Settings

Settings File

Rusty stores its persistent configuration at ~/.rusty/settings.json. This file is created by the setup wizard on first run.

{
  "api_key": "sk-...",
  "api_base": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
  "default_model": "gpt-4o",
  "allowed_tools": [
    "bash:git status",
    "bash:cargo check"
  ],
  "credential_store": "keyring"
}

Fields

Field	Type	Description
api_key	string	API key for the LLM provider (stored if not using keyring)
api_base	string	Base URL for the API endpoint
default_model	string	Model identifier to use by default
allowed_tools	string[]	Permanently allowed tool invocations
credential_store	enum	"keyring" or "settings_file"

CLI Flags

All settings can be overridden at runtime via CLI flags:

Flag	Description
--model	Override the model
--api-key	Override the API key
--api-base	Override the API base URL
--preset	Use a named preset (overrides api_base and model)
--permissions	Set permission mode: default, accept-edits, bypass, plan
--max-turns	Maximum agent loop iterations
--max-tokens	Maximum tokens in the response
--temperature	Sampling temperature
--thinking-budget	Token budget for reasoning/thinking content
--plan-with-tasks	Enable structured task tracking in responses
--cwd	Set the working directory
--prompt	Run in headless mode with a single prompt
--headless	Run in stdin REPL mode
--resume	Resume a saved session by ID
--list-sessions	List all saved sessions
--verbose	Enable verbose logging
--setup	Force the setup wizard to run

Environment Variables

Variable	Purpose
OPENAI_API_KEY	API key (lower priority than RUSTY_API_KEY)
RUSTY_API_KEY	API key (higher priority)
OPENAI_BASE_URL	API base URL
RUST_LOG	Logging level (debug, info, warn)

Resolution Order

Settings are resolved in this order (later wins):

1. Preset defaults
2. ~/.rusty/settings.json
3. Environment variables
4. CLI flags