Genesis Docs

genesis config

Config helpers for non-interactive edits in genesis.json: get/set/unset/file/schema/validate values by path and print the active config file. Run without a subcommand to open the configure wizard (same as genesis configure).

Root options:

  • --section <section>: repeatable guided-setup section filter when you run genesis config without a subcommand

Supported guided sections:

  • workspace
  • model
  • web
  • gateway
  • daemon
  • channels
  • plugins
  • skills
  • health

Examples

genesis config file
genesis config --section model
genesis config --section gateway --section daemon
genesis config schema
genesis config get browser.executablePath
genesis config set browser.executablePath "/usr/bin/google-chrome"
genesis config set browser.profiles.work.executablePath "/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome"
genesis config set agents.defaults.heartbeat.every "2h"
genesis config set agents.list[0].tools.exec.node "node-id-or-name"
genesis config set agents.defaults.models '{"openai/gpt-5.4":{}}' --strict-json --merge
genesis config set channels.discord.token --ref-provider default --ref-source env --ref-id DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN
genesis config set secrets.providers.vaultfile --provider-source file --provider-path /etc/genesis/secrets.json --provider-mode json
genesis config unset plugins.entries.brave.config.webSearch.apiKey
genesis config set channels.discord.token --ref-provider default --ref-source env --ref-id DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN --dry-run
genesis config validate
genesis config validate --json

config schema

Print the generated JSON schema for genesis.json to stdout as JSON.

What it includes:

  • The current root config schema, plus a root $schema string field for editor tooling
  • Field title and description docs metadata used by the Control UI
  • Nested object, wildcard (*), and array-item ([]) nodes inherit the same title / description metadata when matching field documentation exists
  • anyOf / oneOf / allOf branches inherit the same docs metadata too when matching field documentation exists
  • Best-effort live plugin + channel schema metadata when runtime manifests can be loaded
  • A clean fallback schema even when the current config is invalid

Related runtime RPC:

  • config.schema.lookup returns one normalized config path with a shallow schema node (title, description, type, enum, const, common bounds), matched UI hint metadata, and immediate child summaries. Use it for path-scoped drill-down in Control UI or custom clients.
genesis config schema

Pipe it into a file when you want to inspect or validate it with other tools:

genesis config schema > genesis.schema.json

Paths

Paths use dot or bracket notation:

genesis config get agents.defaults.workspace
genesis config get agents.list[0].id

Use the agent list index to target a specific agent:

genesis config get agents.list
genesis config set agents.list[1].tools.exec.node "node-id-or-name"

Values

Values are parsed as JSON5 when possible; otherwise they are treated as strings. Use --strict-json to require JSON5 parsing. --json remains supported as a legacy alias.

genesis config set agents.defaults.heartbeat.every "0m"
genesis config set gateway.port 19001 --strict-json
genesis config set channels.whatsapp.groups '["*"]' --strict-json

config get <path> --json prints the raw value as JSON instead of terminal-formatted text.

Object assignment replaces the target path by default. Protected map/list paths that commonly hold user-added entries, such as agents.defaults.models, models.providers, models.providers.<id>.models, plugins.entries, and auth.profiles, refuse replacements that would remove existing entries unless you pass --replace.

Use --merge when adding entries to those maps:

genesis config set agents.defaults.models '{"openai/gpt-5.4":{}}' --strict-json --merge
genesis config set models.providers.ollama.models '[{"id":"llama3.2","name":"Llama 3.2"}]' --strict-json --merge

Use --replace only when you intentionally want the provided value to become the complete target value.

config set modes

genesis config set supports four assignment styles:

  1. Value mode: genesis config set <path> <value>
  2. SecretRef builder mode:
genesis config set channels.discord.token \
  --ref-provider default \
  --ref-source env \
  --ref-id DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN
  1. Provider builder mode (secrets.providers.<alias> path only):
genesis config set secrets.providers.vault \
  --provider-source exec \
  --provider-command /usr/local/bin/genesis-vault \
  --provider-arg read \
  --provider-arg openai/api-key \
  --provider-timeout-ms 5000
  1. Batch mode (--batch-json or --batch-file):
genesis config set --batch-json '[
  {
    "path": "secrets.providers.default",
    "provider": { "source": "env" }
  },
  {
    "path": "channels.discord.token",
    "ref": { "source": "env", "provider": "default", "id": "DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN" }
  }
]'

genesis config set --batch-file ./config-set.batch.json --dry-run

Policy note:

  • SecretRef assignments are rejected on unsupported runtime-mutable surfaces (for example hooks.token, commands.ownerDisplaySecret, Discord thread-binding webhook tokens, and WhatsApp creds JSON). See SecretRef Credential Surface.

Batch parsing always uses the batch payload (--batch-json/--batch-file) as the source of truth. --strict-json / --json do not change batch parsing behavior.

JSON path/value mode remains supported for both SecretRefs and providers:

genesis config set channels.discord.token \
  '{"source":"env","provider":"default","id":"DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN"}' \
  --strict-json

genesis config set secrets.providers.vaultfile \
  '{"source":"file","path":"/etc/genesis/secrets.json","mode":"json"}' \
  --strict-json

Provider builder flags

Provider builder targets must use secrets.providers.<alias> as the path.

Common flags:

  • --provider-source <env|file|exec>
  • --provider-timeout-ms <ms> (file, exec)

Env provider (--provider-source env):

  • --provider-allowlist <ENV_VAR> (repeatable)

File provider (--provider-source file):

  • --provider-path <path> (required)
  • --provider-mode <singleValue|json>
  • --provider-max-bytes <bytes>
  • --provider-allow-insecure-path

Exec provider (--provider-source exec):

  • --provider-command <path> (required)
  • --provider-arg <arg> (repeatable)
  • --provider-no-output-timeout-ms <ms>
  • --provider-max-output-bytes <bytes>
  • --provider-json-only
  • --provider-env <KEY=VALUE> (repeatable)
  • --provider-pass-env <ENV_VAR> (repeatable)
  • --provider-trusted-dir <path> (repeatable)
  • --provider-allow-insecure-path
  • --provider-allow-symlink-command

Hardened exec provider example:

genesis config set secrets.providers.vault \
  --provider-source exec \
  --provider-command /usr/local/bin/genesis-vault \
  --provider-arg read \
  --provider-arg openai/api-key \
  --provider-json-only \
  --provider-pass-env VAULT_TOKEN \
  --provider-trusted-dir /usr/local/bin \
  --provider-timeout-ms 5000

Dry run

Use --dry-run to validate changes without writing genesis.json.

genesis config set channels.discord.token \
  --ref-provider default \
  --ref-source env \
  --ref-id DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN \
  --dry-run

genesis config set channels.discord.token \
  --ref-provider default \
  --ref-source env \
  --ref-id DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN \
  --dry-run \
  --json

genesis config set channels.discord.token \
  --ref-provider vault \
  --ref-source exec \
  --ref-id discord/token \
  --dry-run \
  --allow-exec

Dry-run behavior:

  • Builder mode: runs SecretRef resolvability checks for changed refs/providers.
  • JSON mode (--strict-json, --json, or batch mode): runs schema validation plus SecretRef resolvability checks.
  • Policy validation also runs for known unsupported SecretRef target surfaces.
  • Policy checks evaluate the full post-change config, so parent-object writes (for example setting hooks as an object) cannot bypass unsupported-surface validation.
  • Exec SecretRef checks are skipped by default during dry-run to avoid command side effects.
  • Use --allow-exec with --dry-run to opt in to exec SecretRef checks (this may execute provider commands).
  • --allow-exec is dry-run only and errors if used without --dry-run.

--dry-run --json prints a machine-readable report:

  • ok: whether dry-run passed
  • operations: number of assignments evaluated
  • checks: whether schema/resolvability checks ran
  • checks.resolvabilityComplete: whether resolvability checks ran to completion (false when exec refs are skipped)
  • refsChecked: number of refs actually resolved during dry-run
  • skippedExecRefs: number of exec refs skipped because --allow-exec was not set
  • errors: structured schema/resolvability failures when ok=false

JSON output shape

{
  ok: boolean,
  operations: number,
  configPath: string,
  inputModes: ["value" | "json" | "builder", ...],
  checks: {
    schema: boolean,
    resolvability: boolean,
    resolvabilityComplete: boolean,
  },
  refsChecked: number,
  skippedExecRefs: number,
  errors?: [
    {
      kind: "schema" | "resolvability",
      message: string,
      ref?: string, // present for resolvability errors
    },
  ],
}

Success example:

{
  "ok": true,
  "operations": 1,
  "configPath": "~/.genesis/genesis.json",
  "inputModes": ["builder"],
  "checks": {
    "schema": false,
    "resolvability": true,
    "resolvabilityComplete": true
  },
  "refsChecked": 1,
  "skippedExecRefs": 0
}

Failure example:

{
  "ok": false,
  "operations": 1,
  "configPath": "~/.genesis/genesis.json",
  "inputModes": ["builder"],
  "checks": {
    "schema": false,
    "resolvability": true,
    "resolvabilityComplete": true
  },
  "refsChecked": 1,
  "skippedExecRefs": 0,
  "errors": [
    {
      "kind": "resolvability",
      "message": "Error: Environment variable \"MISSING_TEST_SECRET\" is not set.",
      "ref": "env:default:MISSING_TEST_SECRET"
    }
  ]
}

If dry-run fails:

  • config schema validation failed: your post-change config shape is invalid; fix path/value or provider/ref object shape.
  • Config policy validation failed: unsupported SecretRef usage: move that credential back to plaintext/string input and keep SecretRefs on supported surfaces only.
  • SecretRef assignment(s) could not be resolved: referenced provider/ref currently cannot resolve (missing env var, invalid file pointer, exec provider failure, or provider/source mismatch).
  • Dry run note: skipped <n> exec SecretRef resolvability check(s): dry-run skipped exec refs; rerun with --allow-exec if you need exec resolvability validation.
  • For batch mode, fix failing entries and rerun --dry-run before writing.

Write safety

genesis config set and other Genesis-owned config writers validate the full post-change config before committing it to disk. If the new payload fails schema validation or looks like a destructive clobber, the active config is left alone and the rejected payload is saved beside it as genesis.json.rejected.*. The active config path must be a regular file. Symlinked genesis.json layouts are unsupported for writes; use GENESIS_CONFIG_PATH to point directly at the real file instead.

Prefer CLI writes for small edits:

genesis config set gateway.reload.mode hybrid --dry-run
genesis config set gateway.reload.mode hybrid
genesis config validate

If a write is rejected, inspect the saved payload and fix the full config shape:

CONFIG="$(genesis config file)"
ls -lt "$CONFIG".rejected.* 2>/dev/null | head
genesis config validate

Direct editor writes are still allowed, but the running Gateway treats them as untrusted until they validate. Invalid direct edits can be restored from the last-known-good backup during startup or hot reload. See Gateway troubleshooting.

Whole-file recovery is reserved for globally broken config, such as parse errors, root-level schema failures, legacy migration failures, or mixed plugin and root failures. If validation fails only under plugins.entries.<id>..., Genesis keeps the active genesis.json in place and reports the plugin-local issue instead of restoring .last-good. This prevents plugin schema changes or minHostVersion skew from rolling back unrelated user settings such as models, providers, auth profiles, channels, gateway exposure, tools, memory, browser, or cron config.

Subcommands

  • config file: Print the active config file path (resolved from GENESIS_CONFIG_PATH or default location). The path should name a regular file, not a symlink.

Restart the gateway after edits.

Validate

Validate the current config against the active schema without starting the gateway.

genesis config validate
genesis config validate --json

After genesis config validate is passing, you can use the local TUI to have an embedded agent compare the active config against the docs while you validate each change from the same terminal:

If validation is already failing, start with genesis configure or genesis doctor --fix. genesis chat does not bypass the invalid-config guard.

genesis chat

Then inside the TUI:

!genesis config file
!genesis docs gateway auth token secretref
!genesis config validate
!genesis doctor

Typical repair loop:

  • Ask the agent to compare your current config with the relevant docs page and suggest the smallest fix.
  • Apply targeted edits with genesis config set or genesis configure.
  • Rerun genesis config validate after each change.
  • If validation passes but the runtime is still unhealthy, run genesis doctor or genesis doctor --fix for migration and repair help.

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