How to enable hidden or INTERNAL runtime flags in YBA

Overview

Some YugabyteDB Anywhere (YBA) runtime configuration flags are tagged INTERNAL and are hidden in the UI by default. Only PUBLIC flag appear in Admin → Advanced → Global Configuration and Universe → More → Edit Runtime Config until you change the UI tag filter.

The filter key yb.runtime_conf_ui.tag_filter is itself INTERNAL and cannot be changed from the UI, you must use the YBA REST API (curl) with a Super Admin API token.

A Common use cases: The upgrade timeout flag on large catalogs for example yb.checks.wait_for_server_ready.timeout is a hidden flag and needs the steps mentioned in this KB. 

Prerequisites

• Super Admin role on YBA

• API token from User profile → API Key (header X-AUTH-YW-API-TOKEN)

• Customer UUID (CUUID) from your user profile or API

Background

Runtime flags are classified with tags. The UI reads yb.runtime_conf_ui.tag_filter to decide which tagged flag to list.

Global scope UUID is always:

00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000

Recommendations

1. Temporarily show INTERNAL keys in the UI

What to do:

export YBA_HOST="<yba-hostname-or-ip>"
export CUUID="<customer-uuid>"
export TOKEN="<api-token>"

curl --request PUT \
  --url "https://${YBA_HOST}/api/v1/customers/${CUUID}/runtime_config/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/key/yb.runtime_conf_ui.tag_filter" \
  --header 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  --header "X-AUTH-YW-API-TOKEN: ${TOKEN}" \
  --data '["PUBLIC","INTERNAL"]'

Why: Adds INTERNAL to the UI filter so hidden keys (including upgrade timeouts) appear in Global / universe runtime config screens.

Expected response:

{"success":true}

Risk / Trade-off: Super Admins can edit sensitive INTERNAL keys; misconfiguration can affect upgrades, auth, or tasks. Revert the filter when finished.

2. Edit the required runtime keys in the UI

1. Admin → Advanced → Global Configuration (global keys), or

   Universe → Actions → More → Edit Runtime Config (universe-scoped keys).

2. Confirm INTERNAL keys now appear (previously only PUBLIC).
3. Select the key → Actions → Edit Configuration → set value → Save.

Example:

3. Revert UI tag filter to default

curl --request DELETE \
  --url "https://${YBA_HOST}/api/v1/customers/${CUUID}/runtime_config/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/key/yb.runtime_conf_ui.tag_filter" \
  --header 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  --header "X-AUTH-YW-API-TOKEN: ${TOKEN}"

DELETE removes the override; UI returns to default ["PUBLIC"] filter.

Expected response:

{"success":true}

Verification

• PUT returns {"success":true} (if 400, check for invalid tag such as BETA on 2025.2+)

• Global Configuration lists target INTERNAL keys

• After edits, universe tasks / upgrades reflect new values

• DELETE on tag_filter succeeds and UI hides INTERNAL keys again

curl --request GET \
  --url "https://${YBA_HOST}/api/v1/customers/${CUUID}/runtime_config/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/key/yb.runtime_conf_ui.tag_filter" \
  --header "X-AUTH-YW-API-TOKEN: ${TOKEN}"

References

• YBA runtime configuration