CLI Configuration Guide

nGPT offers a CLI configuration system that allows you to set persistent default values for command-line options. This guide explains how to use and manage CLI configurations.

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Overview

The CLI configuration system is separate from your API configuration (which stores API keys, base URLs, and models). Instead, it stores your preferred default values for CLI parameters like temperature, language, or renderer.

This is especially useful when you:

  • Repeatedly use the same parameter values
  • Have preferred settings for specific tasks
  • Want to create different workflows based on context

Configuration File Location

The CLI configuration is stored in a platform-specific location:

  • Linux: ~/.config/ngpt/ngpt-cli.conf or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ngpt/ngpt-cli.conf
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/ngpt/ngpt-cli.conf
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\ngpt\ngpt-cli.conf

Basic Commands

The CLI configuration is managed through the --cli-config command:

ngpt --cli-config COMMAND [ARGS...]

Where COMMAND is one of:

  • help - Show help message
  • set - Set a configuration value
  • get - Get a configuration value
  • unset - Remove a configuration value
  • list - List available configurable options

Setting Configuration Values

To set a default value for a parameter:

ngpt --cli-config set OPTION VALUE

For example:

# Set default temperature to 0.9
ngpt --cli-config set temperature 0.9

# Set default language for code generation to JavaScript
ngpt --cli-config set language javascript

# Set default provider to Gemini
ngpt --cli-config set provider Gemini

# Enable web search by default
ngpt --cli-config set web-search true

# Set default renderer for prettify
ngpt --cli-config set renderer glow

Boolean values can be set using true or false:

# Enable streaming markdown rendering by default
ngpt --cli-config set stream-prettify true

# Disable streaming by default
ngpt --cli-config set no-stream true

Getting Configuration Values

To view the current value of a specific setting:

ngpt --cli-config get OPTION

For example:

# Check current temperature setting
ngpt --cli-config get temperature

To view all current settings:

ngpt --cli-config get

This will display all your configured CLI defaults.

Removing Configuration Values

To remove a setting and revert to the built-in default:

ngpt --cli-config unset OPTION

For example:

# Remove custom temperature setting
ngpt --cli-config unset temperature

Listing Available Options

To see all configurable options:

ngpt --cli-config list

This displays the available options, their types, default values, and any conflicts with other options.

Configuration Context and Exclusivity

Some options only apply in specific modes:

  • language only applies to code generation mode
  • rec-chunk only applies to git commit message mode

Some options are mutually exclusive:

  • no-stream, prettify, and stream-prettify cannot be used together
  • provider and config-index cannot be used together

The CLI configuration system enforces these rules to prevent incompatible combinations.

Available Options

General Options (All Modes)

Option Type Default Description
config-index int 0 Index of the configuration to use
provider string - Provider name to use (alternative to config-index)
temperature float 0.7 Controls randomness (0.0-2.0)
top_p float 1.0 Controls diversity (0.0-1.0)
max_tokens int - Maximum response length in tokens
preprompt string - Custom system prompt
log string - Log file path
web-search bool false Enable web search capability
no-stream bool false Disable streaming
prettify bool false Enable markdown rendering
stream-prettify bool false Enable real-time markdown rendering
renderer string auto Markdown renderer to use (auto, rich, or glow)

Mode-Specific Options

Code Generation Mode

Option Type Default Description
language string python Programming language for code generation

Git Commit Message Mode

Option Type Default Description
rec-chunk bool false Process large diffs in chunks recursively
diff string - Path to diff file
chunk-size int 200 Lines per chunk when chunking is enabled
analyses-chunk-size int 200 Lines per chunk when recursively chunking analyses
max-msg-lines int 20 Maximum lines in commit message before condensing
max-recursion-depth int 3 Maximum recursion depth for commit message condensing

Examples

Setting Up a Development Environment 

# Set Python as default language
ngpt --cli-config set language python

# Enable pretty markdown rendering by default
ngpt --cli-config set prettify true

# Set temperature for more deterministic responses
ngpt --cli-config set temperature 0.3

Setting Up a Creative Writing Environment 

# Increase temperature for more creative responses
ngpt --cli-config set temperature 1.2

# Reduce top_p for more focused but varied outputs
ngpt --cli-config set top_p 0.9

# Enable web search for more informed responses
ngpt --cli-config set web-search true

Setting Up for Git Workflow 

# Enable recursive chunking for large diffs
ngpt --cli-config set rec-chunk true

# Increase chunk size for more context
ngpt --cli-config set chunk-size 300

# Limit commit message lines
ngpt --cli-config set max-msg-lines 15

Priority Order

CLI configuration values are applied with this priority (highest to lowest):

  1. Command-line arguments (directly passed to ngpt)
  2. CLI configuration settings (from ngpt-cli.conf)
  3. Built-in defaults

This means you can always override your configured defaults by specifying options directly on the command line.

Notes and Tips

  • Settings are applied based on context (e.g., language only applies to code generation mode)
  • Boolean options can be set to true or false (both case-insensitive)
  • Sensitive data like API keys should NOT be stored in CLI configuration; use the main configuration system instead
  • The configuration file is a simple JSON file that can be manually edited if necessary
  • Changes to configuration take effect immediately in new commands

Troubleshooting

Configuration Not Applied

If your configuration is not being applied:

  1. Verify the setting exists with ngpt --cli-config list
  2. Check the current value with ngpt --cli-config get OPTION
  3. Ensure you’re not overriding it with a command-line argument
  4. Check for exclusive options that might conflict

Resetting All Configuration

To reset all CLI configuration to defaults:

  1. Delete the configuration file: 
    # Linux/macOS
rm ~/.config/ngpt/ngpt-cli.conf
   
# Windows (PowerShell)
Remove-Item $env:APPDATA\ngpt\ngpt-cli.conf
  2. Or unset each option individually: 
    ngpt --cli-config get | grep -v "Available options" | cut -d':' -f1 | xargs -I{} ngpt --cli-config unset {}