Configuration

Config lives in two files. Project wins.

Full example

{
  "defaultModel": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5",
  "thinking": { "mode": "adaptive" },
  "genome": true,
  "semanticSummaries": "ast",
  "diffStyle": "default",
  "chatStyle": "accent",
  "toolTimeout": 2,
  "compaction": {
    "strategy": "v2",
    "triggerThreshold": 0.7,
    "keepRecent": 4
  },
  "taskRouter": {
    "spark":      "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5",
    "ember":      "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5",
    "compact":    "google/gemini-2.5-flash"
  },
  "agentFeatures": {
    "desloppify": true,
    "tierRouting": true,
    "dispatchCache": true,
    "targetFileValidation": true
  },
  "retry": { "maxAttempts": 5, "baseDelayMs": 3000 }
}

Fields

Model

Display

Intelligence

Compaction

See compaction for what these do.

"compaction": {
  "strategy": "v2",
  "triggerThreshold": 0.7,
  "resetThreshold": 0.4,
  "keepRecent": 4,
  "maxToolResults": 30,
  "llmExtraction": true
}

Retry

For 429s and transient errors. Delays double each attempt.

"retry": { "maxAttempts": 5, "baseDelayMs": 3000 }

Task router

Assign different models to different jobs. See the task router recipe for tuning tips.

"taskRouter": {
  "spark":      "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5",
  "ember":      "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5",
  "webSearch":  "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5",
  "desloppify": "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5",
  "verify":     "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5",
  "compact":    "google/gemini-2.5-flash",
  "semantic":   "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5",
  "default":    null
}

Resolution: taskRouter[slot] → taskRouter.default → active model.

Agent features

"agentFeatures": {
  "desloppify": true,
  "tierRouting": true,
  "dispatchCache": true,
  "targetFileValidation": true
}

Toggle in the TUI with /agent-features.

Providers

Pick keys and add custom providers on the dedicated pages:

• All providers - env vars, --set-key commands, keyUrls.
• Custom providers - any OpenAI-compatible API.
• Copilot - use your GitHub Copilot subscription.

Auth & key storage

Keys go to your OS keychain when available, with a file fallback otherwise.

empryo --set-key <provider> <key> writes to whichever backend is active. Inspect with empryo --list-providers.

Lookup order

{ "keyPriority": "env" }

Use "app" when shell-exported keys keep overriding stored ones.

Pass a key per-launch

Env vars work for the TUI too - useful for one-off sessions or CI:

LLM_GATEWAY_API_KEY=sk-... empryo
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-... empryo

Nothing is persisted. There is no --key flag - the TUI only reads stored keys and env vars.

Remove a key

/keys inside the TUI lists every provider with delete shortcuts. Or delete from the keychain directly (security delete-generic-password -a empryo -s anthropic-api-key on macOS).

Instruction files

Auto-load project rules from AI-tool markdown files:

{ "instructionFiles": ["empryo", "claude", "cursorrules"] }

Toggle in TUI with /instructions.

Privacy

Block files from the agent:

/privacy add .env
/privacy add secrets/**

Built-ins already cover .env, .pem, credentials, id_rsa, .npmrc, .netrc, shadow, passwd.

Environment variables

Hooks

Covered on the hooks page. Short version: Empryo reads hooks.{Event} from all 5 config sources (Claude Code's three + Empryo's two), fires all matches.

Storage

/storage shows per-component disk usage (Genome, sessions, plans, memory, input history, binaries, fonts) with one-click cleanup.

Scope priority

Session → Project → Global. Changes via commands land in whatever scope the command targets. Use /model-scope to move the active model between project and global.