Configuration

Configuration resolves in this precedence order: command-line flag > environment variable > config file > compiled-in default. You can override any setting at any layer without touching the others.

Config file

The config file is TOML. mnm discovers it via:

1. --config <path> (or MIDNIGHT_MANUAL_CONFIG env)
2. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/midnight-manual/config.toml
3. $HOME/.config/midnight-manual/config.toml

A missing file is fine; compiled-in defaults apply throughout.

[server]
url = "https://midnight-manual.midnightntwrk.expert"

[models]
embedding      = "voyage-context-3"  # remote VoyageAI general embedder (contextualized)
code_embedding = "voyage-code-3"     # remote VoyageAI code embedder (second vector)
# voyage_api_key = "…"              # optional — BYOK embedding + reranking (else server-proxied)
# voyage_timeout_secs = 120         # optional — per-request Voyage embed timeout (seconds)

[rerank]
location = "auto"      # auto (default) | local | server | off
model    = "rerank-2.5"  # rerank-2.5 (default) | rerank-2.5-lite

[telemetry]
enabled = true
# endpoint = "https://gauge-telemetry.fly.dev"  # optional — override the Gauge endpoint

The full key reference lives in a Reference section of this site, not yet published.

Key environment variables

Variable	Effect
MIDNIGHT_MANUAL_SERVER	Corpus URL (same as --server).
MIDNIGHT_MANUAL_CONFIG	Config file path (same as --config).
MIDNIGHT_MANUAL_DISABLE_TELEMETRY	Opt out of telemetry for every invocation.
MIDNIGHT_MANUAL_GAUGE_ENDPOINT	Override the Gauge telemetry endpoint.
VOYAGE_API_KEY	Your Voyage key for BYOK embedding and reranking. Unset -> proxied by the hosted server.
VOYAGE_TIMEOUT_SECS	Per-request timeout (seconds) for Voyage embed calls (default 120).
MIDNIGHT_MANUAL_RERANK	Rerank placement: auto | local | server | off.
MIDNIGHT_MANUAL_RERANK_MODEL	Voyage rerank model: rerank-2.5 | rerank-2.5-lite.
RUST_LOG	Log verbosity (error / warn / info / debug / trace). Logs go to stderr.

mnm config show

mnm config show prints the resolved configuration: the config file merged with compiled-in defaults. It does not show runtime overrides from flags or env vars.

mnm config show
mnm config show --json

--effective

mnm config show --effective layers env-var and global-flag overrides on top of the config file, so you see the values the CLI would actually use for a given invocation. This is useful for diagnosing surprising behaviour.

mnm config show --effective
mnm config show --effective --json

What --effective resolves:

• server.url: the actual URL after --server / MIDNIGHT_MANUAL_SERVER is applied, with any trailing slash trimmed.
• models.voyage_api_key: shows **** if a key is effective (from flag, env, or config), null if absent. The real value is never printed.
• models.voyage_timeout_secs: resolved from VOYAGE_TIMEOUT_SECS env or config.
• rerank.location: auto is resolved to the concrete placement (local when a Voyage key is present, server otherwise).
• rerank.model: the actual model that would be used.
• models.cache_dir: the resolved local cache directory path.
• telemetry.enabled: false if --no-telemetry was passed.

The --effective output is annotated with a comment noting that it is not a copy-paste config file. It reflects runtime decisions that config files cannot express, like auto rerank placement expanding to local or server.

Precedence summary

--flag          (highest)
 ENVIRONMENT VAR
  config.toml
   compiled default  (lowest)

Any layer can be omitted; the next lower layer fills in. The one exception is the --effective diagnostic: it surfaces the result of this chain rather than being part of it.