Configuration

Look up every setting in Memo's config file and the environment variables it reads.

This page lists every setting in Memo's config file and every environment variable Memo reads. Use it to look up a setting; you rarely need to edit the file by hand. memo folders add adds a folder and memo auto on turns the timer on for you. Edit the file yourself for files to skip, mail accounts and where exported notes go.

The file is ~/.config/cli-memo/config.json. It is a JSON file: keep the quotes, commas and braces as in the example.

{
  "notes": {
    "folders": [{ "id": "1", "path": "/path/to/vault", "format": "obsidian" }],
    "ignore": ["Journal/Private.md", "Archive", "**/Private*"],
    "embed": true,
    "export": { "dir": "/path/to/vault/memo", "format": "obsidian" }
  },
  "mail": {
    "accounts": [{ "name": "work", "address": "[email protected]" }],
    "maxBodyChars": 1000000,
    "maxAttachmentChars": 200000
  },
  "auto": { "enabled": true, "every": "5m" }
}

`notes`

Key	Meaning
`folders`	Your note folders. Each has the `id` the local store gave it, its `path` on this computer and its `format`: `obsidian` (the default) or `markdown`. `memo folders add` writes an entry; an entry with no `id` is refused by import. See Markdown or Obsidian.
`ignore`	Files and folders that import skips: a path inside the folder, a folder, or a pattern such as `*/Private`. `--ignore` adds rules for one run.
`embed`	`false` keeps notes out of search by meaning.
`export`	`dir` and `format` for `memo notes export` and `--export` when you give no folder.

The folder id is the same on every computer; the path is different on each. See use the same notes on another computer.

`mail`

accounts lists the mail accounts to import. Each account has:

Key	Meaning
`name`	The account's name in Himalaya, and the name in `memo mail <name> import`.
`address`	The email address.
`mode`	`gmail` (the default) or `imap`.
`folders`	For `imap`: the mail folders to read, such as `["INBOX", "Archive"]`.
`embed`	`false` keeps this account's mail out of search by meaning.

Next to accounts:

Key	Meaning
`maxBodyChars`	How many characters of each email are kept. Default 1,000,000.
`maxAttachmentChars`	How many characters of each attachment's text are kept. Default 200,000.

See Mail.

`auto`

Key	Meaning
`enabled`	`true` when the import timer is on.
`every`	How often it runs: `90s`, `5m`, `1h`; one minute or more.

memo auto on and memo auto off write these. If you edit them by hand, the timer follows at its next run. See importing on a timer.

Environment variables

Variable	Meaning
`MEMO_CONFIG_DIR`	The folder that holds `config.json`.
`MEMO_STATE_DIR`	Memo's state folder: what each folder looked like at the last import.
`MEMO_MODELS_ANALYSIS_PROVIDER`, `MEMO_MODELS_ANALYSIS_MODEL`	The AI provider and the model identifier (the name the provider uses for it) that `memo ask --model` calls.
`MEMO_MODELS_ANALYSIS_BASE_URL`	Optional: the provider's address.
`MEMO_MODEL_API_KEY`	The provider's key.

Memo calls a provider outside your computer only when memo ask has both --model and --allow-remote. See give your agent the sources.

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`notes`

`mail`

`auto`

Environment variables