Files
nomad/website/content/docs/job-specification/meta.mdx
Aimee Ukasick 986f3c727a Docs: SEO job spec section (#25612)
* action page

* change all page_title fields

* update title

* constraint through migrate pages

* update page title and heading to use sentence case

* fix front matter description

* Apply suggestions from code review

Co-authored-by: Jeff Boruszak <104028618+boruszak@users.noreply.github.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Jeff Boruszak <104028618+boruszak@users.noreply.github.com>
2025-05-19 09:02:07 -05:00

115 lines
2.7 KiB
Plaintext

---
layout: docs
page_title: meta block in the job specification
description: |-
Define arbitrary metadata in the `meta` block of the Nomad job specification. Configure runtime environment variables for tasks to consume. Review examples that use Nomad interpolation and templates.
---
# `meta` block in the job specification
<Placement
groups={[
['job', 'meta'],
['job', 'group', 'meta'],
['job', 'group', 'task', 'meta'],
]}
/>
The `meta` block allows for user-defined arbitrary key-value pairs. It is
possible to use the `meta` block at the [job][], [group][], or [task][] level.
```hcl
job "docs" {
meta {
my-key = "my-value"
}
group "example" {
meta {
my-key = "my-value"
}
task "server" {
meta {
my-key = "my-value"
}
}
}
}
```
Metadata is merged up the job specification, so metadata defined at the job
level applies to all groups and tasks within that job. Metadata defined at the
group layer applies to all tasks within that group.
Meta values are made available inside tasks as [runtime environment variables][env_meta].
## Parameters
The "parameters" for the `meta` block can be any key-value. The keys and values
are both of type `string`, but they can be specified as other types. They will
automatically be converted to strings. Any character in a key other than
`[A-Za-z0-9_.]` will be converted to `_`.
## Examples
The following examples only show the `meta` blocks. Remember that the
`meta` block is only valid in the placements listed above.
### Coercion
This example shows the different ways to specify key-value pairs. Internally,
these values will be stored as their string representation. No type information
is preserved.
```hcl
meta {
key = "true"
key = true
key = 1.4
key = "1.4"
}
```
### Interpolation
This example shows using [Nomad interpolation][interpolation] to populate
environment variables.
```hcl
meta {
class = "${node.class}"
}
```
### Meta keys with dots
Meta keys that aren't valid HCLv2 identifiers, like ones containing `.`, require an alternative map assignment syntax.
```hcl
meta = {
"project.team" = "sre"
}
```
## Template usage example
To make use of a `meta` value in a template, refer to its environment variable
form.
```hcl
template {
destination = "local/out.txt"
data = <<EOH
{{ env "NOMAD_META_mykey" }}
EOH
}
```
[job]: /nomad/docs/job-specification/job 'Nomad job Job Specification'
[group]: /nomad/docs/job-specification/group 'Nomad group Job Specification'
[task]: /nomad/docs/job-specification/task 'Nomad task Job Specification'
[interpolation]: /nomad/docs/runtime/interpolation 'Nomad interpolation'
[env_meta]: /nomad/docs/runtime/environment#meta-block-for-arbitrary-configuration