Working with configs

cMeta keeps tunable values — server URLs, API keys, default repositories, cache locations, tool paths, and so on — in config artifacts: named artifacts of the built-in config category whose values live in a data.json sidecar under <repo>/config/<name>/.

Categories and apps read these configs at runtime, so you can change behavior without editing any code. Multiple named configs coexist; conventions the shipped code already uses include default (framework defaults), task (cache / version checks), cserver (the local web app), and ctuning_server (external API access).

Commands

Command

Behavior

cx config set <name> --meta.<key>[.<child>]=<value>

Deep-merge keys into the config (creates it if missing).

cx config get <name>

Return the config values.

cx config show <name>

Pretty-print as flat --meta.a.b=c lines — ready to copy into a set.

cx config unset <name> --meta.<key>[.<child>]

Deep-remove the given keys.

Configs are ordinary artifacts, so the usual commands work too: cx config ls, cx config find <name>, cx config info <name>, cx config rm <name>.

Examples

# Point cMeta at your own git org for `cx repo get <name>` short-hand:
cx config set default --meta.default_git_repo=my-org --meta.default_git=git@github.com:

# Move the large file / build cache off the system drive, and enable version checks:
cx config set task --meta.file_cache=D:\cmeta-file-cache --meta.check_versions

# Configure access to the cTuning.ai platform (see cplatform.md):
cx config set ctuning_server --meta.url={your API Access URL}
cx config set ctuning_server --meta.api_key={your API Access Token}

# Where the local web app listens, and one shared password in front of it:
cx config set cserver --meta.param.host=0.0.0.0 --meta.param.port=8004
cx config set cserver --meta.password="a passphrase of your own"

# What its home page "/" shows (/projects by default; none = a plain welcome),
# and repositories to leave off that list on a shared server:
cx config set cserver --meta.default_page=/projects
cx config set cserver --meta.hide_repos=my-private-repo

# Inspect and confirm:
cx config show default
cx config show ctuning_server

# Remove a single key:
cx config unset default --meta.default_git_repo

Values are stored as JSON, but you set and remove them from the CLI using dot-notation (--meta.a.b=c).

A param: subtree of the cserver config is special: the app category exports every key in it to the app as an environment variable (param.port becomes CSERVER_PORT), and cx app run cserver --param.<key>= overrides it for one run.

Keep secrets private

API keys and tokens set via config are written to your local cMeta configuration. Treat them like passwords: do not commit them to Git or paste them into shared scripts, issues or logs. If a secret is exposed, revoke and reissue it at its source.

The same applies to cserver’s password. If you would rather not keep the plain text on disk, store its digest instead — the server accepts either. cx utils hash_password asks for the password without echoing it and prints the line to paste:

cx utils hash_password
cx config set cserver --meta.password_sha256=<the digest it printed>

See also

  • cplatform.md — connecting to the cTuning.ai platform.

  • using-cmeta.md §8.2.1 — every cserver password key, and what that protection is and is not.

  • using-cmeta.md §8.2.2 — the cserver home page, default_page and hide_repos.

  • using-cmeta.md §8 — full config reference, including the uses_categories: pattern for reading a config from your own category in Python.