File¶

The file provider lets you define the install configuration in a YAML or TOML file.

It supports providing configuration through a single configuration file or multiple separate files.

Info

The file provider is the default format used throughout the documentation to show samples of the configuration for many features.

Tip

The file provider can be a good solution for reusing common elements from other providers (e.g. declaring allowlist middlewares, basic authentication, ...)

Configuration Example¶

You can enable the file provider as detailed below:

File (YAML)

providers:
  file:
    directory: "/path/to/dynamic/conf"

File (TOML)

[providers.file]
  directory = "/path/to/dynamic/conf"

CLI

--providers.file.directory=/path/to/dynamic/conf

Declaring the Routers, Middlewares & Services:

YAML

http:
  # Add the router
  routers:
    router0:
      entryPoints:
      - web
      middlewares:
      - my-basic-auth
      service: service-foo
      rule: Path(`/foo`)

  # Add the middleware
  middlewares:
    my-basic-auth:
      basicAuth:
        users:
        - test:$apr1$H6uskkkW$IgXLP6ewTrSuBkTrqE8wj/
        - test2:$apr1$d9hr9HBB$4HxwgUir3HP4EsggP/QNo0
        usersFile: etc/traefik/.htpasswd

  # Add the service
  services:
    service-foo:
      loadBalancer:
        servers:
        - url: http://foo/
        - url: http://bar/
        passHostHeader: false

TOML

[http]
  # Add the router
  [http.routers]
    [http.routers.router0]
      entryPoints = ["web"]
      middlewares = ["my-basic-auth"]
      service = "service-foo"
      rule = "Path(`/foo`)"

  # Add the middleware
  [http.middlewares]
    [http.middlewares.my-basic-auth.basicAuth]
      users = ["test:$apr1$H6uskkkW$IgXLP6ewTrSuBkTrqE8wj/",
                "test2:$apr1$d9hr9HBB$4HxwgUir3HP4EsggP/QNo0"]
      usersFile = "etc/traefik/.htpasswd"

  # Add the service
  [http.services]
    [http.services.service-foo]
      [http.services.service-foo.loadBalancer]
        [[http.services.service-foo.loadBalancer.servers]]
          url = "http://foo/"
        [[http.services.service-foo.loadBalancer.servers]]
          url = "http://bar/"

Configuration Options¶

Field	Description	Default	Required
`providers.providersThrottleDuration`	Minimum amount of time to wait for, after a configuration reload, before taking into account any new configuration refresh event. If multiple events occur within this time, only the most recent one is taken into account, and all others are discarded. This option cannot be set per provider, but the throttling algorithm applies to each of them independently.	2s	No
`providers.file.filename`	Defines the path to the configuration file.	""	Yes
`providers.file.directory`	Defines the path to the directory that contains the configuration files. The `filename` and `directory` options are mutually exclusive. It is recommended to use `directory`.	""	Yes
`providers.file.watch`	Set the `watch` option to `true` to allow Traefik to automatically watch for file changes. It works with both the `filename` and the `directory` options.	true	No

Limitations

With the file provider, Traefik listens for file system notifications to update the dynamic configuration.

If you use a mounted/bound file system in your orchestrator (like docker or kubernetes), the way the files are linked may be a source of errors. If the link between the file systems is broken, when a source file/directory is changed/renamed, nothing will be reported to the linked file/directory, so the file system notifications will be neither triggered nor caught.

For example, in Docker, if the host file is renamed, the link to the mounted file is broken and the container's file is no longer updated. To avoid this kind of issue, it is recommended to:

set the Traefik directory configuration with the parent directory
mount/bind the parent directory

As it is very difficult to listen to all file system notifications, Traefik uses fsnotify. If using a directory with a mounted directory does not fix your issue, please check your file system compatibility with fsnotify.

Using Traefik OSS in Production?

If you are using Traefik at work, consider adding enterprise-grade API gateway capabilities or commercial support for Traefik OSS.

Adding API Gateway capabilities to Traefik OSS is fast and seamless. There's no rip and replace and all configurations remain intact. See it in action via this short video.