Locate Config Setting Agent Skill

Locate a Datadog Agent configuration setting or section in the schema source and

print its definition plus the exact file and line where it lives.

Use this whenever you need to answer "where/how is config key X defined?" — its

type, default, env vars, description, or which schema file to edit. It is much

faster and more reliable than grepping the ~20k lines of schema YAML by hand,

because the schema is split across files (core_schema.yaml plus per-section

sub-files referenced via $ref), so a naive grep often points at the wrong file.

Command

dda inv -- schema.locate <setting.path>

<setting.path> is the dotted logical path exactly as a user writes it in

datadog.yaml / system-probe.yaml — e.g. api_key, proxy.https,

apm_config.enabled. (Use -- so invoke treats the path as a positional arg.)

It can also be a pattern: any argument containing a character outside

[A-Za-z0-9_.] (e.g. *, $, [) is matched against *every* full dotted path

in the schema instead of looked up exactly. The pattern is treated as a regular

expression (re.search); if it isn't valid regex it falls back to shell-style

glob (fnmatch). So '*enabled' lists every setting whose path ends with

enabled. Pattern matches are printed as a compact, sorted

[<schema>] <path> -> <file>:<line> list (one line per match) rather than full

node blocks; pass --json for the full {schema, path, file, line, node} array.

Flags

| Flag | Effect |

|---|---|

| --target core / --target system-probe | Restrict to one schema (default: search both). |

| --json | Emit a JSON array of {schema, path, file, line, node} instead of human text. Use this when you want to parse the result programmatically. |

What it prints

• Setting (leaf): the full schema node — node_type, type, default,

env_vars, visibility, description, tags.

• Section: the section's own metadata, with properties collapsed to the

sorted list of immediate child key names (so a big section like apm_config

doesn't dump thousands of lines). Drill into a child to see its full node.

• A clickable location header per match: [<schema>] <file>:<line>.
• If a key exists in both schemas (e.g. log_level), it prints one block per

schema, labeled [core] and [system-probe].

Location semantics (important)

• A top-level split section (e.g. apm_config, logs_config) is reported at

its $ref: line in pkg/config/schema/yaml/core_schema.yaml — that's where it's

wired in.

• A setting inside a split section (e.g. apm_config.enabled) is reported in

the sub-file (pkg/config/schema/yaml/apm_config.yaml:<line>) — that's where

its real definition is, and the file you'd edit.

• A setting/section that lives inline in the top file (e.g. api_key,

proxy.https) is reported directly in core_schema.yaml.

Behavior notes

• Reads the YAML source under pkg/config/schema/yaml/ — no build step or

agent binary needed; works straight from a checkout. Line numbers are real.

• Only traverses named settings and sections (properties). Array items and

patternProperties internals are out of scope.

• Not found → prints an error and exits non-zero (no fuzzy suggestions).

Examples

# Top-level setting → core_schema.yaml + full node
dda inv -- schema.locate api_key

# Setting inside a split section → resolves into the sub-file
dda inv -- schema.locate apm_config.enabled

# Bare split section → $ref site in core_schema.yaml, child names only
dda inv -- schema.locate apm_config

# Restrict to one schema and get machine-readable output
dda inv -- schema.locate process_config.enabled --target core --json

# Pattern (glob): every setting whose full path ends with 'enabled'
dda inv -- schema.locate '*enabled'

# Pattern (regex): every path containing 'proxy' (a bare word like 'proxy' is an
# exact lookup, so add metacharacters to force a pattern/contains-match)
dda inv -- schema.locate '.*proxy'

Related

• The task lives in tasks/schema/locate.py (registered in tasks/schema/__init__.py).
• Schema source: pkg/config/schema/yaml/. To regenerate it, see dda inv schema.generate.
• To add a new config field (not just locate one), use the create-config-field skill.