Configuration

Where things live

What	Where
The program	~/.local/share/elanous (see install)
Settings	elanous config path prints the active file
Sign-ins, logs, sessions, worktree state	~/.elanous
API keys	the key cache: ~/.cache/<variable name in lower case>, e.g. ~/.cache/xai_api_key

Nothing in ~/.elanous or the key cache is touched by installing or upgrading.

Changing settings

elanous config get                         # everything (secrets redacted)
elanous config get llm.provider            # one value, by dotted path
elanous config set llm.provider openai-codex
elanous config unset llm.model

Settings are re-read when the file changes, so most changes apply to a running service without a restart.

API keys

elanous reads a key from the key cache first and from the environment second. The cache is what the background service uses, because a service started at login does not see your shell's environment.

To add a key without it appearing on screen:

umask 177 && printf '%s' "$KEY" > ~/.cache/openrouter_api_key    # file mode 600

or, from a checkout, bash scripts/add-api-key.sh OPENROUTER_API_KEY. elanous nexus install (--launchd on macOS, --systemd-user on Linux) also moves provider keys it finds in your shell into the cache instead of writing them into the service file. To make elanous use the environment and ignore the cache for one run, set ELANOUS_KEEP_ENV_KEYS=1.

Settings you are most likely to change

Path	Meaning
llm.provider	Default model provider (openai-codex, grok, openrouter, anthropic, gemini, local, …)
llm.model	Default model for that provider (leave unset to use the provider's default tier)
llm.fallbackChain	Providers to try, in order, when the default cannot answer
roleLlm	A different model per role (planning, review, …)

See providers for what each provider needs.

Environment variables

Variable	Meaning
ELANOUS_INSTALL_PREFIX	Install location (installer)
ELANOUS_PWA_STATIC_DIR	Folder the service serves the web app from
ELANOUS_KEEP_ENV_KEYS=1	Use environment variables instead of the key cache
--config-dir <dir> (flag)	Use another config/state root — e.g. to keep a test setup apart
--test (flag)	Run an isolated test instance rooted in the current git tree

config.json sections

~/.elanous/config.json holds user-level settings beyond env vars. (Older builds wrote ~/.config/elanous/config.json; that path still appears in the source but the live config directory is ~/.elanous — check yours with elanous where.)

Section	Purpose
llm	provider (auto/grok/openai/anthropic/local/openai-codex),
	apiKey, model, baseUrl (for local / codex proxies)
skills	activeSet preset + dirs[] — scan multiple SKILL.md roots at once
obsidian	vault (absolute path)
telegram	enabled, botToken, allowedUsers[], homeChannel
onboarding	completed, completedAt, version

Skill dir presets — claudecode (~/.claude/skills), opencode (~/.config/opencode/skills, default), codex (~/.codex/skills), hermes (~/.hermes/skills), openclaw (~/.openclaw/workspace/skills), or custom for your own paths. Multiple dirs can be scanned simultaneously (first-dir-wins on name collisions).

Re-run the wizard any time: elanous setup.