Storage

Bifrost persists two types of data - config (providers, virtual keys, governance rules) and logs (request/response records). Each has its own store. A vector store is required for semantic caching.

Store	Purpose	Backends
`config_store`	Provider configs, virtual keys, governance rules	SQLite, PostgreSQL
`logs_store`	Request/response logs shown in UI	SQLite, PostgreSQL + optional S3/GCS offload
`vector_store`	Semantic response caching	Weaviate, Redis, Valkey, Qdrant, Pinecone

If you use PostgreSQL for any store, the target database must be UTF8 encoded. See PostgreSQL UTF8 Requirement.

config_store

When config_store is disabled (or absent), all configuration is loaded from config.json at startup only - the Web UI is disabled and changes require a restart. See Two Configuration Modes.

SQLite
PostgreSQL
Disabled

SQLite (Default)

Simplest setup - no external database required. Bifrost stores configuration in a local SQLite file.

{
  "config_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "sqlite",
    "config": {
      "path": "./config.db"
    }
  }
}

Field	Description
`config.path`	Path to the SQLite file (relative to app-dir, or absolute)

PostgreSQL

Production-grade storage suitable for high-availability and high-throughput deployments.

{
  "config_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "postgres",
    "config": {
      "host": "env.PG_HOST",
      "port": "5432",
      "user": "env.PG_USER",
      "password": "env.PG_PASSWORD",
      "db_name": "bifrost",
      "ssl_mode": "require",
      "max_idle_conns": 5,
      "max_open_conns": 50
    }
  }
}

Field	Default	Description
`host`	-	PostgreSQL host (supports `env.` prefix)
`port`	-	PostgreSQL port (as string)
`user`	-	Database user (supports `env.` prefix)
`password`	-	Database password (supports `env.` prefix). Leave empty for IAM role auth.
`db_name`	-	Database name
`ssl_mode`	-	`"disable"`, `"require"`, `"verify-ca"`, `"verify-full"`
`max_idle_conns`	`5`	Maximum idle connections in the pool
`max_open_conns`	`50`	Maximum open connections to the database

Disabled (file-only mode)

Use this when you want Bifrost to read all configuration from config.json only - no database, no Web UI.

{
  "config_store": {
    "enabled": false
  }
}

This is the recommended setup for multinode OSS deployments where a shared config.json is the single source of truth.

logs_store

SQLite
PostgreSQL
Disabled

SQLite

{
  "logs_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "sqlite",
    "config": {
      "path": "./logs.db"
    }
  }
}

PostgreSQL

{
  "logs_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "postgres",
    "config": {
      "host": "env.PG_HOST",
      "port": "5432",
      "user": "env.PG_USER",
      "password": "env.PG_PASSWORD",
      "db_name": "bifrost",
      "ssl_mode": "require",
      "max_idle_conns": 10,
      "max_open_conns": 100
    }
  }
}

For high log volumes, increase max_open_conns:

{
  "logs_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "postgres",
    "config": {
      "host": "env.PG_HOST",
      "port": "5432",
      "user": "env.PG_USER",
      "password": "env.PG_PASSWORD",
      "db_name": "bifrost",
      "ssl_mode": "require",
      "max_idle_conns": 10,
      "max_open_conns": 200
    },
    "retention_days": 90
  }
}

{
  "logs_store": {
    "enabled": false
  }
}

Log Retention

Set retention_days to automatically purge old log entries. 0 disables retention-based cleanup.

{
  "logs_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "postgres",
    "config": { "...": "..." },
    "retention_days": 90
  }
}

Materialized View Refresh Interval (PostgreSQL only)

The PostgreSQL logs store backs the dashboard’s stats and histograms with materialized views, refreshed in the background. The default cadence is 30 seconds, which keeps dashboard data near real-time but issues a REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW CONCURRENTLY every 30s — an expensive operation that can be too aggressive on smaller or CPU-constrained database instances. Set matview_refresh_interval (Go duration string) to slow down refreshes when near-real-time accuracy isn’t critical:

{
  "logs_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "postgres",
    "config": {
      "host": "env.PG_HOST",
      "port": "5432",
      "user": "env.PG_USER",
      "password": "env.PG_PASSWORD",
      "db_name": "bifrost",
      "ssl_mode": "require",
      "matview_refresh_interval": "5m"
    }
  }
}

Field	Default	Description
`matview_refresh_interval`	`"30s"`	How often to refresh dashboard materialized views. Accepts any Go duration string (`"30s"`, `"5m"`, `"1h"`). Minimum `5s`.

Notes

Refreshes are already activity-gated: when no INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE has hit the logs table since the last refresh, the scheduled tick short-circuits without touching the views. So idle clusters don’t pay for the configured cadence — they only pay when there’s actual log activity.
Dashboard freshness lag will be at most the configured interval. Stats and histograms over the last 24 hours come straight from the raw logs table (no matview), so short-window dashboards stay real-time regardless of this setting.
A 10-minute safety-net refresh runs even on totally idle clusters so the rolling 30-day filter dropdown window evicts aged-out values.

When to raise it:

Your database instance is CPU-constrained and matview refreshes are showing up as a hot consumer.
Your team mostly looks at multi-day trends, not minute-by-minute dashboards.

When to leave it at the default:

The database has consistent CPU headroom.
Operators rely on near-real-time dashboards (e.g. live incident triage).

Object Storage for Logs

Offload LLM request/response logs and MCP tool logs from the database to S3 or GCS. The database retains lightweight index records and fetches full payloads on demand. For MCP logs, the full tool log is stored in object storage and the database keeps dashboard/table fields plus a 200-character input preview.

AWS S3
Google Cloud Storage
MinIO (Self-Hosted)

{
  "logs_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "postgres",
    "config": { "...": "..." },
    "object_storage": {
      "type": "s3",
      "bucket": "env.S3_BUCKET",
      "prefix": "bifrost",
      "compress": true,
      "region": "us-east-1",
      "access_key_id": "env.S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID",
      "secret_access_key": "env.S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"
    }
  }
}

IAM role (instance profile / IRSA) - omit access_key_id and secret_access_key:

{
  "object_storage": {
    "type": "s3",
    "bucket": "bifrost-logs",
    "region": "us-east-1",
    "compress": true,
    "role_arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/BifrostS3Role"
  }
}

Field	Description
`bucket`	S3 bucket name (supports `env.` prefix)
`prefix`	Key prefix for stored objects (default: `"bifrost"`)
`compress`	Enable gzip compression (default: `false`)
`region`	AWS region
`access_key_id`	AWS access key ID (omit for default credential chain)
`secret_access_key`	AWS secret access key
`session_token`	STS temporary credentials session token
`role_arn`	IAM role ARN for STS AssumeRole
`endpoint`	Custom endpoint for MinIO / Cloudflare R2
`force_path_style`	Use path-style URLs (required for MinIO, default: `false`)

{
  "logs_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "postgres",
    "config": { "...": "..." },
    "object_storage": {
      "type": "gcs",
      "bucket": "bifrost-logs",
      "prefix": "bifrost",
      "compress": true,
      "project_id": "env.GCP_PROJECT_ID",
      "credentials_json": "env.GCS_CREDENTIALS_JSON"
    }
  }
}

Omit credentials_json to use Application Default Credentials (Workload Identity, GCE metadata, gcloud auth).

Field	Description
`project_id`	GCP project ID (supports `env.` prefix)
`credentials_json`	Service account JSON or path - omit for ADC

{
  "object_storage": {
    "type": "s3",
    "bucket": "bifrost-logs",
    "prefix": "bifrost",
    "compress": false,
    "region": "us-east-1",
    "endpoint": "http://minio.internal:9000",
    "access_key_id": "env.MINIO_ACCESS_KEY",
    "secret_access_key": "env.MINIO_SECRET_KEY",
    "force_path_style": true
  }
}

vector_store

A vector store is required for semantic caching. Choose from Weaviate, Redis/Valkey, Qdrant, or Pinecone.

Weaviate
Redis / Valkey
Qdrant
Pinecone

{
  "vector_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "weaviate",
    "config": {
      "scheme": "http",
      "host": "localhost:8080",
      "api_key": "env.WEAVIATE_API_KEY",
      "grpc_config": {
        "host": "localhost:50051",
        "secured": false
      }
    }
  }
}

Field	Required	Description
`scheme`	Yes	`"http"` or `"https"`
`host`	Yes	Weaviate server host and port
`api_key`	No	Weaviate API key (supports `env.` prefix)
`grpc_config.host`	No	gRPC host for faster vector operations
`grpc_config.secured`	No	Use TLS for gRPC connection

{
  "vector_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "redis",
    "config": {
      "addr": "env.REDIS_ADDR",
      "password": "env.REDIS_PASSWORD",
      "db": 0,
      "use_tls": false
    }
  }
}

AWS MemoryDB (cluster mode):

{
  "vector_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "redis",
    "config": {
      "addr": "env.MEMORYDB_ENDPOINT",
      "password": "env.MEMORYDB_PASSWORD",
      "use_tls": true,
      "cluster_mode": true
    }
  }
}

Field	Default	Description
`addr`	-	Redis/Valkey address `host:port` (supports `env.` prefix)
`password`	-	Redis AUTH password (supports `env.` prefix)
`db`	`0`	Redis database number
`use_tls`	`false`	Enable TLS
`cluster_mode`	`false`	Enable cluster mode (required for MemoryDB; `db` must be `0`)
`pool_size`	-	Maximum socket connections

{
  "vector_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "qdrant",
    "config": {
      "host": "env.QDRANT_HOST",
      "port": 6334,
      "api_key": "env.QDRANT_API_KEY",
      "use_tls": false
    }
  }
}

Field	Default	Description
`host`	-	Qdrant server host (supports `env.` prefix)
`port`	`6334`	gRPC port
`api_key`	-	API key (supports `env.` prefix)
`use_tls`	`false`	Enable TLS

Pinecone is external-only.

{
  "vector_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "pinecone",
    "config": {
      "api_key": "env.PINECONE_API_KEY",
      "index_host": "env.PINECONE_INDEX_HOST"
    }
  }
}

Field	Description
`api_key`	Pinecone API key (supports `env.` prefix)
`index_host`	Index host from Pinecone console (e.g. `your-index.svc.us-east1-gcp.pinecone.io`)

Mixed Backend Example

Run the config store on PostgreSQL (for UI) while keeping logs on SQLite (simpler, cheaper for append-heavy workloads):

{
  "$schema": "https://www.getbifrost.ai/schema",
  "encryption_key": "env.BIFROST_ENCRYPTION_KEY",

  "config_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "postgres",
    "config": {
      "host": "env.PG_HOST",
      "port": "5432",
      "user": "env.PG_USER",
      "password": "env.PG_PASSWORD",
      "db_name": "bifrost",
      "ssl_mode": "require"
    }
  },

  "logs_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "sqlite",
    "config": {
      "path": "./logs.db"
    }
  }
}

Full Storage Example

{
  "$schema": "https://www.getbifrost.ai/schema",
  "encryption_key": "env.BIFROST_ENCRYPTION_KEY",

  "config_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "postgres",
    "config": {
      "host": "env.PG_HOST",
      "port": "5432",
      "user": "env.PG_USER",
      "password": "env.PG_PASSWORD",
      "db_name": "bifrost",
      "ssl_mode": "require",
      "max_idle_conns": 5,
      "max_open_conns": 50
    }
  },

  "logs_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "postgres",
    "config": {
      "host": "env.PG_HOST",
      "port": "5432",
      "user": "env.PG_USER",
      "password": "env.PG_PASSWORD",
      "db_name": "bifrost",
      "ssl_mode": "require",
      "max_idle_conns": 10,
      "max_open_conns": 100
    },
    "retention_days": 90,
    "object_storage": {
      "type": "s3",
      "bucket": "env.S3_BUCKET",
      "region": "us-east-1",
      "compress": true,
      "access_key_id": "env.S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID",
      "secret_access_key": "env.S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"
    }
  },

  "vector_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "weaviate",
    "config": {
      "scheme": "http",
      "host": "weaviate:8080"
    }
  }
}

Platform specific guides

Config as Code

Enterprise Deployment

Common setup instructions

config_store

SQLite (Default)

PostgreSQL

Disabled (file-only mode)

logs_store

SQLite

PostgreSQL

Log Retention

Materialized View Refresh Interval (PostgreSQL only)

Object Storage for Logs

vector_store

Mixed Backend Example

Full Storage Example

Platform specific guides

Config as Code

Enterprise Deployment

Common setup instructions

Documentation Index

​config_store

​SQLite (Default)

​PostgreSQL

​Disabled (file-only mode)

​logs_store

​SQLite

​PostgreSQL

​Log Retention

​Materialized View Refresh Interval (PostgreSQL only)

​Object Storage for Logs

​vector_store

​Mixed Backend Example

​Full Storage Example

config_store

SQLite (Default)

PostgreSQL

Disabled (file-only mode)

logs_store

SQLite

PostgreSQL

Log Retention

Materialized View Refresh Interval (PostgreSQL only)

Object Storage for Logs

vector_store

Mixed Backend Example

Full Storage Example