---
id: CFG-8
family: GR-CFG
level: core
profiles: [storage-api]
posture: normative-target
added: "1.0"
changed: "1.0"
source: https://flowdrop.io/spec/rules/gr-cfg/cfg-8
specification: FlowDrop Workflow Specification 1.0-draft
licence: CC BY 4.0
---

# CFG-8 — Internal parameters take runtime values only

*GR-CFG (Part I) · level: core · profiles: storage-api · added in 1.0*

Names prefixed `__` are the system's own channel into a processor. They sidestep the gate flags, which also means an author can never see or set one; choosing the prefix is choosing that semantics, not a naming style.

## The rule

> **Normative.** This is the rule.
>
> 1. A parameter whose name begins `__` is internal.
>
> 2. It always accepts a value from the runtime inputs regardless of its `connectable`, `exposed` and `configurable` flags, never takes a value from the node's saved configuration, and otherwise takes its effective default.
>
> 3. Bypassing the gate flags does not exempt it from declaration: an internal name absent from the processor's parameter schema is never resolved and never reaches the processor (CFG-13), whoever supplied it.
>
> 4. A setting that also needs an author-facing surface must not use the prefix.

## Related rules

- Names: CFG-4, CFG-5, CFG-13, EXPO-10
- Referenced by: CFG-13, EXPO-10

---

Rule identifiers are permanent and are never renumbered. This specification carries
no implementation status: each implementation publishes its own standing against
these rules. Licensed CC BY 4.0.