Local vs global configuration

Palabre can use a global configuration for all your projects, or a local configuration for a specific project.

Global configuration

In an interactive terminal, palabre creates this global configuration automatically on first launch.

palabre init

File created:

~/.palabre/palabre.config.json

Use palabre init explicitly if you want to prepare the global config without opening the TUI, or if you want the same default agents everywhere.

Local configuration

palabre init --local

File created:

./palabre.config.json

Use this option if a project needs its own agents, models, or export folder.

A local configuration can run the commands declared by its agents and contact configured Ollama servers. Palabre therefore asks for approval before first use and records its fingerprint in ~/.palabre/trusted-configs.json. Any external file change invalidates that approval. In a non-interactive workflow, review the file and use --trust-config once to record its new fingerprint.

palabre doctor remains available before approval so you can inspect the configuration. In that case, it does not call Ollama URLs declared by the untrusted file.

Resolution order

Palabre looks for configuration in this order:

1. ./palabre.config.json
2. ~/.palabre/palabre.config.json

You can force a specific file:

palabre run -s "Subject" --config ./palabre.config.json
palabre agents --config ./palabre.config.json