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Talos Linux machines are fully configured using a single YAML file called the machine configuration. This file is a multi-document configuration that may contain multiple YAML documents, separated by --- (three dashes). Each document represents a partial machine configuration. Talos parses and validates each document independently, then merges them into a single effective configuration before applying it to the machine. Documents are processed sequentially, and later documents take precedence over earlier ones. The v1alpha1 document is the only mandatory document in the configuration file, and it carries the settings which have not been split out yet, such as the machine type, cluster secrets and etcd. Talos keeps moving settings out of it into focused documents: as of Talos 1.14, networking, Kubernetes, kernel and installation settings are configured with dedicated documents, and the matching v1alpha1 fields are deprecated (but still supported). The configuration document map shows which document replaces each v1alpha1 field, and in which release. Configuration documents may be named (contain a name: field) or unnamed. Unnamed documents can appear only once in the machine configuration, while named documents can be supplied multiple times, provided each has a unique name. The v1alpha1 document uses a legacy structure. All other configuration documents follow this common schema:
Note: YAML treats certain characters,such as !, ?, *, and &, as part of its own syntax. When defining configuration values that include these characters (for example, in selectors or filters like diskSelector or network.interfaces.match in the Machine Config), wrap them in quotes ("...") to ensure they are parsed correctly.
This section contains the configuration reference, to learn more about Talos Linux machine configuration management, please see: