angular-server-side-configuration

Configure an angular application at runtime on the server or in a docker container via environment variables.

Motivation

The Angular CLI provides build time configuration (via environment.ts). In a Continuous Delivery environment this is sometimes not enough.

How it works

Environment variables are used for configuration. This package provides an Angular CLI builder to search for usages at build time. A native CLI can be used to insert populated environment variables into index.html file(s) into the head tag or by replacing <!--CONFIG--> (Missing environment variables will be represented by null). This should be done on the host serving the bundled angular files.

Starting with version 13, there are experimental builders for the build and serve commands. To install the experimental builders run ng add angular-server-side-configuration and answer Would you like to use the experimental builders for build and serve? with y(es).

Changes with version 19

With version 19, the Angular CLI compiler seems to be more strict with global typing, as it will now complain about the definition for the global process variable. You can prevent the error either by setting skipLibCheck: true in your tsconfig.json (which has been the default in new Angular projects generated by the Angular CLI) or by adding node to the types entry in your tsconfig.app.json.

Changes with version 16

In order to better follow Secure by default, the default for searchPattern has been changed to {sourceRoot}/**/environments/environment*.ts (from {sourceRoot}/**/!(*server*).ts). If your project uses environment variables in other files, update the searchPattern entry in your ngsscbuild block in your angular.json.

Changes with version 15.1

With the change in version 15 to search all files for environment variables, a potential information disclosure vulnerability was introduced, as unintended environment variables might be exposed.

You might be affected, if you use environment variables in your angular.json workspace that expose application internals (like used services/tools) or secrets that are also available on the deployed environment (e.g. a monorepo that also contains a Node.js backend, which is deployed in the same system/container/pod as the frontend bundle).

This should have little to no impact, if you only have a simple angular.json workspace without a backend component.

With 15.1 this risk is mitigated, as the lookup path is restricted by adding an option searchPattern which defaults to {sourceRoot}/**/!(*server*).ts (only search sourceRoot of the related angular.json project and exclude files with server in the name) {sourceRoot}/**/environments/environment*.ts with version 16.

Changes with version 15

With version 15 of the Angular CLI, environment files are no longer generated by default. In order to adapt, using ng add angular-server-side-configuration will try to add the import in either environment.prod.ts, environment.ts, app.module.ts, app.components.ts or main.ts depending on availability. The ngssc builder will also now search all files for environment variable usages instead of just the defined environment file. Due to this, the ngsscEnvironmentFile option can be removed.

Getting Started

ng add angular-server-side-configuration

or, if you have a previous version of this library installed

ng update angular-server-side-configuration@latest

This will configure the appropriate files.

Alternatively, if you want to configure the files yourself:

npm install --save angular-server-side-configuration

angular.json

Ensure you have an ngsscbuild entry in your project architect section. To use the builder run ng run your-project-name:ngsscbuild:production. You can add additional configurations in angular.json, which can be executed by replacing production with your configuration name in the previous command.

The builder will analyze .ts files in the project to detect used environment variables and generate an ngssc.json in the defined outputPath in the referenced buildTarget (previously browserTargeet).

...
  "projects": {
    ...
    "your-project-name": {
      ...
      "architect": {
        ...
        "ngsscbuild": {
          "builder": "angular-server-side-configuration:ngsscbuild",
          "options": {
            "additionalEnvironmentVariables": ["MANUAL_ENTRIES"],
            "buildTarget": "your-project-name:build",
            // Optional
            // (Defaults to the basename of the index option of the browser target)
            "filePattern": "index.html",
            // (Defaults to {sourceRoot}/**/environments/environment*.ts)
            "searchPattern": "src/environments/environment.ts"
          },
          "configurations": {
            "production": {
              "buildTarget": "your-project-name:build:production"
            }
          }
        }
        ...
      }
      ...
    }
    ...
  }
...

To run the ngssc build, run the command ng run your-project-name:ngsscbuild:production.

TypeScript files

angular-server-side-configuration supports two variants for using environment variables: process.env._ or NG_ENV._

process.env.*

Use process.env.NAME in your environment.prod.ts, where NAME is the environment variable that should be used.

import 'angular-server-side-configuration/process';

export const environment = {
  production: process.env.PROD !== 'false',
  apiAddress: process.env.API_ADDRESS || 'https://example-api.com',
};

NG_ENV.*

Import NG_ENV from angular-server-side-configuration/ng-env and use NG_ENV.NAME in your environment.prod.ts, where NAME is the environment variable that should be used.

import { NG_ENV } from 'angular-server-side-configuration/ng-env';

export const environment = {
  production: NG_ENV.PROD !== 'false',
  apiAddress: NG_ENV.API_ADDRESS || 'https://example-api.com',
};

index.html (Optional)

Add <!--CONFIG--> to index.html. This will be replaced by the configuration script tag. This is optional, as the environment variables can be configured to be inserted in the head tag. It is however the safest option.

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <title>Angular Example</title>
    <!--CONFIG-->
    <base href="/" />

    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
    <link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="favicon.ico" />
  </head>
  <body>
    <app-root></app-root>
  </body>
</html>

On host server or in Dockerfile

This library provides a Node.js and a native implementation for inserting the environment variables into your html. Either use the insert function from the package (import { insert } from 'angular-server-side-configuration';) or the insert command of the CLI. For the native CLI, go to Releases and download the appropriate executable for your server environment. (See build.sh for build details of the native CLI. Please open an Issue if you need an additional environment.)

ngssc insert

Insert environment variables. Looks for an ngssc.json file inside the current or given directory. Directory defaults to current working directory.

Usage: ngssc insert [options] [directory]

Options	Description
--recursive, -r	Recursively searches for ngssc.json files and applies the contained configuration.
--nginx	Applies default configuration for ngssc insert to work with nginx. Sets working directory to /usr/share/nginx/html/ and recursive to true.
--dry	Perform the insert without actually inserting the variables.
--nonce="example"	Generates a nonce in the script tag with the given placeholder.

ngssc substitute

Substitutes the variable ${NGSSC_CSP_HASH} in files ending with ".template" and copies the file while removing the ".template" extension.

${NGSSC_CSP_HASH} represents the CSP hash value of the IIFE generated/inserted by the insert command, wrapped by single quotes.

By default looks for "*.template" files in the current working directory. Specify another directory to search for "*.template" files via argument. (e.g. ngssc substitute /path/to/template/files)

When applying the variable(s), the file is copied to the same directory without the ".template" extension with the substituion applied. (e.g. ngssc substitute: /a/my.conf.template => /a/my.conf)

Use the "--out" flag to define a different output directory. (e.g. ngssc substitute --out=/b: /a/my.conf.template => /b/my.conf)

Optionally supports substituting environment variables with the --include-env flag. The format ${EXAMPLE} must be used ($EXAMPLE will not work). Additionally only alphanumeric characters and _ are allowed as variable names (e.g. ${EXAMPLE_KEY}). (e.g. ngssc substitute --include-env)

ATTENTION: Since the official nginx container image already provides a similar mechanism with substitution, it is recommended not to use the /etc/nginx/templates directory. Instead use the directory /etc/nginx/ngssc-templates.

Usage: ngssc substitute [options] [directory]

Options	Description
--ngssc-path	Path to the ngssc.json file or containing directory to be used for the generated IIFE. Supports glob. Defaults to [current working directory]/**/ngssc.json. Throws if multiple ngssc.json with different variant or variables are found.
--hash-algorithm, -a	The hash algorithm to be used. Supports sha256, sha384 and sha512. Defaults to sha512.
--out, -o	The directory into which the updated files should be copied.
--include-env, -e	Substitute all variables in the format of ${VARIABLE_NAME}.
--nginx	Applies default configuration for ngssc substitute to work with nginx. Sets ngssc-path to /usr/share/nginx/html/, template directory to /etc/nginx/ngssc-templates/ and out directory to /etc/nginx/conf.d/.
--dry	Perform the insert without actually inserting the variables

Minimal Example

Dockerfile

FROM nginx:alpine

# Install ngssc binary
ADD https://github.com/kyubisation/angular-server-side-configuration/releases/download/v19.0.1/ngssc_64bit /usr/sbin/ngssc
RUN chmod +x /usr/sbin/ngssc

# Add ngssc init script
COPY ngssc.sh /docker-entrypoint.d/ngssc.sh
RUN chmod +x /docker-entrypoint.d/ngssc.sh

# Copy app
COPY dist /usr/share/nginx/html

ngssc.sh

#!/bin/sh
ngssc insert /usr/share/nginx/html
# Substitute CSP variable (and optionally environment variables)
# See documentation above
#ngssc substitute --ngssc-path=/usr/share/nginx/html -o=/etc/nginx/conf.d/ /etc/nginx/ngssc-templates/

ngssc.json

The ngssc.json will be generated by the ngsscbuild builder.

{
  "variant": "process",           // Either "process" or "NG_ENV".
  "environmentVariables": [],     // Detected environment variables.
  "filePattern": "**/index.html"  // File pattern in which environment variables should be inserted.
}

License

Apache License, Version 2.0