Data directory

Variable	Effect
OLIVARES_DATA_DIR	Default data directory when --data-dir is not given. Without it the engine uses an existing ./olivares-data installation, else $XDG_DATA_HOME/olivares or ~/.local/share/olivares — never the current working directory, which is where it would leave private keys.

The data directory holds the audit signing key, the TLS certificate and key, and — for the SQLite engine — the store file. Persist it across restarts.

Wiring real sources

Variable	Effect
OLIVARES_SOURCES_CONFIG	Path to a JSON file that wires real observation sources and identity roster providers before the engine starts.

OLIVARES_SOURCES_CONFIG is the single input through which non-demo signal sources and identity roster providers are resolved. It is the operator’s secret-bearing configuration and is deliberately kept out of the store. The engine reads it during boot and registers every source before the runtime starts.

The handling is honest rather than fail-fast:

• A missing variable yields an empty configuration, and the engine warns that nothing real is wired.
• An unreadable or invalid-JSON file warns and yields an empty configuration — it never aborts the boot.
• A configured-but-empty source list warns that no connector will ingest, so the estate runs on no live traffic, rather than silently appearing healthy.
• An empty identity list warns that the roster stays empty and roster sync is a no-op.

This is by design: an unconfigured source surfaces a warning instead of crashing the control plane or pretending to work. To actually populate the access map, configure at least one source — see connect a source and, for the cooperative Claude Code path over OpenTelemetry and MCP, connect Claude Code.

Authorization decision point (PDP)

The authorization policy decision point is selected at the composition root by environment. The native attribute-based access control (ABAC) engine and role-based access control (RBAC) always govern; the external PDP, when selected, is an additional restrict-only layer that can never widen access.

Variable	Effect
OLIVARES_PDP_ENGINE	Selects the external PDP: cedar, opa, or none (empty or none means native ABAC only).
OLIVARES_PDP_CEDAR_FILE	Cedar engine only: path to the operator’s Cedar policy file.
OLIVARES_PDP_OPA_URL	OPA engine only: base URL of the Open Policy Agent endpoint.
OLIVARES_PDP_OPA_PATH	OPA engine only: decision path queried under that endpoint.
OLIVARES_PDP_OPA_TOKEN	OPA engine only: bearer token for the OPA endpoint.

Two adapters sit behind one seam: an embedded Cedar evaluator (the primary, pure-Go path) and an OPA-over-HTTP adapter. The operator chooses one engine; both can only restrict, never widen, the decision the built-in RBAC already made.

A bad policy never un-governs the plane

If OLIVARES_PDP_ENGINE selects an engine but its configuration is invalid — an unreadable Cedar file, a malformed OPA target — the engine disables only the external PDP, keeps the native ABAC engine and RBAC enforcing, and logs loudly. A broken policy file never silently leaves requests un-governed and never crashes the control plane.

For the deny-by-default model, the privileged nature of viewing the access graph, and how every authorization read is audited, see the security model.

Complete variable reference

The table below is generated from the product’s own sources: 266 variables and 17 runtime-constructed families, covering the engine, the CLI, the Kubernetes operator, the Terraform provider and the connectors. It is regenerated and checked against those sources on every change, so it does not fall behind the binary.

Required means the feature that reads the variable does not start without it; most variables are optional and the engine runs with none of them set.

Variable	Required	Default	What it configures
OLIVARES_ACTOR	No	—	Default --actor for the decision-bearing eventing verbs, so a scripted change still records who made it.
OLIVARES_ADMIN_DSN	No	—	Privileged connection string the Kubernetes operator uses for schema migration, separate from the least-privilege runtime role.
OLIVARES_AGENTCORE_EXPORT_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the AgentCore usage export.
OLIVARES_AGENT_GATEWAY_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the MCP agent gateway.
OLIVARES_ALLOW_CLEARTEXT	No	—	Dangerous opt-in: lets a request carrying a credential reach a NON-loopback host over plain HTTP, for surfaces with no —allow-cleartext flag of their own.
OLIVARES_API_TOKEN	No	—	API token the Terraform provider authenticates with, when the provider block does not set one.
OLIVARES_APPROVAL_BRIDGE_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the bridge that routes approvals to an external system.
OLIVARES_AUDIT_ARCHIVE_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON settings for the s3archive sink. Secret-bearing, so it is a file rather than a value.
OLIVARES_AUDIT_ARCHIVE_DIR	No	—	Root directory for the dir archive sink.
OLIVARES_AUDIT_ARCHIVE_INTERVAL	No	24h	How often sealed audit segments are archived, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_AUDIT_ARCHIVE_RETAIN_DAYS	No	2555	How long archived audit segments are retained, in days.
OLIVARES_AUDIT_ARCHIVE_SEGMENT_EVENTS	No	—	How many events a sealed archive segment holds before the next one is started.
OLIVARES_AUDIT_ARCHIVE_SINK	No	—	Where sealed audit segments are archived: unset for off, dir for a local directory, s3archive for object storage.
OLIVARES_AUDIT_LEGALHOLD_INTERVAL	No	—	How often the long-horizon legal-hold sweep runs, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_AUDIT_META_BLINDING	No	—	Whether audit metadata commitments are written blinded, and how strictly that is required.
OLIVARES_AUDIT_SIGNING_KEY	No	—	Audit checkpoint signing key, inline. Prefer the file form so the key never sits in a process environment.
OLIVARES_AUDIT_SIGNING_KEY_FILE	No	—	Path to the audit checkpoint signing key. This is the operator-held form.
OLIVARES_AUDIT_SIGNING_KEY_WRAPPED_FILE	No	—	Path to the audit signing key wrapped by a key management service, unwrapped at boot.
OLIVARES_AUDIT_SPOOL_MAX_BYTES	No	—	Upper bound on the on-disk audit spool before the full-spool rule applies.
OLIVARES_AUDIT_SPOOL_ON_FULL	No	—	What happens when the audit spool is full: the deny-closed posture refuses the write rather than dropping the record.
OLIVARES_AUTHZEN_ALLOWED_CIDRS	No	—	Comma-separated CIDR ranges allowed to reach the AuthZEN endpoints. Unset leaves the endpoint reachable wherever the listener is.
OLIVARES_AUTHZEN_DISABLED	No	—	Set to a true value to turn the AuthZEN decision endpoint off.
OLIVARES_AUTHZEN_EXPORT_DISABLED	No	—	Set to a true value to turn the AuthZEN export endpoint off.
OLIVARES_AUTHZEN_SEARCH_DISABLED	No	—	Set to a true value to turn the AuthZEN search endpoints off while leaving decisions on.
OLIVARES_BASE_URL	No	—	Public base URL of this control plane, used where an absolute link back to it has to be produced.
OLIVARES_BUS_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the message bus the engine publishes on.
OLIVARES_CAEP_TRANSMITTER_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the CAEP transmitter that pushes shared-signal events.
OLIVARES_CATALOG_SIGNING_KEY	No	—	Catalog signing key, inline. Prefer the file form.
OLIVARES_CATALOG_SIGNING_KEY_FILE	No	—	Path to the catalog signing key.
OLIVARES_CATALOG_SIGNING_KEY_WRAPPED_FILE	No	—	Path to the catalog signing key wrapped by a key management service.
OLIVARES_CLAUDE_ADMIN_ACTUATOR_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the administrative actuator that applies changes at the model provider.
OLIVARES_CLAUDE_ADMIN_KEY	No	—	Administrative API key used to read identity posture from the model provider.
OLIVARES_CLAUDE_ERASER_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the erasure actuator that carries out deletion requests.
OLIVARES_CLAUDE_FILES_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the provider file inventory scan.
OLIVARES_CLAUDE_INFERENCE_KEY	No	—	API key the engine uses for its own inference calls. Unset leaves the inference-backed features off.
OLIVARES_CLAUDE_WORKSPACE_ID	No	—	Workspace whose identity posture is read, when the administrative key spans several.
OLIVARES_CLI_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the CLI configuration file, replacing the default per-user location. Used by hermetic automation.
OLIVARES_CLI_TRAMPOLINE	No	—	Set to 1 inside a re-executed child process so the binary runs the requested subcommand instead of the outer test harness.
OLIVARES_CODEX_HOOK_ACCOUNT	No	—	Account the Codex hook client reports.
OLIVARES_CODEX_HOOK_AGENT	No	—	Agent identity the Codex hook client reports.
OLIVARES_CODEX_HOOK_ORG	No	—	Organization the Codex hook client reports.
OLIVARES_CODEX_HOOK_PEP_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the Codex hook enforcement point server.
OLIVARES_CODEX_HOOK_TENANT	No	—	Tenant the Codex hook client reports.
OLIVARES_CODEX_HOOK_TOKEN	No	—	Token the Codex hook client presents to the enforcement point.
OLIVARES_CODEX_HOOK_URL	No	—	Base URL of the enforcement point the Codex hook client calls.
OLIVARES_COMMUNICATION_CONTENT_KEYRING_FILE	Yes	—	Path to the JSON keyring the communication content sealer loads at boot (cmd/olivares/boot.go). Secret-bearing, so it is a file rather than a value: sealed message bodies are verified against the keys it carries, and an engine started without it cannot open content sealed by a peer that had one.
OLIVARES_COMMUNICATION_TOKEN	Yes	—	NOT an operator setting, and documented here precisely so nobody sets it. The engine MINTS this bearer and injects it into a conducted session’s child process exactly once (modules/sessions/runtime_bridge.go); its tuple travels inside the authenticated principal. It is RESERVED on the launch path: validateLaunchInjectedEnv (modules/sessions/runtime.go) refuses any launch whose injected environment carries it, so a caller-supplied value is rejected rather than honoured. It appears in the roster because that reserved-name check mentions it, not because the engine reads it.
OLIVARES_CONFIG_STRICT	No	—	Set to 1 to make olivares config effective and config validate reject any unrecognized OLIVARES_* key.
OLIVARES_CONTEXT_MAX_TOKENS	No	—	Upper bound on the context a governed session may assemble, in tokens.
OLIVARES_CONTEXT_STRATEGY	No	—	Which strategy assembles a governed session’s context when the bound is reached.
OLIVARES_DATA_DIR	No	—	Data directory used when --data-dir is not given: audit signing key, TLS material and, for SQLite, the store file.
OLIVARES_DB_MAX_CONNS	No	—	Upper bound on pooled database connections. Unset leaves the driver default.
OLIVARES_DEPLOY_EXECUTOR_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the executor that applies deployment changes.
OLIVARES_DR_KEK_FILE	No	—	Path to a raw 32-byte key-encryption key for backups, for the path where a key management service does the unwrapping.
OLIVARES_DR_OFFSITE_ACCESS_KEY_ID_FILE	No	—	Path to the file holding the offsite access key id, so the credential stays out of the environment.
OLIVARES_DR_OFFSITE_BUCKET	No	—	Offsite bucket for disaster-recovery bundles. Setting it turns offsite replication on.
OLIVARES_DR_OFFSITE_ENDPOINT	No	—	S3-compatible endpoint for offsite replication. Unset means AWS S3 in the configured region.
OLIVARES_DR_OFFSITE_PREFIX	No	—	Key prefix for bundles inside the offsite bucket.
OLIVARES_DR_OFFSITE_REGION	No	—	Region for offsite replication.
OLIVARES_DR_OFFSITE_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY_FILE	No	—	Path to the file holding the offsite secret access key.
OLIVARES_DR_OFFSITE_SESSION_TOKEN_FILE	No	—	Path to the file holding an offsite session token, for temporary credentials.
OLIVARES_DR_PASSPHRASE_FILE	No	—	Path to the backup passphrase file, from which the backup key-encryption key is derived.
OLIVARES_DR_SCHEDULE_INTERVAL	No	—	How often the scheduled backup runs, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_DSN	No	—	Store connection string injected by the Kubernetes operator into the engine it manages.
OLIVARES_DURABLE_BUS_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the durable bus, for at-least-once delivery across replicas.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_BASE_URL	No	—	Endpoint the openai-compatible embeddings provider is called at.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_DIM	No	—	Vector dimension the openai-compatible provider returns, which has to match the index.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_GEO	No	—	Region or data-residency hint sent to the openai-compatible provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_KEY	No	—	Api key for the openai-compatible embeddings provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_MODEL	No	—	Embedding model requested from the openai-compatible provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_OPENAI_BASE_URL	No	—	Endpoint the openai embeddings provider is called at.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_OPENAI_COMPAT_BASE_URL	No	—	Endpoint the openai-compatible embeddings provider is called at.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_OPENAI_COMPAT_DIM	No	—	Vector dimension the openai-compatible provider returns, which has to match the index.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_OPENAI_COMPAT_GEO	No	—	Region or data-residency hint sent to the openai-compatible provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_OPENAI_COMPAT_KEY	No	—	Api key for the openai-compatible embeddings provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_OPENAI_COMPAT_MODEL	No	—	Embedding model requested from the openai-compatible provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_OPENAI_DIM	No	—	Vector dimension the openai provider returns, which has to match the index.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_OPENAI_GEO	No	—	Region or data-residency hint sent to the openai provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_OPENAI_KEY	No	—	Api key for the openai embeddings provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_OPENAI_MODEL	No	—	Embedding model requested from the openai provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_PROVIDER	No	—	Which embeddings provider is used, pinning one instead of taking the first that is configured.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_REQUIRE	No	—	Set to a true value to make a missing or unusable embeddings provider a refusal rather than a degraded index.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_SELF_HOSTED_BASE_URL	No	—	Endpoint the self-hosted embeddings provider is called at.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_SELF_HOSTED_DIM	No	—	Vector dimension the self-hosted provider returns, which has to match the index.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_SELF_HOSTED_GEO	No	—	Region or data-residency hint sent to the self-hosted provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_SELF_HOSTED_KEY	No	—	Api key for the self-hosted embeddings provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_SELF_HOSTED_MODEL	No	—	Embedding model requested from the self-hosted provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_VOYAGE_BASE_URL	No	—	Endpoint the voyage embeddings provider is called at.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_VOYAGE_DIM	No	—	Vector dimension the voyage provider returns, which has to match the index.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_VOYAGE_GEO	No	—	Region or data-residency hint sent to the voyage provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_VOYAGE_KEY	No	—	Api key for the voyage embeddings provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_VOYAGE_MODEL	No	—	Embedding model requested from the voyage provider.
OLIVARES_ENDPOINT	No	—	Control-plane base URL the Terraform provider talks to, when the provider block does not set one.
OLIVARES_ENGINE	No	—	Store engine the Kubernetes operator selects for the engine it manages: sqlite or postgres.
OLIVARES_EVALS_MONITOR_WINDOW	No	—	Time window the evaluation monitor scores, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_EVENTING_ALLOW_LOOPBACK	No	—	Set to a true value to allow loopback destinations. Single-box development only, because the default refusal is what blocks server-side request forgery.
OLIVARES_EVENTING_DISPATCH_INTERVAL	No	15s	How often queued events are dispatched, as a Go duration. 0 disables the pump.
OLIVARES_EVENTING_EGRESS_POLICY	No	—	Path to the JSON policy that decides which destinations outbound events may reach. A policy that does not parse leaves eventing unwired rather than open.
OLIVARES_EVENTING_RETENTION	No	168h	How long delivered events are kept for replay, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_EVENTING_SECRET_KEY	No	—	Key that encrypts eventing subscription signing secrets at rest.
OLIVARES_EXTRA_ARGS	No	—	Extra serve arguments appended by the packaged service unit, for operators who configure the daemon through an environment file.
OLIVARES_GROK_HOOK_ACCOUNT	No	—	Account the Grok Build hook client reports.
OLIVARES_GROK_HOOK_AGENT	No	—	Agent identity the Grok Build hook client reports.
OLIVARES_GROK_HOOK_ORG	No	—	Organization the Grok Build hook client reports.
OLIVARES_GROK_HOOK_PEP_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the Grok Build hook enforcement point server. Absent mounts nothing; a path given must be readable and valid or startup fails closed.
OLIVARES_GROK_HOOK_TENANT	No	—	Tenant the Grok Build hook client acts in.
OLIVARES_GROK_HOOK_TOKEN	No	—	Bearer credential the Grok Build hook client presents to the enforcement point.
OLIVARES_GROK_HOOK_URL	No	—	Endpoint of the enforcement point the Grok Build hook client calls; unset denies, deny-closed.
OLIVARES_GUARDIAN_SWEEP_INTERVAL	No	—	How often the guardian sweep runs, as a Go duration. 0 disables it.
OLIVARES_HA_LEADER_GATE	No	—	Set to 1 to make background loops run only on the elected leader, so a multi-replica deployment does not run them twice.
OLIVARES_HA_LEADER_LABEL	No	—	Label this replica publishes when it holds leadership, so an operator can route to the leader.
OLIVARES_HITL_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the human-in-the-loop review path.
OLIVARES_HOOK_FIREWALL_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the data-loss firewall that runs inside the hook. Unset leaves that half off.
OLIVARES_HOOK_PEP_ACCOUNT	No	—	Account the Claude Code hook client reports.
OLIVARES_HOOK_PEP_AGENT	No	—	Agent identity the Claude Code hook client reports.
OLIVARES_HOOK_PEP_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the hook enforcement point server.
OLIVARES_HOOK_PEP_ORG	No	—	Organization the Claude Code hook client reports.
OLIVARES_HOOK_PEP_TENANT	No	—	Tenant the Claude Code hook client reports.
OLIVARES_HOOK_PEP_TOKEN	No	—	Token the Claude Code hook client presents to the enforcement point.
OLIVARES_HOOK_PEP_URL	No	—	Base URL of the enforcement point the Claude Code hook client calls.
OLIVARES_INCIDENTLOOP_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the incident close-the-loop subscriber. Read by builds compiled with the enterprise tag.
OLIVARES_INFERENCE_PROXY_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the governed inference proxy.
OLIVARES_INGEST_TOKEN	No	—	Bearer token the collector ingest endpoint requires from telemetry senders.
OLIVARES_INSECURE	No	—	Set to 1 to let the CLI talk to a plaintext or untrusted-TLS endpoint. Local development only.
OLIVARES_KEY_CUSTODY	No	—	Custody posture required of the audit signing key: whether a raw on-disk key is accepted or a wrapped one is demanded.
OLIVARES_KEY_WRAP_AWS_KEY_ID	No	—	Key identifier in AWS KMS. Used by the backend that wraps the signing keys.
OLIVARES_KEY_WRAP_AWS_REGION	No	—	Region of the AWS KMS key. Used by the backend that wraps the signing keys.
OLIVARES_KEY_WRAP_AZURE_KEY_NAME	No	—	Key name in Azure Key Vault. Used by the backend that wraps the signing keys.
OLIVARES_KEY_WRAP_AZURE_KEY_VERSION	No	—	Key version in Azure Key Vault. Unset uses the current version. Used by the backend that wraps the signing keys.
OLIVARES_KEY_WRAP_AZURE_TOKEN	No	—	Token used against Azure Key Vault. Used by the backend that wraps the signing keys.
OLIVARES_KEY_WRAP_AZURE_VAULT_URL	No	—	Azure Key Vault URL. Used by the backend that wraps the signing keys.
OLIVARES_KEY_WRAP_GCP_KEY	No	—	Fully qualified key version name in Google Cloud KMS. Used by the backend that wraps the signing keys.
OLIVARES_KEY_WRAP_GCP_TOKEN	No	—	Token used against Google Cloud KMS. Used by the backend that wraps the signing keys.
OLIVARES_KEY_WRAP_GCP_TOKEN_FILE	No	—	Path to the file holding the token used against Google Cloud KMS. Used by the backend that wraps the signing keys.
OLIVARES_KEY_WRAP_OLD	No	—	Previous key management backend during a rewrap migration, so keys wrapped by it can still be unwrapped.
OLIVARES_LEDGER_CUSTODY	No	—	Custody posture required of the ledger checkpoint signer, the ledger counterpart of the audit key posture.
OLIVARES_LEDGER_KMS_AWS_KEY_ID	No	—	Key identifier in AWS KMS. Used by the backend that signs audit checkpoints.
OLIVARES_LEDGER_KMS_AWS_REGION	No	—	Region of the AWS KMS key. Used by the backend that signs audit checkpoints.
OLIVARES_LEDGER_KMS_AWS_SIGNING_ALG	No	—	Signing algorithm requested from AWS KMS. Used by the backend that signs audit checkpoints.
OLIVARES_LEDGER_KMS_AZURE_KEY_NAME	No	—	Key name in Azure Key Vault. Used by the backend that signs audit checkpoints.
OLIVARES_LEDGER_KMS_AZURE_KEY_VERSION	No	—	Key version in Azure Key Vault. Unset uses the current version. Used by the backend that signs audit checkpoints.
OLIVARES_LEDGER_KMS_AZURE_TOKEN	No	—	Token used against Azure Key Vault. Used by the backend that signs audit checkpoints.
OLIVARES_LEDGER_KMS_AZURE_VAULT_URL	No	—	Azure Key Vault URL. Used by the backend that signs audit checkpoints.
OLIVARES_LEDGER_KMS_GCP_KEY	No	—	Fully qualified key version name in Google Cloud KMS. Used by the backend that signs audit checkpoints.
OLIVARES_LEDGER_KMS_GCP_TOKEN	No	—	Token used against Google Cloud KMS. Used by the backend that signs audit checkpoints.
OLIVARES_LEDGER_KMS_GCP_TOKEN_FILE	No	—	Path to the file holding the token used against Google Cloud KMS. Used by the backend that signs audit checkpoints.
OLIVARES_LEDGER_SIGNER	No	—	Off-box checkpoint signer to use: which key management backend signs audit checkpoints instead of a local key.
OLIVARES_LICENSE	No	—	License document itself, inline, for deployments that cannot mount a file.
OLIVARES_LICENSE_PATH	No	—	Path to the license document on disk. Takes effect before the inline form.
OLIVARES_LICENSE_PUBKEY	No	—	Public key the engine verifies the license signature against.
OLIVARES_LIVEINGEST_INSPECT_OBSERVED_REFS	No	—	Set to 1 to make live ingest inspect observed references, which costs more per event.
OLIVARES_LOG_LEVEL	No	—	Minimum log level the engine emits: debug, info, warn or error.
OLIVARES_MCP_TASK_KILLSWITCH_SWEEP	No	—	How often a running MCP task is re-checked against the kill switch, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_METRICS_ALLOWED_CIDRS	No	—	Comma-separated CIDR ranges allowed to scrape the metrics endpoint.
OLIVARES_METRICS_TOKEN	No	—	Bearer token the metrics endpoint requires. Unset leaves the endpoint unauthenticated behind whatever the listener exposes.
OLIVARES_NHI_ACTUATORS_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the actuators that act on non-human identities.
OLIVARES_NIS2INCIDENT_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of NIS2 incident reporting. Read by builds compiled with the enterprise tag.
OLIVARES_NOTIFY_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON list of notification destinations. Secret-bearing, so it stays out of the store.
OLIVARES_NOTIFY_DISPATCH_INTERVAL	No	—	How often queued notifications are dispatched, as a Go duration. 0 disables the pump.
OLIVARES_OIDC_CLIENT_ID	Yes	—	OIDC client id for this control plane. Required when the protocol is oidc.
OLIVARES_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET	Yes	—	OIDC client secret for this control plane. Required when the protocol is oidc.
OLIVARES_OIDC_GROUPS_CLAIM	No	—	ID-token or UserInfo claim carrying group membership. Unset leaves group mapping off.
OLIVARES_OIDC_ISSUER	Yes	—	OIDC issuer URL. Required when the protocol is oidc.
OLIVARES_ORCH_CADENCE_INTERVAL	No	—	How often the orchestration cadence loop runs, as a Go duration. 0 disables it.
OLIVARES_ORCH_DISPATCH_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration for orchestration dispatch targets.
OLIVARES_ORCH_WORKFLOW_INTERVAL	No	15s	How often the orchestration workflow loop advances waiting runs, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_ORCH_WORKFLOW_MAX	No	—	Upper bound on concurrently advancing workflow runs.
OLIVARES_ORCH_WORKFLOW_STEPS_MAX	No	—	Upper bound on the steps one workflow run may take, which stops a loop from running forever.
OLIVARES_OTA_PUBKEY	No	—	Public key the engine verifies a downloaded update bundle against.
OLIVARES_OTEL_ENABLED	No	—	Set to a true value to export traces. Setting an endpoint turns export on as well.
OLIVARES_OTEL_ENDPOINT	No	—	OTLP endpoint traces are exported to. Falls back to the standard OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT.
OLIVARES_OTEL_GENAI_COMPAT	No	—	Set to a true value to also emit the generative-AI semantic-convention attributes on spans.
OLIVARES_OTEL_INSECURE	No	—	Set to a true value to export traces over plaintext. Local development only.
OLIVARES_OTEL_PROTOCOL	No	—	OTLP protocol used for export. Falls back to the standard OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL.
OLIVARES_OTEL_SAMPLE_RATIO	No	—	Fraction of traces sampled, between 0 and 1.
OLIVARES_OTEL_SERVICE_NAME	No	—	Service name reported on exported traces.
OLIVARES_PDP_CEDAR_FILE	No	—	Path to the Cedar policy file, for the cedar decision point.
OLIVARES_PDP_ENGINE	No	—	External policy decision point to add on top of the native engine: cedar, opa or none.
OLIVARES_PDP_OPA_PATH	No	—	Decision path queried under the Open Policy Agent endpoint.
OLIVARES_PDP_OPA_TOKEN	No	—	Bearer token for the Open Policy Agent endpoint.
OLIVARES_PDP_OPA_URL	No	—	Base URL of the Open Policy Agent endpoint, for the opa decision point.
OLIVARES_PIV_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration for smart-card privileged login.
OLIVARES_PLUGIN	No	—	Handshake cookie an out-of-process connector plugin must present. Set by the engine when it launches the plugin, not by the operator.
OLIVARES_POLICY_MAX_STALENESS	No	—	How stale a cached policy decision may be before it is refused, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_POLICY_SIGNING_KEY	No	—	Policy bundle signing key, inline. Prefer the file form.
OLIVARES_POLICY_SIGNING_KEY_FILE	No	—	Path to the policy bundle signing key.
OLIVARES_POLICY_SIGNING_KEY_WRAPPED_FILE	No	—	Path to the policy signing key wrapped by a key management service.
OLIVARES_RATELIMIT_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON rate-limit policy the engine applies to its own endpoints.
OLIVARES_RATELIMIT_STORE	No	—	Where rate-limit counters live, which decides whether limits are per replica or shared.
OLIVARES_REPORTING_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the reporting add-on. Read by builds compiled with the enterprise tag.
OLIVARES_REPORTING_SCHEDULE_INTERVAL	No	—	How often scheduled reports are generated, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_REPORT_CACHE_DIR	No	—	Directory where generated report artifacts are cached.
OLIVARES_RETENTION_SWEEP_INTERVAL	No	—	How often the retention sweep deletes data past its retention window, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_SAML_ACS_URL	Yes	—	Assertion consumer service URL of this service provider, where the identity provider posts the assertion.
OLIVARES_SAML_EMAIL_ATTRIBUTE	No	—	Assertion attribute carrying the user’s email. Unset tries the common attribute names.
OLIVARES_SAML_GROUPS_ATTRIBUTE	No	—	Multi-valued assertion attribute carrying group membership. Unset leaves group mapping off.
OLIVARES_SAML_IDP_METADATA_URL	No	—	Identity-provider metadata URL, from which the SAML endpoints and certificate are read.
OLIVARES_SAML_IDP_SSO_URL	No	—	Identity-provider single sign-on URL, for the path where metadata is not fetched.
OLIVARES_SAML_SP_CERT_PEM	No	—	Service-provider encryption certificate in PEM, published as the encryption key descriptor.
OLIVARES_SAML_SP_ENTITY_ID	Yes	—	Entity id this control plane presents as the SAML service provider. Required when the protocol is saml.
OLIVARES_SAML_SP_KEY_PEM	No	—	Service-provider encryption private key in PEM, which decrypts encrypted assertions.
OLIVARES_SAML_SP_SIGN_CERT_PEM	No	—	Service-provider signing certificate in PEM, published as the signing key descriptor.
OLIVARES_SAML_SP_SIGN_KEY_PEM	No	—	Service-provider signing private key in PEM, which signs authentication requests.
OLIVARES_SANDBOX_RUNTIME_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the sandbox runtime that isolates agent execution.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_AWS_REGION	No	—	Region used for AWS Secrets Manager references. Falls back to AWS_REGION and AWS_DEFAULT_REGION.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_AZURE_API_VERSION	No	—	Azure Key Vault API version requested.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_AZURE_TOKEN	No	—	Token used against Azure Key Vault.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_AZURE_VAULT_URL	No	—	Default Azure Key Vault URL for references that do not name one.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_GCP_ENDPOINT	No	—	Endpoint override for Google Secret Manager.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_GCP_PROJECT	No	—	Default Google Cloud project for Secret Manager references that do not name one.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_GCP_TOKEN	No	—	Token used against Google Secret Manager.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_INFISICAL_ENV	No	—	Default Infisical environment for references that do not name one.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_INFISICAL_TOKEN	No	—	Token used against Infisical.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_INFISICAL_URL	No	—	Base URL of the Infisical server secret references resolve against.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_INFISICAL_WORKSPACE_ID	No	—	Default Infisical workspace for references that do not name one.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_K8S_APISERVER	No	—	Kubernetes API server secret references resolve against.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_K8S_CA_FILE	No	—	Path to the certificate authority bundle used to verify the Kubernetes API.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_K8S_TOKEN_FILE	No	—	Path to the service-account token file used against the Kubernetes API.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_VAULT_ADDR	No	—	Address of the HashiCorp Vault server secret references resolve against. Falls back to VAULT_ADDR.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_VAULT_NAMESPACE	No	—	Vault namespace secret references resolve in. Falls back to VAULT_NAMESPACE.
OLIVARES_SECRETREF_VAULT_TOKEN	No	—	Token used against HashiCorp Vault.
OLIVARES_SECRET_STORE_KEY	No	—	Key that encrypts operator secrets held in the store.
OLIVARES_SERVER_URL	No	—	Base URL of the control plane the CLI talks to, when --server is not given.
OLIVARES_SESSION_BUDGET_AVAILABILITY	No	—	Whether session budget enforcement is required, and what happens when the budget service cannot answer.
OLIVARES_SESSION_CONTEXT_AVAILABILITY	No	—	Whether session context governance is required, and what happens when the context service cannot answer.
OLIVARES_SESSION_KILLSWITCH_SWEEP	No	15s	How often an active session is re-checked against the kill switch, as a Go duration. 0 leaves only the check at launch.
OLIVARES_SESSION_PEP_TOKEN_FILE	No	—	Path to the file holding the token the session enforcement point requires.
OLIVARES_SESSION_PEP_URL	No	—	Base URL of the policy enforcement point a governed agent session calls before acting.
OLIVARES_SESSION_RUNTIME_BASE_URL	No	—	Base URL the launched session runtime calls back to.
OLIVARES_SESSION_RUNTIME_CLAUDE_BIN	No	claude	Executable the session runtime launches.
OLIVARES_SESSION_RUNTIME_TOKEN_FILE	No	—	Path to the file holding the session runtime’s credential, refreshed by rotation.
OLIVARES_SESSION_RUNTIME_TOKEN_TTL	No	15m	Lifetime of a minted session runtime credential, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_SESSION_RUNTIME_WIF	No	—	Whether the session runtime takes its credential from workload identity federation instead of a token file.
OLIVARES_SESSION_RUNTIME_WIF_RULE	No	—	Which federation rule the session runtime exchanges its workload identity under.
OLIVARES_SIEM_FORWARD_INTERVAL	No	—	How often signed ledger records are forwarded to the configured SIEM, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_SOURCES_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON file that wires real observation sources and identity roster providers before the engine starts.
OLIVARES_SSO_PROTOCOL	No	—	Single sign-on protocol to wire: oidc or saml. Unset means no federation, and the endpoints report it rather than half-wiring one.
OLIVARES_SSO_SECRET_KEY	No	—	Key that encrypts the federation client secret and service-provider private keys at rest.
OLIVARES_TARGET_BINDING_KEY	No	—	Key that binds an orchestration target to this deployment, inline. Prefer the file form.
OLIVARES_TARGET_BINDING_KEY_FILE	No	—	Path to the orchestration target binding key.
OLIVARES_TENANT	No	—	Default tenant for CLI commands, when --tenant is not given.
OLIVARES_THREATINTEL_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of threat-intelligence ingest. Read by builds compiled with the enterprise tag.
OLIVARES_THREATINTEL_SIGNING_KEY	No	—	Signing key for threat-intelligence bundles the engine publishes.
OLIVARES_TOKEN	No	—	API token the CLI authenticates with, when --token is not given.
OLIVARES_UPDATE_CHANNEL	No	—	Release channel the update check asks for, such as stable.
OLIVARES_UPDATE_ENDPOINT	No	—	Base URL the update check queries. Unset leaves the update check off.
OLIVARES_UPGRADE_TOKEN	No	—	Download token olivares upgrade presents when fetching a build from a credentialed repository.
OLIVARES_VECTOR_API_KEY	No	—	API key for the external vector index.
OLIVARES_VECTOR_BACKEND	No	—	Which vector index backs knowledge search. Unset keeps the in-process index, which is the air-gapped default.
OLIVARES_VECTOR_DIM	No	—	Vector dimension of the index, which has to match the embeddings model.
OLIVARES_VECTOR_DSN	No	—	Connection string for the external vector index.
OLIVARES_VECTOR_NAMESPACE	No	knowledge_ann	Table or collection the vector index writes to.
OLIVARES_VECTOR_TIMEOUT	No	—	Per-request timeout for the vector index, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_VOICE_CALL_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of the inbound voice webhook.
OLIVARES_VOICE_DISPATCH_CONFIG	No	—	Path to the JSON configuration of outbound voice dispatch.
OLIVARES_WEBAUTHN_ORIGINS	No	—	Comma-separated origins accepted for WebAuthn ceremonies.
OLIVARES_WEBAUTHN_RPID	No	—	WebAuthn relying-party id for the privileged-login flow. It has to match the site’s registrable domain.
OLIVARES_WEBAUTHN_RP_NAME	No	—	Display name of the WebAuthn relying party, as shown by the authenticator.
OLIVARES_WIF_BASE_URL	No	—	Endpoint the workload identity exchange is performed against.
OLIVARES_WIF_REFRESH_SLACK	No	60s	How long before expiry a federated credential is refreshed, as a Go duration.
OLIVARES_WIF_SPIFFE_SOCKET	No	—	Path to the SPIFFE workload API socket the engine fetches its identity from.
OLIVARES_WIF_TRUST_DOMAIN	No	—	SPIFFE trust domain accepted for workload identity.
OLIVARES_WORK_OUTBOX_INTERVAL	No	—	How often the work-kernel outbox is drained, as a Go duration. 0 disables the pump.
OLIVARES_WORK_RUN_REF	No	—	Run reference the engine passes to a launched work session. Set by the engine per run, not by the operator.
OLIVARES_WORK_SESSION_ID	No	—	Session reference the engine passes to a launched work session. Set by the engine per run, not by the operator.
OLIVARES_WORK_TOKEN	No	—	Scoped token the engine passes to a launched work session. Set by the engine per run, not by the operator.

Variable families

These prefixes name families whose member variables are built at runtime — the per-provider and per-backend keys the engine composes from a provider name. The concrete members it composes are in the table above.

Prefix	Required	Default	What it configures
OLIVARES_AUDIT_ARCHIVE_	No	—	Family prefix for the audit archive settings listed above.
OLIVARES_CODEX_HOOK_	No	—	Family prefix for the Codex hook client and server settings listed above.
OLIVARES_DR_OFFSITE_	No	—	Family prefix for the offsite replication settings listed above.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS	No	—	Family stem for the unprefixed embeddings settings, which configure the OpenAI-compatible provider.
OLIVARES_EMBEDDINGS_	No	—	Family prefix from which the per-provider embeddings keys are built, by appending the provider name and then the setting.
OLIVARES_GROK_HOOK_	No	—	Family prefix for the Grok Build hook client and server settings listed above.
OLIVARES_HOOK_PEP_	No	—	Family prefix for the Claude Code hook client and server settings listed above.
OLIVARES_KEY_WRAP	No	—	Family stem naming the key management backend that wraps signing keys.
OLIVARES_KEY_WRAP_	No	—	Family prefix from which the per-backend key-wrapping keys are built.
OLIVARES_LEDGER_KMS_	No	—	Family prefix from which the per-backend ledger signer keys are built.
OLIVARES_OIDC_	No	—	Family prefix for the OIDC federation settings listed above.
OLIVARES_OTEL_	No	—	Family prefix for the trace export settings listed above.
OLIVARES_SAML_	No	—	Family prefix for the SAML federation settings listed above.
OLIVARES_SESSION_RUNTIME_	No	—	Family prefix for the session runtime settings listed above.
OLIVARES_VECTOR_	No	—	Family prefix for the vector index settings listed above.
OLIVARES_WIF_	No	—	Family prefix for the workload identity federation settings listed above.
OLIVARES_WORK_	No	—	Family prefix for the per-run values the engine passes into a launched work session.

Store selection

The engine selects its store engine from --engine.

Engine	When to use	Notes
sqlite (default)	Single binary, single node, air-gapped installs.	Pure-Go embedded store; zero external dependencies. With no --dsn, the store file lives in the data directory.
postgres	Multi-tenant and scale-out deployments.	Adds row-level-security tenant isolation. Requires a least-privilege application role.

SQLite is the default and needs no external service. Choosing postgres opts into the row-level-security backstop that isolates tenants: the engine refuses to start against a Postgres superuser or BYPASSRLS role unless that guard is explicitly overridden, because such a role would disable the tenant isolation backstop. The Compose Postgres overlay provisions the least-privilege application role on first init so this backstop is real.

The default store is intentionally boring

SQLite is not a toy default here. It is the air-gap-ready, zero-dependency store for the single-node topology, and it is the store the one-command Docker Compose deployment runs. Move to Postgres when you need multi-tenant isolation or horizontal scale, not before. See self-hosting and the architecture overview.

Audit checkpoint interval

The audit ledger is append-only, hash-chained, and anchored by Ed25519-signed checkpoints. --checkpoint-interval controls how often a signed checkpoint is written over every tenant chain (default 1h; 0 disables checkpointing). A final shutdown checkpoint is written before the store closes, so the chain is anchored at clean shutdown as well as on the interval. The signed export and forwarding path is covered in forward audit to Splunk.

Secure defaults

These are the postures in effect with no configuration beyond serve. They are the product’s default security stance, not optional hardening.

Area	Default	What it means
Credentials	None shipped	No default username or password exists. On first boot with no users, the engine mints a single-use setup token and prints it to standard output only — never to the logs.
First-boot setup	One-time token	The administrator creates the first user with that token, then logs in. The token is shown once and is single-use.
Transport	TLS on	HTTP and gRPC serve over TLS by default; a self-signed certificate is generated in the data directory if none is supplied, and both its certificate fingerprint and its --pin-sha256 value are logged.
Bind address	Loopback	--listen and --grpc-listen default to 127.0.0.1. The engine binds the local host until you deliberately publish it.
Plaintext mode	Off	--insecure is the only way to serve plaintext, and the gRPC path fails closed rather than degrade. Intended for localhost development only.
Demo seeding	Off	--seed-demo is off by default and refuses any non-loopback bind because it mints a public-password demo administrator.
Telemetry home	Off	The engine does not phone home: there is no telemetry-to-vendor channel, and nothing is sent as a side effect of running. Outbound connections exist to the sources you configure, plus olivares upgrade when you run it — it reaches the update channel unless --endpoint or --bundle points it elsewhere. That is what makes the air-gapped install possible with zero egress.

Loopback by default, exposed by intent

The default loopback binds mean the engine is not reachable off-host until you change them. When you do publish it — for example by mapping a host port in Docker Compose — that is a deliberate operator decision, and TLS is already on to protect it. Do not pair a published bind with --insecure.

First boot, in practice

On a fresh install the engine prints a FIRST-BOOT SETUP block to standard output containing the one-time setup token. The administrator uses it to create the first user, then authenticates. Under Docker Compose the token is read from the container logs:

docker compose -f deploy/compose/docker-compose.yml up -d
docker compose -f deploy/compose/docker-compose.yml logs olivares | sed -n '/FIRST-BOOT SETUP/,/========================/p'
# then open https://localhost:8443 (self-signed TLS by default)

The setup endpoint and the login endpoint are part of the product’s OpenAPI contract; see the API reference. The opaque session and API-key token model behind them is described in the security model.

What this page does not cover

This is the verified, common configuration surface. It does not enumerate every advanced flag for multi-node and mutual-TLS topologies — those belong to the distributed and air-gapped deployments described in the architecture overview and listed in full in the CLI reference. Where a setting is design-stage or topology-specific, it is documented there rather than presented here as a stable knob.

For the boundaries of what the product observes and where coverage is tiered, read honesty and limits.