Configuration

How to configure skene-growth using config files, environment variables, and CLI flags.

Configuration priority

Settings are loaded in this order (later overrides earlier):

1. User config     ~/.config/skene-growth/config     (lowest priority)
2. Project config  ./.skene-growth.config
3. Env variables   SKENE_API_KEY, SKENE_PROVIDER, etc.
4. CLI flags       --api-key, --provider, etc.        (highest priority)

Config file locations

Location	Purpose
`./.skene-growth.config`	Project-level config (per-project settings)
`~/.config/skene-growth/config`	User-level config (personal defaults)

Both files use TOML format. The user-level path respects XDG_CONFIG_HOME if set.

Creating a config file

# Create .skene-growth.config in the current directory
uvx skene-growth config --init

This creates a sample config file with restrictive permissions (0600 on Unix).

Interactive editing

Running config without flags opens interactive editing:

uvx skene-growth config

This prompts you for:

LLM provider — numbered list: openai, gemini, anthropic, lmstudio, ollama, generic
Model — numbered list of provider-specific models, or enter a custom name
Base URL — only if generic provider is selected
API key — password input (masked), with option to keep existing value

Viewing current config

uvx skene-growth config --show

Displays all current configuration values and their sources.

Config options

Option	Type	Default	Description
`api_key`	string	—	API key for LLM provider
`provider`	string	`"openai"`	LLM provider name
`model`	string	Per provider	LLM model name
`base_url`	string	—	Base URL for OpenAI-compatible endpoints
`output_dir`	string	`"./skene-context"`	Default output directory
`verbose`	boolean	`false`	Enable verbose output
`debug`	boolean	`false`	Enable debug logging
`exclude_folders`	list	`[]`	Folder names to exclude from analysis

Default models by provider

Provider	Default model
`openai`	`gpt-4o`
`gemini`	`gemini-3-flash-preview`
`anthropic`	`claude-sonnet-4-5`
`ollama`	`llama3.3`
`generic`	`custom-model`

Sample config file

# .skene-growth.config

# API key (can also use SKENE_API_KEY env var)
# api_key = "your-api-key"

# LLM provider: openai, gemini, anthropic, claude, lmstudio, ollama, generic
provider = "openai"

# Model (defaults per provider if not set)
# model = "gpt-4o"

# Base URL for OpenAI-compatible endpoints (required for generic provider)
# base_url = "https://your-api.com/v1"

# Default output directory
output_dir = "./skene-context"

# Enable verbose output
verbose = false

# Enable debug logging (logs LLM I/O to .skene-growth/debug/)
debug = false

# Folders to exclude from analysis
# Matches by: exact name, substring in folder names, path patterns
exclude_folders = ["tests", "vendor"]

Environment variables

Variable	Description	Example
`SKENE_API_KEY`	API key for LLM provider	`sk-...`
`SKENE_PROVIDER`	Provider name	`gemini`
`SKENE_BASE_URL`	Base URL for generic provider	`http://localhost:8000/v1`
`SKENE_DEBUG`	Enable debug mode	`true`
`LMSTUDIO_BASE_URL`	LM Studio server URL	`http://localhost:1234/v1`
`OLLAMA_BASE_URL`	Ollama server URL	`http://localhost:11434/v1`

Excluding folders

Custom exclusions from both the config file and --exclude CLI flags are merged with the built-in defaults.

Default exclusions

The following directories are always excluded: node_modules, .git, __pycache__, .venv, venv, dist, build, .next, .nuxt, coverage, .cache, .idea, .vscode, .svn, .hg, .pytest_cache.

How matching works

Exclusion matches in three ways:

Exact name — "tests" matches a folder named exactly tests
Substring — "test" matches tests, test_utils, integration_tests
Path pattern — "tests/unit" matches any path containing that pattern

Examples

# CLI flags (merged with config file exclusions)
uvx skene-growth analyze . --exclude tests --exclude vendor

# Short form
uvx skene-growth analyze . -e planner -e migrations -e docs

# In .skene-growth.config
exclude_folders = ["tests", "vendor", "migrations", "docs"]

Next steps

LLM providers — Detailed setup for each provider
CLI reference — All commands and flags

skene-growth CLI documentation