Configuration Editor

Radiator UI includes a configuration editor with auto-completion, hover documentation, syntax highlighting, and validation for Radiator configuration files.

Configuration Files

The configuration editor works on the Radiator working directory (/var/lib/radiator). It contains configuration files (.radconf) and supporting directories such as db/, tls/, lua/, and templates/.

Radiator UI shows the details of each file and directory, such as its size, permissions, owner, pending state, and SHA-256 checksum.

Radiator Server loads configuration files in numeric order of their leading number, which ends at _, - or ., for example 20_example.radconf. See Configuration directory load order.

For archive transfers, see Configuration Import and Export.

Markdown Files

Radiator UI renders .md files, including tables, code blocks and Mermaid diagrams. Markdown files open in Preview, with a Source view for editing. Preview includes unsaved edits, and files can be saved from either view. The selected view is kept in the file URL so bookmarks, reloads and browser history restore it. Invalid diagrams display error text, and malformed link destinations remain readable without opening a new page. Relative links open files beside the Markdown file. Markdown files are not loaded as RadConf configuration.

Designing Templates

Radiator UI includes a template designer for template form metadata and the template body. Saved templates become pending configuration changes for review and activation.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Press F1 to open the command palette and search for any command by name.

Command Palette

Basic Editing

Selection

Find and Replace

Navigation

Code Folding

Comments

Indentation

IntelliSense and Hints

Display

Configuration Validation

Radiator provides two levels of configuration validation.

Syntax Check

Syntax check validates the structure and syntax of one file without loading external files or starting the server.

Full Check

Full check performs a complete validation by loading all configuration files (following include and include_glob statements) and attempting to start the server in dry-run mode. This does not stop or restart the server itself.

This catches semantic errors such as:

• Missing referenced files
• Invalid backend configurations
• Port conflicts
• Certificate issues

Validation errors include the file path, the line number when available, the error message, and additional causes.

Configuration Warnings

Both checks also report configuration warnings. A warning marks configuration that loads but probably does not work as intended, such as a client source with ip 0.0.0.0;, which matches no client address. Warnings do not fail a check; Radiator UI lists them with links to their files and lines and marks them in the editor. When RADIATOR_SHOW_DEPRECATIONS is set to 1, the checks also report deprecated syntax. The checks always report the experimental features that the configuration enables.

Check results only count deprecated settings and experimental features. The Configuration notices page, opened with Review configuration notices in the Files page menu, lists the deprecated settings and enabled experimental features of the whole configuration, using the pending configuration when there is one, grouped by message with their count, suggested replacement and locations.

The syntax check does not report servers that refer to an undefined policy, because the policy can be in another file. The full check reports them.

The server writes the same warnings to the application log when it loads the configuration.

Pending Configuration and Change Management

Changes made in the configuration editor are saved to a pending configuration directory rather than directly modifying the active configuration. This allows reviewing and testing changes before deployment.

Change Markers

The editor marks the lines that differ from the active configuration, and clicking a marker shows the change and can revert it.

Deploying Changes

Deploying replaces the active configuration with the pending configuration. Unless the configuration check is skipped, Radiator UI first runs a full check of the pending configuration; errors stop the deployment, while warnings do not stop it.

After deploying, the deployment notification lists the warnings of the deployed configuration. When you resolve deployment conflicts by keeping the active version of a file, the listed warnings come from the kept active version.

Deployment can create a backup of the current active configuration before replacing it, and can restart the server to apply the new configuration.

Restoring Backups

Backups are created when deploying with the backup option enabled.

Backups exclude files and directories whose names begin with ., including nested hidden content. Back up any intentionally hidden configuration content separately.

Restoring a backup copies it into the pending configuration. Hidden content in older backups is ignored, and existing active hidden content is preserved. Review the restored configuration and deploy when ready.

To delete a backup, click its delete icon and confirm. Deleting a backup permanently removes it from the server. Deployments also remove old backups automatically; see Configuration Backups for the retention settings.

Discarding Changes

Discarding permanently deletes all pending changes and reverts to the active configuration. A single changed file can also be restored to its active version without discarding other pending changes.