transport

The node's topic transport: auto (the default) takes the transport a provider finds configured (Kafka with wow.kafka.bootstrap-servers); without one, the topics are in the node's JVM when it runs for development (a profile of wow.dev-profiles, or a loopback internal port), and otherwise it has none: the node then publishes no stream, and refuses to start when it needs topics (topic routing, command intake, ledger publishing set to true). memory keeps the topics in the JVM on purpose, for development alone; none gives the node no topics in any profile, whatever is configured, with the same refusal; kafka, or a community provider's type, names the transport. A blank wow.kafka.bootstrap-servers is no way to turn the topics off: in development it falls back to the topics in the JVM.