Configuration Overview

The current Hike configuration model has three main layers:

1. CLI runtime overrides such as --config and --env-file
2. A YAML configuration file for persistent defaults
3. An optional .env file plus JSON schemas for runtime-only values and validation

Resolution order

The active configuration file is resolved in this order:

1. a path passed with --config
2. the HIKE_CONFIG_PATH environment variable
3. ./hike.config.yaml in the current working directory, if it exists
4. ~/.config/hike/config.yaml
5. legacy config files such as ~/.config/hike/configuration.json

The environment file follows the same pattern via --env-file and HIKE_ENV_PATH.

Read next

• Files, Environment & Schemas
• Keybindings
• File Browser & Startup
• UI, Layout & Content

A small example

theme: textual-dark
binding_set: mnemonic
local_browser_view_mode: flat-list
startup_auto_open: true
startup_auto_open_patterns:
  - INDEX.md
  - README.md