Configuration

You can configure the Connector runtime environment in the following ways:

• The Zeebe instance to connect to.
• The Connector functions to run.
• The secrets that should be available to the Connectors.

Connecting to Zeebe

SaaS

To use Camunda 8 SaaS specify the connection properties:

CAMUNDA_CLIENT_CLUSTERID=xxx
CAMUNDA_CLIENT_AUTH_CLIENTID=xxx
CAMUNDA_CLIENT_AUTH_CLIENTSECRET=xxx
CAMUNDA_CLIENT_REGION=bru-2

You can further configure separate connection properties for Camunda Operate (otherwise it will use the properties configured for Zeebe above):

CAMUNDA_OPERATE_CLIENT_CLIENTID=xxx
CAMUNDA_OPERATE_CLIENT_CLIENTSECRET=xxx

If you are connecting a local Connector runtime to a SaaS cluster, you may want to review our guide to using Connectors in hybrid mode.

Local installation

Zeebe:

Secure connection

Environment variable	Purpose
CAMUNDA_CLIENT_ZEEBE_BASEURL (required)	The base URL of the Zeebe Broker (HTTPS)
CAMUNDA_CLIENT_ZEEBE_CACERTIFICATEPATH (optional)	The file location of the certificate to be used to connect to the Zeebe Broker

ZEEBE_CLIENT_BROKER_GATEWAY-ADDRESS=127.0.0.1:26500
ZEEBE_CLIENT_SECURITY_PLAINTEXT=true

If the Zeebe Gateway is set up with Camunda Identity-based authorization, Zeebe client OAuth environment variables must be provided.

Connect to Operate locally using username and password:

CAMUNDA_OPERATE_CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:8081
CAMUNDA_OPERATE_CLIENT_USERNAME=demo
CAMUNDA_OPERATE_CLIENT_PASSWORD=demo

When running against a Self-Managed environment, you might also need to configure Identity properties instead of username and password:

CAMUNDA_OPERATE_CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:8081
CAMUNDA_IDENTITY_TYPE=KEYCLOAK
CAMUNDA_IDENTITY_AUDIENCE=operate-api
CAMUNDA_IDENTITY_ISSUER_BACKEND_URL=http://localhost:18080/auth/realms/camunda-platform
CAMUNDA_IDENTITY_CLIENT_ID=connectors
CAMUNDA_IDENTITY_CLIENT_SECRET=<YOUR_OPERATE_CLIENT_SECRET>

Disable Operate connectivity

Disabling Operate polling will lead to inability to use inbound capabilities like webhooks. If you still wish to do so, start your Connector runtime with the following environment variables:

CAMUNDA_CONNECTOR_POLLING_ENABLED=false
CAMUNDA_CONNECTOR_WEBHOOK_ENABLED=false
OPERATE_CLIENT_ENABLED=false

Manual discovery of Connectors

By default, the Connector runtime picks up outbound Connectors available on the classpath automatically. To disable this behavior, use the following environment variables to configure Connectors explicitly:

Environment variable	Purpose
CONNECTOR_{NAME}_FUNCTION (required)	Function to be registered as job worker with the given NAME
CONNECTOR_{NAME}_TYPE (optional)	Job type to register for worker with NAME
CONNECTOR_{NAME}_INPUT_VARIABLES (optional)	Variables to fetch for worker with NAME
CONNECTOR_{NAME}_TIMEOUT (optional)	Timeout in milliseconds for worker with NAME

Through this configuration, you define all job workers to run.

Specifying optional values allows you to override @OutboundConnector-provided Connector configuration.

CONNECTOR_HTTPJSON_FUNCTION=io.camunda.connector.http.rest.HttpJsonFunction
CONNECTOR_HTTPJSON_TYPE=non-default-httpjson-task-type

Secrets

Providing secrets to the runtime environment can be achieved in different ways, depending on your setup.

Default secret provider

caution

By default, all environment variables can be used as Connector secrets.

To limit the environment that can be accessed by the default secret provider, configure a prefix. For example:

export CAMUNDA_CONNECTOR_SECRETPROVIDER_ENVIRONMENT_PREFIX='SUPER_SECRETS_'
export SUPER_SECRETS_MY_SECRET='foo' # This will be resolved by using {{ secrets.MY_SECRET }}

The following environment variables can be used to configure the default secret provider:

Name	Description	Default value
CAMUNDA_CONNECTOR_SECRETPROVIDER_ENVIRONMENT_ENABLED	Whether the default secret provider is enabled.	true
CAMUNDA_CONNECTOR_SECRETPROVIDER_ENVIRONMENT_PREFIX	The prefix applied to the secret name before looking up the environment.	""

Secrets in Docker images

To inject secrets into the Docker images of the runtime, they must be available in the environment of the Docker container.

For example, you can inject secrets when running a container:

docker run --rm --name=connectors -d \
  -v $PWD/connector.jar:/opt/app/ \  # Add a connector jar to the classpath
  -e MY_SECRET=secret \              # Set a secret with value
  -e SECRET_FROM_SHELL \             # Set a secret from the environment
  --env-file secrets.txt \           # Set secrets from a file
  camunda/connectors-bundle:latest

The secret MY_SECRET value is specified directly in the docker run call, whereas the SECRET_FROM_SHELL is injected based on the value in the current shell environment when docker run is executed. The --env-file option allows using a single file with the format NAME=VALUE per line to inject multiple secrets at once.

Secrets in manual installations

In the manual setup, inject secrets during Connector execution by providing them as environment variables before starting the runtime environment. You can, for example, export them beforehand as follows:

export MY_SECRET='foo'

Reference the secret in the Connector's input in the prefixed style {{secrets.MY_SECRET}}.

Custom secret provider

Create your own implementation of the io.camunda.connector.api.secret.SecretProvider interface that comes with the SDK.

Package this class and all its dependencies as a JAR, for example my-secret-provider-with-dependencies.jar. This needs to include a file META-INF/services/io.camunda.connector.api.secret.SecretProvider that contains the fully qualified class name of your secret provider implementation. Add this JAR to the runtime environment, depending on your deployment setup. Your secret provider will serve secrets as implemented.

To use this JAR with Camunda Helm charts, build an init container to create a volume with your secret provider, and mount it into the Connectors pod.

For example, use the following file as input for your helm install command:

connectors:
  extraVolumes:
    - name: workdir
      emptyDir: {}
  extraVolumeMounts:
    # Mount the secret provider
    # The Connectors pod will pick up the secret provider from /opt/app during startup
    - name: workdir
      mountPath: /opt/app/file-secret-provider-2.1.2.jar
      subPath: file-secret-provider-2.1.2.jar
  initContainers:
    - name: install
      image: busybox:1.36.1
      command: ["sh", "-c"]
      args:
        # Download a the custom secret provider into the volume
        - |
          wget -O /work-dir/file-secret-provider-2.1.2.jar https://artifacts.camunda.com/artifactory/camunda-consulting/com/camunda/consulting/connector/file-secret-provider/2.1.2/file-secret-provider-2.1.2.jar
      volumeMounts:
        - name: workdir
          mountPath: "/work-dir"
      securityContext:
        runAsUser: 1000
        # redundant as 1000 is not root but good to have
        # as the runtime will do verification that no process will
        # run as root within the container
        runAsNonRoot: true

For Docker images, you can add the JAR by using volumes, for example:

docker run --rm --name=connectors -d \
  -v $PWD/my-secret-provider-with-dependencies.jar:/opt/app/my-secret-provider-with-dependencies.jar \  # Specify secret provider
  -e ZEEBE_CLIENT_BROKER_GATEWAY-ADDRESS=ip.address.of.zeebe:26500 \                                    # Specify Zeebe address
  -e ZEEBE_CLIENT_SECURITY_PLAINTEXT=true \                                                             # Optional: provide security configs to connect to Zeebe
  camunda/connectors:latest

In manual installations, add the JAR to the -cp argument of the Java call:

java -cp 'connector-runtime-application-VERSION-with-dependencies.jar:...:my-secret-provider-with-dependencies.jar' \
    io.camunda.connector.runtime.ConnectorRuntimeApplication

Secret filter

The secret filter restricts connectors to resolving only the secrets they declare in their own configuration. This prevents a connector from resolving secrets that are available in the runtime environment but not referenced by that connector.

Requires Operate on this version

On 8.6, the secret filter looks up process definitions through Operate (CamundaOperateClient), not the Orchestration Cluster REST API used from 8.8 onward. It reuses the same camunda.connector.polling.enabled property that already gates Operate connectivity for inbound connectors (default: true).

If you've set camunda.connector.polling.enabled=false — for example, in an outbound-only deployment that doesn't run Operate — every outbound connector job that resolves a secret now fails to look up its allow-list. Under STRICT, the Zeebe job fails and retries; under LAX, the filter falls back to allowing all secrets. Before upgrading, either re-enable polling (and confirm Operate is reachable) or set camunda.connector.secret-resolver.secret-filter.mode to DISABLED.

How the allow-list is built

Every field you configure in a connector's properties panel is implemented as a Zeebe input mapping under the hood, whether it's an authentication field or a functional field like an email body, an HTTP header, or a query parameter. If a field contains a literal {{secrets.NAME}} reference, the filter allow-lists NAME for that specific field, identified by its field path — not for the connector element as a whole.

The allow-list is built once per element, from the deployed BPMN model, by scanning the literal text of that element's own fields for {{secrets.NAME}} references and recording which field each reference belongs to:

• It's static, not dynamic. The filter looks at what's literally written in the model, not at what a process variable resolves to at runtime. If a secret value already resolved by one connector task later flows into a different task's field as a plain process variable (for example, = myVariable), that's just data at that point. There's no {{secrets.*}} placeholder left for the filter to check, so the filter has no say over it either way.
• It's scoped to the field, not just the element. A secret declared on one field (for example, authentication.password = {{secrets.AUTH}}) doesn't become resolvable on a different field of the same task, such as an email body. If that other field's runtime value happens to contain the literal text {{secrets.AUTH}} — for example, because it evaluates a process variable crafted to contain that string — the filter checks it against that field's own allow-list entry, not authentication.password's, and leaves it unresolved.
• One exception: fields the model itself chains together. If one field's FEEL expression assigns from a name that another field's expression also references (for example, url = baseUrl + "/path", where baseUrl is itself another input on the same element), the secret declared on the first field is also allowed on the second — the model author's own expressions connect them. This is still resolved statically, from the deployed model's FEEL expressions, not from arbitrary runtime process-variable content.
• It's still per element, not per process. A secret referenced only on task A never becomes available to task B: task B's allow-list is built only from task B's own fields.

This closes the gap an element-wide allow-list would leave open: declaring a secret anywhere on a task no longer makes it resolvable from every field on that task — only from the field it was declared on (and fields the model explicitly chains to it).

note

For inbound connectors, the allow-list comes from data already held in memory on the deployed element, so there's no remote lookup that can fail. As a result, LAX and STRICT behave identically for inbound connectors: both enforce the allow-list unconditionally. The distinction between LAX and STRICT described below only affects outbound connectors, where building the allow-list requires a lookup against the process definition.

Modes

Configure the secret filter with the camunda.connector.secret-resolver.secret-filter.mode property:

Mode	Behavior
STRICT	Enforces the allow-list unconditionally. If the process definition cannot be retrieved, the Zeebe job fails and retries are triggered. This is the default. Choose this mode when strict secret isolation is required.
LAX	Enforces the allow-list when the process definition is available. Falls back to allowing all secrets if the process definition cannot be retrieved (for example, due to an API outage or an eventual-consistency delay). Choose this mode when uninterrupted job processing matters more than strict secret isolation.
DISABLED	All secrets resolve freely, matching the behavior before this feature was introduced. Choose this mode only for troubleshooting, or if a custom secret provider needs unrestricted access.

The allow-list is derived automatically from the fields of the deployed connector element. No manual configuration of individual secrets is required.

Environment variables

CAMUNDA_CONNECTOR_SECRETRESOLVER_SECRETFILTER_MODE=LAX

Application properties

camunda:
  connector:
    secret-resolver:
      secret-filter:
        mode: LAX

Configure the mode in the Helm chart

The Helm chart has no dedicated value for the secret filter. Set the mode through the generic connectors.env value:

connectors:
  env:
    - name: CAMUNDA_CONNECTOR_SECRETRESOLVER_SECRETFILTER_MODE
      value: LAX

Cache configuration

The secret filter caches process definition lookups to avoid repeated API calls. You can configure the cache with the following properties:

Property	Environment variable	Description	Default
camunda.connector.secret-resolver.secret-filter.cache.enabled	CAMUNDA_CONNECTOR_SECRETRESOLVER_SECRETFILTER_CACHE_ENABLED	Whether caching is enabled.	true
camunda.connector.secret-resolver.secret-filter.cache.max-size	CAMUNDA_CONNECTOR_SECRETRESOLVER_SECRETFILTER_CACHE_MAXSIZE	Maximum number of process definitions to cache.	1000

Secure secret usage best practices

• Keep the mode at STRICT (the default) in production environments. Reserve LAX for cases where a temporary process definition API outage must not block connector jobs, and reserve DISABLED for troubleshooting only.
• Reference only the secrets a connector task actually needs, in the fields that need them. A task that references fewer secrets has a smaller allow-list, which limits what that task can resolve even when its other field values come from untrusted process variables.
• Scope secrets narrowly, for example one API key per integration or tenant, instead of reusing a single broad-access secret across multiple connector tasks.
• You don't need to design BPMN diagrams defensively to keep a secret out of a task's other fields. The runtime enforces the allow-list per field: a secret declared on one field of a task isn't resolvable from a different field on that same task, or from a different task, unless the model itself chains them together with a FEEL expression.

Troubleshooting a secret that stops resolving under STRICT

If a secret that previously resolved now comes back unresolved, or the connector job fails, under STRICT mode, check the following:

• For outbound connectors, the element is a supported BPMN type (ServiceTask, SendTask, ScriptTask, BusinessRuleTask, SubProcess, IntermediateThrowEvent, or EndEvent) with a zeebe:input mapping that contains the secret reference. Unsupported element types and supported elements without such an input mapping are treated as declaring no secrets and deny all resolution under STRICT.
• The secret is referenced using the {{secrets.NAME}} syntax in the same field where you expect it to resolve. A reference declared on one field doesn't resolve on a different field, unless the model chains the two fields together with a FEEL expression.
• The {{secrets.NAME}} reference sits inside a JSON string, like any other field value. An unquoted placeholder on a non-string field (for example, "count": {{secrets.MAX}}) is never substituted.
• The process definition is available to the connector runtime. Under STRICT, a Zeebe job fails and retries if the process definition can't be retrieved.

If you need to keep jobs processing while you investigate, switch to LAX temporarily. It falls back to allowing all secrets when the process definition lookup fails.

Truststore

If your connector runtime needs to connect to external systems over HTTPS, you might need to provide a custom truststore.

To configure the truststore, use the following environment variables:

• JAVAX_NET_SSL_TRUSTSTORE: Path to the truststore file (e.g., /path/to/truststore.jks)
• JAVAX_NET_SSL_TRUSTSTOREPASSWORD: Password for the truststore

Multi-tenancy

The Connector Runtime supports multiple tenants for inbound and outbound Connectors. These are configurable in Identity.

A single Connector Runtime can serve a single tenant or can be configured to serve multiple tenants. By default, the runtime uses the tenant ID <default> for all Zeebe-related operations like handling jobs and publishing messages.

info

Support for outbound Connectors with multiple tenants requires a dedicated tenant job worker config (described below). Inbound Connectors automatically work for all tenants the configured Connector Runtime client has access to. This can be configured in Identity via the application assignment.

Environment variables

The Connector Runtime uses the following environment variables to configure multi-tenancy:

Name	Description	Default value
ZEEBE_CLIENT_DEFAULT_TENANT_ID	The default tenant ID used to communicate with Zeebe. Changing this value will set a new default tenant ID used for fetching jobs and publishing messages.	<default>
ZEEBE_CLIENT_DEFAULT_JOB_WORKER_TENANT_IDS	The default tenant IDs (comma separated) used to activate jobs. To run the Connector Runtime in a setup where a single runtime serves multiple tenants, add each tenant ID to this list.	<default>

If you are using an embedded version of the Connector Runtime, you can specify the tenant information in your Spring configuration like in this example application.properties file:

zeebe.client.default-tenant-id=myTenant
zeebe.client.default-job-worker-tenant-ids=myTenant

Outbound Connector config

The Connector Runtime uses the default tenant for outbound Connector-related features. If support for a different tenant or multiple tenants should be enabled, the tenants need to be configured individually using the following environment variables.

If you want to use outbound Connectors for a single tenant that is different from the default tenant, you can specify a different default tenant ID using:

ZEEBE_CLIENT_DEFAULT_TENANT_ID=myTenant

This will change the default tenant ID used for fetching jobs and publishing messages to the tenant ID myTenant.

note

Inbound Connectors will still be enabled for all tenants the Connector Runtime client has access to.

To run the Connector Runtime in a setup where a single runtime serves multiple tenants, add each tenant ID to the list of the default job workers:

ZEEBE_CLIENT_DEFAULT_JOB_WORKER_TENANT_IDS=`myTenant, otherTenant`

In this case, the ZEEBE_CLIENT_DEFAULT_TENANT_ID will not be used for the configuration of job workers.

Inbound Connector configuration

The Connector Runtime fetches and executes all inbound Connectors it receives from Operate independently of the outbound Connector configuration without any additional configuration required from the user.

To restrict the Connector Runtime inbound Connector feature to a single tenant or multiple tenants, use Identity and assign the tenants the Connector application should have access to.

It is possible to adjust the polling interval of Connectors polling process definitions to Operate by setting the environment variable CAMUNDA_CONNECTOR_POLLING_INTERVAL. This variable allows you to control how often Connectors fetch the process definitions, with the interval specified in milliseconds. For example, setting CAMUNDA_CONNECTOR_POLLING_INTERVAL=20000 will configure the Connectors to poll every 20 seconds.

Example:

CAMUNDA_CONNECTOR_POLLING_INTERVAL=10000

Troubleshooting

To ensure seamless integration and functionality, the multi-tenancy feature must also be enabled across all associated components if not configured in Helm so users can view any data from tenants for which they have authorizations configured in Identity.

Find more information (including links to individual component configuration) on the multi-tenancy concepts page.

Logging

Changing the log level

The log level can be changed globally by setting the environment variable LOGGING_LEVEL_IO_CAMUNDA_CONNECTOR=DEBUG. This changes the default log level for the io.camunda.connector package to DEBUG.

You can can use this package based log level approach also with custom Connectors by providing your package (my.package) via this variable: LOGGING_LEVEL_MY_PACKAGE=DEBUG.

To change the log level for all packages, change it for the root logger: LOGGING_LEVEL_ROOT=DEBUG.

Google Stackdriver (JSON) logging

To enable Google Stackdriver compatible JSON logging, set the environment variable CONNECTORS_LOG_APPENDER=stackdriver on the Connector Runtime.