Reference
Configuration
Configuration options

Configuration options

Options Reference

You can provide the following configuration options to Cube.

interface CubejsConfiguration {
  dbType: string | ((context: RequestContext) => string);
  schemaPath: string;
  basePath: string;
  webSocketsBasePath: string;
  logger: (msg: string, params: object) => any;
  driverFactory: (
    context: DriverContext
  ) => DriverConfig | BaseDriver | Promise<BaseDriver> | Promise<DriverConfig>;
  contextToApiScopes: (context: RequestContext) => string[] | Promise<string[]>;
  contextToAppId: (context: RequestContext) => string;
  contextToOrchestratorId: (context: RequestContext) => string;
  repositoryFactory: (context: RequestContext) => SchemaFileRepository;
  checkAuth: (req: ExpressRequest, authorization: string) => any;
  checkSqlAuth: (req: SQLRequest, user: string | null) => any;
  canSwitchSqlUser: (
    current: string | null,
    user: string
  ) => Promise<bool> | bool;
  queryRewrite: (query: object, context: RequestContext) => object;
  preAggregationsSchema: string | ((context: RequestContext) => string);
  schemaVersion: (context: RequestContext) => string;
  scheduledRefreshTimer: boolean | number;
  scheduledRefreshTimeZones: string[];
  scheduledRefreshContexts: () => Promise<object[]>;
  extendContext: (req: ExpressRequest) => any;
  compilerCacheSize: number;
  maxCompilerCacheKeepAlive: number;
  updateCompilerCacheKeepAlive: boolean;
  allowUngroupedWithoutPrimaryKey: boolean;
  telemetry: boolean;
  http: {
    cors: {
      methods: string | string[];
      origin: string;
      allowedHeaders: string | string[];
      exposedHeaders: string | string[];
      credentials: boolean;
      maxAge: number;
      preflightContinue: boolean;
      optionsSuccessStatus: number;
    };
  };
  jwt: {
    jwkUrl?: ((payload: any) => string) | string;
    key?: string;
    algorithms?: string[];
    issuer?: string[];
    audience?: string;
    subject?: string;
    claimsNamespace?: string;
  };
  cacheAndQueueDriver: "memory" | "cubestore";
  orchestratorOptions:
    | OrchestratorOptions
    | ((context: RequestContext) => OrchestratorOptions);
  allowJsDuplicatePropsInSchema: boolean;
  initApp: (app: ExpressApplication) => void;
  processSubscriptionsInterval: number;
}
 
interface OrchestratorOptions {
  continueWaitTimeout: number;
  redisPrefix: string;
  rollupOnlyMode: boolean;
  queryCacheOptions: {
    refreshKeyRenewalThreshold: number;
    backgroundRenew: boolean;
    queueOptions: QueueOptions;
  };
  preAggregationsOptions: {
    externalRefresh: boolean;
    maxPartitions: number;
    queueOptions: QueueOptions;
  };
}
 
interface QueueOptions {
  concurrency: number;
  executionTimeout: number;
  orphanedTimeout: number;
  heartBeatInterval: number;
}
 
interface RequestContext {
  securityContext: object;
  requestId: string;
}
 
interface DriverContext extends RequestContext {
  dataSource: string;
}
 
interface SchemaFileRepository {
  dataSchemaFiles(): Promise<FileContent[]>;
}
 
interface FileContent {
  fileName: string;
  content: string;
}

dbType

Since v0.30.30, using dbType is discouraged. Instead of using dbType, consider defining driverFactory to return a DriverConfig object instead.

Either String or Function could be passed. Providing a Function allows to dynamically select a database type depending on the user's context. It is usually used in Multitenancy Setup.

If no option is passed, Cube will lookup for environment variable CUBEJS_DB_TYPE to resolve dbType.

Called only once per appId.

schemaPath

Path to data model files. The default value is /model.

basePath

REST API base path. The default value is /cubejs-api.

webSocketsBasePath

The base path for the websockets server. By default, the WebSockets server will run on the root path.

logger

A function to setup a custom logger. It accepts the following arguments:

  • message: Cube Backend event message
  • params: Parameters of the call
module.exports = {
  logger: (msg, params) => {
    console.log(`${msg}: ${JSON.stringify(params)}`);
  },
};

driverFactory

Set a custom database driver. The function accepts context object as an argument to allow dynamically loading database drivers, which is usually used in Multitenancy Applications.

Called once per data_source. Can return a Promise which resolves to a DriverConfig. DriverConfig consists of a type field corresponding to database type and options passed to a driver constructor.

module.exports = {
  driverFactory: ({ dataSource }) => ({
    type: "postgres",
    database: dataSource,
  }),
};

Drivers can also be instantiated directly in case custom driver implementations are used.

const PostgresDriver = require("@cubejs-backend/postgres-driver");
 
module.exports = {
  driverFactory: ({ dataSource }) =>
    new PostgresDriver({ database: dataSource }),
  dbType: ({ dataSource }) => "postgres",
};

contextToApiScopes

This function is used to select accessible API scopes, used to allow or disallow access to REST API endpoints, based on the security context.

Can be an async function. Security context is provided as the first argument. An array of scopes that was set via CUBEJS_DEFAULT_API_SCOPES is provided as the second argument.

Called on each request.

module.exports = {
  contextToApiScopes: (securityContext, defaultScopes) => {
    return ["meta", "data", "graphql"];
  },
};

contextToAppId

It is a Multitenancy Setup option.

contextToAppId is a function to determine an App ID which is used as caching key for various in-memory structures like data model compilation results, connection pool, etc.

Called on each request.

module.exports = {
  contextToAppId: ({ securityContext }) =>
    `CUBEJS_APP_${securityContext.user_id}`,
};

contextToOrchestratorId

In versions of Cube prior to v0.29, each tenant would have an individual instance of the Query Orchestrator.

contextToOrchestratorId is a function used to determine a caching key for the Query Orchestrator instance. The Query Orchestrator holds database connections, execution queues, pre-aggregation table caches. By default, the same instance is used for all tenants; override this property in situations where each tenant requires their own Query Orchestrator.

Please remember to override preAggregationsSchema if you override contextToOrchestratorId. Otherwise, you end up with table name clashes for your pre-aggregations.

Called on each request.

module.exports = {
  contextToAppId: ({ securityContext }) =>
    `CUBEJS_APP_${securityContext.tenantId}`,
  contextToOrchestratorId: ({ securityContext }) =>
    `CUBEJS_APP_${securityContext.tenantId}`,
};

repositoryFactory

This option allows to customize the repository for Cube data model files. It is a function, which accepts a context object and can dynamically select repositories with data model files based on SchemaFileRepository contract. Learn more about it in Multitenancy guide.

Called only once per appId.

const { FileRepository } = require("@cubejs-backend/server-core");
 
// using built-in SchemaFileRepository implementation and supplying the path to model files
module.exports = {
  repositoryFactory: ({ securityContext }) =>
    new FileRepository(`model/${securityContext.appId}`),
};
 
// supplying your own SchemaFileRepository implementation to return array of files
module.exports = {
  repositoryFactory: ({ securityContext }) => {
    return {
      dataSchemaFiles: async () =>
        await Promise.resolve([
          { fileName: "file.js", content: "contents of file" },
        ]),
    };
  },
};

checkAuth

Used in both REST and WebSockets API. Can be an async function. Default implementation parses JSON Web Tokens (JWT) (opens in a new tab) in Authorization header and sets payload to req.securityContext if it's verified. More information on how to generate these tokens is here.

You can set req.securityContext = userContextObj inside the middleware if you want to customize SECURITY_CONTEXT.

Called on each request.

Also, you can use empty checkAuth function to disable built-in security. See an example below.

module.exports = {
  checkAuth: (req, auth) => {},
};

checkSqlAuth

Used in SQL API, and can be an async function. Default implementation verify username & password from environment variables: CUBEJS_SQL_USER, CUBEJS_SQL_PASSWORD, but in development mode it ignores validation.

Called on each request from Cube SQL API.

For example, you can use checkSqlAuth to validate username and password.

module.exports = {
  checkSqlAuth: (req, username) => {
    if (username === "fooUser") {
      return {
        password: "mypassword",
        securityContext: {},
      };
    }
 
    throw new Error("Incorrect user name or password");
  },
};

canSwitchSqlUser

Used in SQL API, and can be an async function. Default implementation depends on CUBEJS_SQL_SUPERUSER and return true when it's equal to session's user.

Called on each change request from Cube SQL API.

For example, you can use canSwitchSqlUser to define your custom logic:

module.exports = {
  canSwitchSqlUser: async (current, username) => {
    if (current === "admin") {
      return true;
    }
 
    if (current === "service") {
      return username !== "admin";
    }
 
    return false;
  },
};

queryRewrite

In previous versions of Cube, this was called queryTransformer.

This is a security hook to check your query just before it gets processed. You can use this very generic API to implement any type of custom security checks your app needs and transform input query accordingly.

Called on each request.

For example, you can use queryRewrite to add row level security filter where needed.

module.exports = {
  queryRewrite: (query, { securityContext }) => {
    if (securityContext.filterByRegion) {
      query.filters.push({
        member: "regions.id",
        operator: "equals",
        values: [securityContext.region_id],
      });
    }
    return query;
  },
};

preAggregationsSchema

Schema name to use for storing pre-aggregations. For some drivers like MySQL it's name for pre-aggregation database as there's no database schema concept there. Either String or Function could be passed. Providing a Function allows to dynamically set the pre-aggregation schema name depending on the user's context.

Defaults to dev_pre_aggregations in development mode and prod_pre_aggregations in production.

Can be also set via environment variable CUBEJS_PRE_AGGREGATIONS_SCHEMA.

We strongly recommend using different pre-aggregation schemas in development and production environments to avoid pre-aggregation tables clashes.

Called once per appId.

// Static usage
module.exports = {
  preAggregationsSchema: `my_pre_aggregations`,
};
 
// Dynamic usage
module.exports = {
  preAggregationsSchema: ({ securityContext }) =>
    `pre_aggregations_${securityContext.tenantId}`,
};

schemaVersion

Schema version can be used to tell Cube that the data model should be recompiled in case it depends on dynamic definitions fetched from some external database or API. This method is called on each request however RequestContext parameter is reused per application ID as determined by contextToAppId. If the returned string is different, the data model will be recompiled. It can be used in both multi-tenant and single tenant environments.

const tenantIdToDbVersion = {};
 
module.exports = {
  schemaVersion: ({ securityContext }) =>
    tenantIdToDbVersion[securityContext.tenantId],
};

scheduledRefreshTimer

This is merely a refresh worker's heartbeat. It doesn't affect the freshness of pre-aggregations or refresh keys, nor how frequently Cube accesses the database. Setting this value to 30s doesn't mean pre-aggregations or in-memory cache would be refreshed every 30 seconds but instead refresh key is checked for freshness every 30 seconds in the background. Please consult the cube refresh_key documentation and pre-aggregation refresh_key documentation on how to set data refresh intervals.

Setting this variable enables refresh worker mode, which means it shouldn't usually be set to any constant number but depend on your cluster environment. Setting it to the constant value in the cluster environment will lead to the instantiation of Refresh Worker on every Cube instance of your cluster, including API ones. This will usually lead to refreshing race conditions and to out of memory errors.

Cube enables background refresh by default using the CUBEJS_REFRESH_WORKER environment variable.

module.exports = {
  scheduledRefreshTimer: 60,
};

Learn more about scheduled refreshes here.

Best practice is to run scheduledRefreshTimer in a separate worker Cube instance. For Serverless deployments, REST API should be used instead.

You may also need to configure scheduledRefreshTimeZones and scheduledRefreshContexts.

scheduledRefreshTimeZones

All time-based calculations performed within Cube are timezone-aware. Using this property you can specify multiple timezones in TZ Database Name (opens in a new tab) format e.g. America/Los_Angeles. The default value is UTC.

module.exports = {
  // You can define one or multiple timezones based on your requirements
  scheduledRefreshTimeZones: ["America/Vancouver", "America/Toronto"],
};

This configuration option can be also set using the CUBEJS_SCHEDULED_REFRESH_TIMEZONES environment variable. You can set a comma-separated list of timezones to refresh in CUBEJS_SCHEDULED_REFRESH_TIMEZONES environment variable. For example:

CUBEJS_SCHEDULED_REFRESH_TIMEZONES=America/Los_Angeles,UTC

scheduledRefreshContexts

When trying to configure scheduled refreshes for pre-aggregations that use the securityContext inside contextToAppId or contextToOrchestratorId, you must also set up scheduledRefreshContexts. This will allow Cube to generate the necessary security contexts prior to running the scheduled refreshes.

Leaving scheduledRefreshContexts unconfigured will lead to issues where the security context will be undefined. This is because there is no way for Cube to know how to generate a context without the required input.

module.exports = {
  // scheduledRefreshContexts should return an array of `securityContext`s
  scheduledRefreshContexts: async () => [
    {
      securityContext: {
        myappid: "demoappid",
        bucket: "demo",
      },
    },
    {
      securityContext: {
        myappid: "demoappid2",
        bucket: "demo2",
      },
    },
  ],
};

extendContext

Option to extend the RequestContext with custom values. This method is called on each request. Can be async.

The function should return an object which gets appended to the RequestContext. Make sure to register your value using contextToAppId to use cache context for all possible values that your extendContext object key can have.

extendContext is applied only to requests that go through API. It isn't applied to refresh worker execution. If you're looking for a way to provide global environment variables for your data model, please see Execution environment docs.

module.exports = {
  contextToAppId: (context) => `CUBEJS_APP_${context.activeOrganization}`,
  extendContext: (req) => {
    return { activeOrganization: req.headers.activeOrganization };
  },
};

You can use the custom value from extend context in your data model like this:

const { activeOrganization } = COMPILE_CONTEXT;
 
cube(`Users`, {
  sql: `SELECT * FROM users where organization_id=${activeOrganization}`,
});

compilerCacheSize

Maximum number of compiled data models to persist with in-memory cache. Defaults to 250, but optimum value will depend on deployed environment. When the max is reached, will start dropping the least recently used data models from the cache.

maxCompilerCacheKeepAlive

Maximum length of time in ms to keep compiled data models in memory. Default keeps data models in memory indefinitely.

updateCompilerCacheKeepAlive

Providing updateCompilerCacheKeepAlive: true keeps frequently used data models in memory by reseting their maxCompilerCacheKeepAlive every time they are accessed.

allowUngroupedWithoutPrimaryKey

Providing allowUngroupedWithoutPrimaryKey: true disables primary key inclusion check for ungrouped queries.

telemetry

Cube collects high-level anonymous usage statistics for servers started in development mode. It doesn't track any credentials, data model contents or queries issued. This statistics is used solely for the purpose of constant cube.js improvement.

You can opt out of it any time by setting telemetry option to false or, alternatively, by setting CUBEJS_TELEMETRY environment variable to false.

module.exports = {
  telemetry: false,
};

http

cors

CORS settings for the Cube REST API can be configured by providing an object with options from here (opens in a new tab):

module.exports = {
  http: {
    cors: {
      origin: "*",
      methods: "GET,HEAD,PUT,PATCH,POST,DELETE",
      preflightContinue: false,
      optionsSuccessStatus: 204,
      maxAge: 86400,
      credentials: true,
    },
  },
};

jwt

jwkUrl

The URL from which JSON Web Key Sets (JWKS) can be retrieved. Can also be set using CUBEJS_JWK_URL.

key

A JSON string that represents a cryptographic key. Similar to API_SECRET. Can also be set using CUBEJS_JWT_KEY.

algorithms

Any supported algorithm for decoding JWTs (opens in a new tab). Can also be set using CUBEJS_JWT_ALGS.

issuer

An issuer value which will be used to enforce the iss claim from inbound JWTs (opens in a new tab). Can also be set using CUBEJS_JWT_ISSUER.

audience

An audience value which will be used to enforce the aud claim from inbound JWTs (opens in a new tab). Can also be set using CUBEJS_JWT_AUDIENCE.

subject

A subject value which will be used to enforce the sub claim from inbound JWTs (opens in a new tab). Can also be set using CUBEJS_JWT_SUBJECT.

claimsNamespace

A namespace within the decoded JWT under which any custom claims can be found. Can also be set using CUBEJS_JWT_CLAIMS_NAMESPACE.

cacheAndQueueDriver

The cache and queue driver to use for the Cube.js deployment. Defaults to memory in development, cubestore in production.

orchestratorOptions

We strongly recommend leaving these options set to the defaults. Changing these values can result in application instability and/or downtime.

You can pass this object to set advanced options for Cube Query Orchestrator.

OptionDescriptionDefault Value
continueWaitTimeoutLong polling interval5
redisPrefixPrefix to be set an all Redis keysSTANDALONE
rollupOnlyModeWhen enabled, an error will be thrown if a query can't be served from a pre-aggregation (rollup)false
queryCacheOptionsQuery cache options for DB queries{}
queryCacheOptions.refreshKeyRenewalThresholdTime in seconds to cache the result of refresh_key checkdefined by DB dialect
queryCacheOptions.backgroundRenewControls whether to wait in foreground for refreshed query data if refresh_key value has been changed. Refresh key queries or pre-aggregations are never awaited in foreground and always processed in background unless cache is empty. If true it immediately returns values from cache if available without refresh_key check to renew in foreground.false
queryCacheOptions.queueOptionsQuery queue options for DB queries{}
preAggregationsOptionsQuery cache options for pre-aggregations{}
preAggregationsOptions.maxPartitionsThe maximum number of partitions each pre-aggregation in a cube can use.10000
preAggregationsOptions.queueOptionsQuery queue options for pre-aggregations{}
preAggregationsOptions.externalRefreshWhen running a separate instance of Cube to refresh pre-aggregations in the background, this option can be set on the API instance to prevent it from trying to check for rollup data being current - it won't try to create or refresh them when this option is truefalse

To set options for queryCache and preAggregations, set an object with key queueOptions. queryCacheOptions are used while querying database tables, while preAggregationsOptions settings are used to query pre-aggregated tables.

const queueOptions = {
  concurrency: 3,
};
 
module.exports = {
  orchestratorOptions: {
    queryCacheOptions: {
      refreshKeyRenewalThreshold: 30,
      backgroundRenew: true,
      queueOptions,
    },
    preAggregationsOptions: { queueOptions },
  },
};

allowJsDuplicatePropsInSchema

Boolean to enable or disable a check duplicate property names in all objects of a data model. The default value is false, and it is means the compiler would use the additional transpiler for check duplicates.

initApp

This configuration option is likely to change in future versions of Cube

This function allows you to extend the Cube API server with custom Express middleware. This is especially useful for adding monitoring and observability solutions.

const myCustomMiddleware = (req, res, next) => {
  req.foo = "bar";
  next();
};
 
module.exports = {
  initApp: (app) => {
    app.use(myCustomMiddleware);
  },
};

processSubscriptionsInterval

This property controls how often Websocket client subscriptions are refreshed. Defaults to 5000.

QueueOptions

Setting these options is highly discouraged as these are considered to be system-level settings. Please use CUBEJS_DB_QUERY_TIMEOUT and CUBEJS_CONCURRENCY environment variables instead.

Timeout and interval options' values are in seconds.

OptionDescriptionDefault Value
concurrencyMaximum number of queries to be processed simultaneosly. For drivers with connection pool CUBEJS_DB_MAX_POOL should be adjusted accordingly. Typically pool size should be at least twice of total concurrency among all queues.2
executionTimeoutTotal timeout of single query600
orphanedTimeoutQuery will be marked for cancellation if not requested during this period.120
heartBeatIntervalWorker heartbeat interval. If 4*heartBeatInterval time passes without reporting, the query gets cancelled.30

RequestContext

RequestContext object is filled by context data on a HTTP request level.

securityContext

Defined as req.securityContext which should be set by checkAuth. Default implementation of checkAuth uses JWT Security Token payload and sets it to req.securityContext.

SchemaFileRepository

The default implementation of the SchemaFileRepository contract is defined by the FileRepository (opens in a new tab) class. When using FileRepository (opens in a new tab), all data model files must be within the same directory.

The SchemaFileRepository contract defines an async dataSchemaFiles function which returns the files to compile for a data model. Returned by repositoryFactory. The FileRepository (opens in a new tab) implementation of the SchemaFileRepository contract accepts a schemaPath in its constructor.

class ApiFileRepository {
  async dataSchemaFiles() {
    const fileContents = await callExternalApiForFileContents();
    return [{ fileName: "apiFile", content: fileContents }];
  }
}
 
module.exports = {
  repositoryFactory: ({ securityContext }) => new ApiFileRepository(),
};