Instant Bloomberg

The Instant Bloomberg Adapter can be configured via an io.Connect app definition or environment variables. The Instant Bloomberg credentials can be embedded in the app definition, injected as environment variables, or fetched at runtime from a remote location.

The Instant Bloomberg Adapter is a Node.js service that must have a valid io.Connect app definition for a Node.js app in order to be included in the io.Connect environment.

Depending on your deployment approach, you can use the provided local and remote app definition templates located in the /io-apps/app-config directory, or you can modify the ibchat.json file.

The functionalities of the Instant Bloomberg Adapter can be configured both via the app definition or via environment variables. When both are used, the settings specified in the app definition take precedence.

App Definition

To configure the functionalities of the Instant Bloomberg Adapter, use the "ibChatAdapter" property of the "customProperties" top-level key in the app definition.

The "ibChatAdapter" object has the following properties:

The "fetchKeyConfig" object has the following properties:

The "ibChat" object has the following properties:

Environment Variables

The following environment variables are available for configuring the Instant Bloomberg Adapter:

The Bloomberg IB Connect API requires a clientId (32 characters) and a clientSecret (64 characters) obtained from Bloomberg. Before being provided to the Instant Bloomberg Adapter, these must be encrypted using the encryption tool included in the bundle and located in the /configurator folder.

Decryption Pattern

The encryption tool provided with the Instant Bloomberg Adapter requires a decryption pattern that determines how the encryption and decryption passphrase is derived. The passphrase itself is never stored — only the pattern is stored. At runtime, the Instant Bloomberg Adapter resolves the pattern by using environment variables to decrypt the credentials.

The decryption pattern can reference any environment variables registered by io.Connect Desktop, by the OS, or your own custom ones.

⚠️ Note that before running the encryption tool, all environment variables referenced by the selected decryption pattern must be set to non-empty values. The encryption tool will exit with an error if any referenced variables are missing or empty.

The decryption pattern supports two modes:

• Plain environment variable names (no % symbols in the specified pattern) — the entire string is treated as an environment variable name and its value is used as the passphrase.

• Token template - the pattern contains tokens that use the %<variable_name>% format — each token is replaced with the corresponding environment variable value. Literal characters between tokens are preserved.

The following table contains example patterns and the passphrase to which they resolve based on the specified environment variables:

To encrypt the credentials, run the encryption tool located in the /configurator directory. The tool accepts the clientId, clientSecret, and the decryption pattern as arguments and outputs the encrypted credentials that can be provided to the Instant Bloomberg Adapter.

For the Windows command prompt, use double %% to escape the % symbol:

set MY_ENV_VAR=my-value
setup-encryptions.exe <client-id> <client-secret> my_pattern-%%MY_ENV_VAR%%

For PowerShell, use single quotes to prevent % expansion:

$env:MY_ENV_VAR = 'my-value'
.\setup-encryptions.exe <client-id> <client-secret> 'my_pattern-%MY_ENV_VAR%'

For Git Bash, no escaping is needed:

export MY_ENV_VAR=my-value
./setup-encryptions-linux <client-id> <client-secret> my_pattern-%MY_ENV_VAR%

After running the tool, the encrypted credentials can be provided to the Instant Bloomberg Adapter via one of the following options.

App Definition

The recommended approach is to embed the encrypted credentials directly in the app definition by using the "ibChat" property of the "ibChatAdapter" object under the "customProperties" top-level key. The "decryptPattern" property must also be set in order for the Instant Bloomberg Adapter to be able to derive the passphrase at runtime:

{
    "customProperties": {
        "ibChatAdapter": {
            "decryptPattern": "my_pattern-%MY_ENV_VAR%",
            "ibChat": {
                "host": "https://api.bloomberg.com",
                "clientId": "<encrypted-client-id>",
                "clientSecret": "<encrypted-client-secret>"
            }
        }
    }
}

Environment Variables

You can also use environment variables defined directly in the system.json file of io.Connect Desktop to provide the encrypted credentials. The DECRYPT_PATTERN variable must also be set in order for the Instant Bloomberg Adapter to be able to derive the passphrase at runtime:

{
    "envVars": {
        "set": {
            "DECRYPT_PATTERN": "my_pattern-%MY_ENV_VAR%",
            "IB_API_HOST_URL": "https://api.bloomberg.com",
            "IB_API_CLIENT_ID": "<encrypted-client-id>",
            "IB_API_CLIENT_SECRET": "<encrypted-client-secret>"
        }
    }
}

9.0 Version Stream

If you are still using the io.Connect Desktop 9.0 version stream, environment variables must be provided via the gilding.json file of io.Connect Desktop:

{
    "envVars": {
        "set": {
            "DECRYPT_PATTERN": "my_pattern-%MY_ENV_VAR%",
            "IB_API_HOST_URL": "https://api.bloomberg.com",
            "IB_API_CLIENT_ID": "<encrypted-client-id>",
            "IB_API_CLIENT_SECRET": "<encrypted-client-secret>"
        }
    }
}

Remote Source

Credentials can be loaded at runtime from a remote location. You can host the ibChatCredentials.json file (generated by the encryption tool) on an accessible server and configure the "fetchKeyConfig" property in the app definition to point to it. The "decryptPattern" property must also be set in order for the Instant Bloomberg Adapter to be able to derive the passphrase at runtime:

{
    "customProperties": {
        "ibChatAdapter": {
            "decryptPattern": "my_pattern-%MY_ENV_VAR%",
            "fetchKeyConfig": {
                "targetType": "url",
                "target": "https://your-server.com/ibChatCredentials.json",
                "isJson": true
            }
        }
    }
}

This approach avoids embedding credentials in app definition files and enables centralized credential management.

The Instant Bloomberg Adapter caches received messages for retrieval via the "IO.BBG.IB_Chat.GetLastMessages" Interop method. Cache files are stored in JSON format in a configurable directory (defaults to .cache/messages/).

Messages are automatically persisted to disk and loaded on startup. Expired messages are removed at startup and during write operations when rotation is enabled. The oldest messages are removed when per-stream or total message limits are reached.

The Instant Bloomberg Adapter uses the io.Connect Logger API. You can set the logging level via the "logLevel" property in the app definition or via the IB_ADAPTER_LOG_LEVEL environment variable.

The following logging levels are available: