Meta keys

Nops reads its settings for a job from nops_* keys in the job's meta block, in the HCL in git. It never writes them.

All keys

Meta key	Values	Default	Meaning
nops_managed	"true" / "false"	not managed	Opts the job in. Nops ignores jobs without it.
nops_policy	auto / approval / none	none	Who gives the go-ahead: see policies.
nops_pre_hook	Hook job IDs, comma-separated	—	Hooks to run, in order, before the apply.
nops_post_hook	Same	—	Hooks to run, in order, once the new version is healthy.
nops_role	"hook"	—	Marks a hook job.
nops_timeout	Go duration, on a hook job	5m	How long the hook may run.
nops_notify_completed	"true" / "false"	"false"	Also notify when a deployment completes.
nops_sync_window	Cron expression	—	When an auto job may deploy: the time its sync window opens.
nops_sync_window_duration	Go duration	—	How long the sync window stays open. Required with nops_sync_window.

Values are case-sensitive: "True" isn't valid.

The keys are part of the job Nops registers. A commit that changes only a nops_* key is a change to the job: it goes through the job's policy like any other, and Nomad replaces the job's allocations.

job "api" {
  meta {
    nops_managed   = "true"
    nops_policy    = "approval"
    nops_pre_hook  = "api-backup, api-migrate"
    nops_post_hook = "api-smoke"
  }
}

job "web" {
  meta {
    nops_managed              = "true"
    nops_policy               = "auto"
    nops_sync_window          = "0 9 * * 1-5" # weekdays from 09:00
    nops_sync_window_duration = "9h"          # until 18:00
  }
}

job "api-backup" {
  meta {
    nops_role    = "hook"
    nops_timeout = "30m"
  }
}

Validation

• An unknown nops_ key logs a WARN and changes nothing.
• An invalid value logs an ERROR and sets the job's policy to none until you fix it. The dashboard shows the job as Invalid meta.
• A key that doesn't apply to the job, like nops_timeout on a job that isn't a hook, logs a WARN and is ignored.
• A deployment whose hook is missing from git fails.

Syntax and parsing

Variables. If a <name>.vars.hcl file sits next to <name>.nomad.hcl, Nops passes it as the job's variables, like nomad job run -var-file. Otherwise every variable needs a default.

Keys with dots. HCL can't mix the block and object forms of meta. If a job also has keys like diun.enable, write the whole block as meta = { "nops_managed" = "true" }.