How to Create system.xml Configuration in Magento 2

In this blog, we’ll break down how to add a custom system configuration under Stores > Configuration, making your Magento admin panel more powerful, organized, and developer-friendly.

Config.xml in Magento 2

XML is a configuration file that creates configuration fields in Magento 2 System Configuration. You can create config.xml in Magento 2 in 3 simple steps. First, create a custom configuration field with Magento 2. Second, create ACL. And finally, add the default config value on Magento 2 module.

Now we will show you how to execute it in three steps with examples.

Note: Replace Aureatelabs/Jobs from entries in this article with your module name.

Step 1: Create a custom configuration field with Magento 2

Let’s assume that we have created a module for jobs. Now let’s create the system.xml file.

The system.xml file will be located at: app/code/Aureatelabs/Jobs/etc/adminhtml/system.xml

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<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:module:Magento_Config:etc/system_file.xsd">
<system>
   <tab id="jobs" translate="label" sortOrder="1000">
       <label>Jobs</label>
   </tab>
   <section id="jobs" translate="label" type="text" sortOrder="10" showInDefault="1" showInWebsite="1" showInStore="1">
       <label>Jobs</label>
       <tab>jobs</tab>
       <resource>Aureatelabs_Jobs::jobs</resource>
       <group id="department" translate="label" type="text" sortOrder="10" showInDefault="1" showInWebsite="1" showInStore="1">
           <label>Job configuration</label>
           <field id="view_list" translate="label comment" type="select" sortOrder="10" showInDefault="1" showInWebsite="1" showInStore="1">
               <label>Show list</label>
               <comment>Show job list of the viewing department</comment>
               <source_model>Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno</source_model>
           </field>
       </group>
   </section>
</system>
</config>

tab node creates a new tab. The attribute sortOrder allows you to change its position on the list.

The section node adds a new element to our tab. You can change the text with the label value.

group node creates a group of fields on the form. We will create one group with the label Job configuration.

We have to set the select type and define the label. We will be using a native object from Magento, which will return values “Yes/No”.

Step 2: ACL Creation

The next step is to create an ACL for displaying the Configuration. Let’s create an acl.xml file.

The acl.xml file will be located at: app/code/Aureatelabs/Jobs/etc/acl.xml

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<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:Acl/etc/acl.xsd">
<acl>
   <resources>
       <resource id="Magento_Backend::admin">
           <resource id="Aureatelabs_Jobs::job_head" title="Jobs" sortOrder="100" >
               <resource id="Aureatelabs_Jobs::department" title="Departments" sortOrder="10">
                   <resource id="Aureatelabs_Jobs::department_save" title="Save Department" sortOrder="10" />
                   <resource id="Aureatelabs_Jobs::department_delete" title="Delete Department" sortOrder="20" />
               </resource>
               <resource id="Aureatelabs_Jobs::job" title="Jobs" sortOrder="20">
               <resource id="Aureatelabs_Jobs::job_save" title="Save Job" sortOrder="10" />
                   <resource id="Aureatelabs_Jobs::job_delete" title="Delete Job" sortOrder="20" />
               </resource>
           </resource>
           <resource id="Magento_Backend::stores">
               <resource id="Magento_Backend::stores_settings">
                   <resource id="Magento_Config::config">
                       <resource id="Aureatelabs_Jobs::jobs" title="Jobs Section" />
                   </resource>
               </resource>
           </resource>
       </resource>
   </resources>
</acl>
</config>

We have added a new node named “Magento_Backend::stores”

The last node will be our module node: Aureatelabs_Jobs::jobs

The ID is equal to the resource node in the system.xml file.

After performing the above steps, you need to execute the commands given below:
php bin/magento cache:flush
php bin/magento setup:di:compile

Now refresh the store configuration page and you will find that the admin configuration will be available now.

Step 3: Add the default config value to the Magento 2 module

Let’s create a config.xml file. The config.xml file will be located at: app/code/Aureatelabs/Jobs/etc/config.xml

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<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:module:Magento_Store:etc/config.xsd">
<default>
   <jobs>
       <department>
           <view_list>1</view_list>
       </department>
   </jobs>
</default>
</config>

The default node states that it is the default scope.

The next nodes are section, group, and field names that are set in system.xml

Here we set our default value to 1.

You can verify your configuration by checking the core_config_data table in your Magento database. Simply look for the jobs/department/view_list entry under the path column to confirm your setup.

And that’s a wrap! If you’ve followed each step carefully, you now know how to create system.xml configuration in Magento 2 like a pro. Should you run into any confusion or need help customizing your setup, feel free to reach out — our Magento experts are always ready to help.

Happy Customizing!