Changes to the Pipi System Engine (sys) data model

Mike's Notes

The next job is to write the 6 configuration files for each Pipi Nest.

A big thanks is owed to Ben Nadel for the sample code he shared on his CFML blog, which explained some ways to do this.

Resources

• https://www.blog.ajabbi.com/2025/09/the-internal-control-hierarchy-of-pipi.html
• https://www.blog.ajabbi.com/2026/04/pipi-nest.html
• https://www.blog.ajabbi.com/2026/03/cfml-applicationcfc.html
• https://www.bennadel.com/blog/2114-extending-the-application-cfc-coldfusion-framework-component-with-a-relative-path.htm
• https://www.bennadel.com/blog/2014-extending-the-application-cfc-coldfusion-framework-component-with-cfinclude.htm
• https://helpx.adobe.com/coldfusion/developing-applications/developing-cfml-applications/using-persistent-data-and-locking/using-server-variables.html

References

• Reference

Repository

• Home > Ajabbi Research > Library >
• Home > Handbook > 

Last Updated

18/04/2026

Changes to the Pipi System Engine (sys) data model

By: Mike Peters

On a Sandy Beach: 12/04/2026

Mike is the inventor and architect of Pipi and the founder of Ajabbi.

Changes this week to how Pipi is organised in the data centre continue.

This job is to write the 6 base configuration files for each Pipi Nest. Because the recent code tests were successful, most of the time will be spent documenting. This should only need to be done once. The 6 files can be done sequentially, starting from the root.

Pipi Nest

The fundamental organising principle is to use a uniquely named "Pipi Nest" directory to host Pipi.

Every nest has these properties;

• One Pipi major version
• One Pipi edition
• One account type
• Can host
• One or more accounts
• AND
• One or more Pipi instances.

Account

Every customer or user has an account, which is opened when they sign up.

A customer account has these properties;

• One account type.
• Contains one or more deployments.

Pipi Instance

Each Pipi instance has these properties;

• One account name, e.g., "loki-01".
• Shares a codebase, e.g., "loki".

Deployment

A deployment has these properties;

• One deployment tenancy type.
• One language.
• Contains one or more deployment objects.
• Can contain other deployments to create global settings for an account (Enterprise or DevOps).

Revised Configuration Hierarchy

Child files inherit properties from parent files and can also override them.

• Pipi Nest > Account > Deployment > Deployment Object > Publication > Website > Workspace.
• Pipi Nest > Codebase > Pipi Instance.

Configuration files

Pipi uses a hierarchy of CFML configuration files to set system properties.

<pipi nest>/

• pipi_nest_probe.cfm
• pipi/
• Application.cfc [1]
• pipi_nest.cfm
• <name>/
• Application.cfc [2]
• pipi_account.cfm
• pip/
• Application.cfc [3]
• pipi_system.cfm

Configuration notes

The 3 different Application.cfc files are common across all Pipi Nests and don't ever change.

Application.cfc [1] defines Pipi Nest variables

• OS
• Java environment
• Platform-appropriate absolute physical path
• Nest datasources

Application.cfc [2] defines Name variables

• Account name
• Deployments
• Pipi Instances

Application.cfc [3] defines System variables

• Version
• Edition
• State

The .cfm files contain specific local configuration variables that can be directly edited by Pipi.

• pipi_nest_probe.cfm
• pipi_nest.cfm
• pipi_account.cfm
• pipi_system.cfm

Example

This is the list of 7 configuration files for the Pipi Nest 9cc/

• 9cc/pipi_nest_probe.cfm
• 9cc/pipi/Application.cfc
• 9cc/pipi/pipi_nest.cfm
• 9cc/pipi/loki/Application.cfc
• 9cc/pipi/loki/pipi_account.cfm
• 9cc/pipi/loki/pip/Application.cfc
• 9cc/pipi/loki/pip/pipi_system.cfm