# Routes

- Environment Variable: `ROUTES`
- Config File Key: `routes`
- Type: [base64 encoded](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64) `string` or inline policy structure in config file
- **Required** - While Pomerium will start without a route configured, it will not authorize or proxy any traffic until a route is defined. If configuring Pomerium for the Enterprise Console, define a route for the Console itself in Pomerium.

A route contains specific access and control definitions for a back-end service. Each route is a list item under the `routes` key.

Each route defines at minimum a `from` field and one of [`to`](https://www.pomerium.com/docs/reference/routes/to.md), [`redirect`](https://www.pomerium.com/docs/reference/routes/redirect.md), or [`response`](https://www.pomerium.com/docs/reference/routes/direct-response.md), along with a `policy` key defining authorization logic. Policies are defined using [Pomerium Policy Language](https://www.pomerium.com/docs/internals/ppl.md) (**PPL**). Additional options are listed below.