Yacht is an application configuration gem that lets you define settings for multiple environments in YAML files. It is similar to AppConfig with additional features like:

• use of ClassyStruct for improved performance over OpenStruct

• protection of sensitive settings by specifying a whitelist in a YAML file

• easy override of nested keys (not pretty with YAML references)

• no need for an initializer or constant to store loaded values (just use Yacht.my_key)

• Rails: Add this to your Gemfile and run the bundle command.

  gem "yacht"
  

• Outside of rails, just require the gem as usual:

  require 'rubygems'
  require 'yacht'
  

First create one or more of the following YAML files in the same directory to define your settings:

# /path/to/yacht_config_dir/base.yml (required)
production:
  public_info:
    copyright_year: 2011
    company_name: AT&T Interactive
  cdn_host: 1.2.3.4
  super_secret_info:
    aws_key: foofoo
    twitter_key: barbar
test:
  cdn_host: localhost
  super_secret_info:
    # you can safely overwrite a single value in a nested key
    # YAML references (& and *) don't let you do this
    #   see https://gist.github.com/979804 for an explanation
    aws_key: bazbaz

# /path/to/yacht_config_dir/whitelist.yml (optional)
# any keys specified here can be used as a whitelist filter:
#   Yacht::Loader.to_hash(:apply_whitelist? => true)
#   or
#   Yacht::Loader.to_classy_struct(:apply_whitelist? => true)
#   (by default the whitelist is ignored)
# NOTE: the whitelist is ignored when using Yacht.my_key or Yacht['my_key']
#       you have to use Yacht::Loader.to_hash or
#       Yacht::Loader.to_classy_struct to use the whitelist
- public_info

# /path/to/yacht_config_dir/local.yml (optional)
# any values set in local.yml will override values set in base.yml
# useful for development and testing
cdn_host: localhost

Yacht::Loader.dir          = '/path/to/yacht_config_dir'
Yacht::Loader.environment  = 'production'

# now you can access any key set in your YAML files with:
Yacht.my_key
# => "my_value"
Yacht['my_key']
# => "my_value"

Yacht allows for inheritance between environments in a more complex way than standard YAML does. There are limitations to YAML’s inheritance, which are illustrated in this gist. With Yacht, to inherit from another environment, just set the _parent key, like so:

# /path/to/yacht_config_dir/base.yml
grandpa:
  :clan: McGillicuddy
  :age: 70
  :car:
    :make: oldsmobile
    :year: 1955
pa:
  _parent: grandpa
  :age: 40
  :car:
    :year: 1980

# Now set up Yacht
Yacht::Loader.dir = '/path/to/yacht_config_dir'
Yacht::Loader.environment = 'pa'

# inherited from grandpa
Yacht.clan
# => 'McGillicuddy'

# inherited from grandpa with an override for :year
Yacht.car
# => { :make=>"oldsmobile", :year=>1980 }

See the cucumber feature for more details and examples.

If you would like to access values stored in Yacht inside of javascript, there is a helper for that. First, create a YAML file to tell Yacht which keys should be exported:

# /RAILS_ROOT/config/yacht/js_keys.yml
# only keys listed here will be available in javascript
# remember that any values exported to javascript will be visible to all visitors to your site
- cookie_domain

Then use Yacht::Loader.to_js_snippet to create a string that can be eval’d or included in the DOM:

Yacht::Loader.to_js_snippet
# => ";var Yacht = {\"cookie_domain\":\"example.com\"};"

You can also add in extra values from outside of Yacht using the :merge option, like so:

Yacht::Loader.to_js_snippet(:merge => {:current_time => Time.now.to_s})
# => ";var Yacht = {\"cookie_domain\":\"example.com\",\"current_time\":\"06/29/2011\"};"

To use Yacht inside of Rails, just add an initializer to config/initializers:

# config/initializers/00_yacht_init.rb

# look for YAML files in config/yacht inside the Rails app directory
Yacht::Loader.dir          = Rails.root.join('config', 'yacht')

# it makes sense to use your Rails environment names in Yacht
Yacht::Loader.environment  = Rails.env

When used inside of a Rails application, the yacht_js_snippet Rails helper is included in the global ApplicationHelper so you can use it in views. yacht_js_snippet wraps the string from Yacht::Loader.to_js_snippet in a script tag using Rails’ javascript_tag helper.

# inside a view or helper:
yacht_js_snippet
# => "<script type=\"text/javascript\">\n//<![CDATA[\n;var Yacht = {\"cookie_domain\":\"localhost\"\n//]]>\n</script>"

# you can also pass options to yacht_js_snippet, like the the current Rails environment:
yacht_js_snippet(:merge => {:current_time => Time.now.to_s, :rails_env => Rails.env})
# => "<script type=\"text/javascript\">\n//<![CDATA[\n;var Yacht = {\"cookie_domain\":\"localhost\",\"rails_env\":\"development\",\"current_time\":\"06/29/2011\"};\n//]]>\n</script>"

Yacht works with ruby 1.8.7 and 1.9.2.

Yacht is licensed under the MIT License.