There are multiple ways to configure the Node.js agent. In order of precedence:

For information on the available configuration properties and the expected names of environment variables, see the Configuration options documentation.

Dynamic configurationedit

Configuration options marked with the badge can be changed at runtime when set from a supported source.

The Node.js Agent supports Central configuration, which allows you to fine-tune certain configurations via the APM app in Kibana. This feature is enabled in the Agent by default, with centralConfig.

Agent configuration objectedit

To use the optional options argument, pass it into the apm.start() method:

var apm = require('elastic-apm-node').start({
  // add configuration options here
})

This example shows how to configure the agent to only be active in production:

// Add this to the VERY top of the first file loaded in your app
require('elastic-apm-node').start({
  // Override service name from package.json
  // Allowed characters: a-z, A-Z, 0-9, -, _, and space
  serviceName: '',

  // Use if APM Server requires a token
  secretToken: '',

  // Use if APM Server uses API keys for authentication
  apiKey: '',

  // Set custom APM Server URL (default: http://127.0.0.1:8200)
  serverUrl: '',

  // Only activate the agent if it's running in production
  active: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production'
})

Agent configuration fileedit

The Node.js agent looks for a file named elastic-apm-node.js in the current working directory. You can specify a custom path for this file with the configFile configuration option.