Configuration Management

Summary

The OVOS configuration loader merges settings from multiple sources—default, system, remote, and user—so you can customize only what you need without touching shipped files.

Usage Guide

  1. Locate or create your user config
mkdir -p ~/.config/mycroft
nano ~/.config/mycroft/mycroft.conf

Add only the keys you want to override; everything else falls back to defaults.

  1. Override via environment variables (optional)
export OVOS_CONFIG_BASE_FOLDER="myfolder"
export OVOS_CONFIG_FILENAME="myconfig.yaml"

This changes paths such as:

  • ~/.config/mycroft/mycroft.conf → ~/.config/myfolder/mycroft.conf

  • ~/.config/mycroft/mycroft.conf → ~/.config/mycroft/myconfig.yaml

  • Use special flags (in system config)

{
 "disable_user_config": true,
 "disable_remote_config": true
}

Place these in /etc/mycroft/mycroft.conf (or your default package file) to turn off loading of remote or user settings.

Technical Explanation

Load Order & Overrides

OVOS loads all existing files in this sequence, with later files overriding earlier ones:

  • Default (ovos-config package)
  • System (/etc/mycroft/mycroft.conf)
  • Remote (~/.config/<base>/web_cache.json)
  • User (~/.config/<base>/<filename>)

💡 Keys repeated in multiple files are overridden by the last‑loaded file containing them.

File Locations & Formats

  • Base folder: Controlled by OVOS_CONFIG_BASE_FOLDER (defaults to mycroft).
  • Filename: Controlled by OVOS_CONFIG_FILENAME (defaults to mycroft.conf).
  • Formats: JSON (.json or .conf) or YAML (.yml or .yaml).

Protected Keys

Prevent certain settings from being overridden by remote or user configs.

{
 "protected_keys": {
   "user": [
     "gui_websocket.host",
     "websocket.host"
   ]
 }
}

💡 this example block users from exposing the messagebus accidentally

Disabling Layers

  • disable_user_config: If true, XDG user configs are ignored.
  • disable_remote_config: If true, downloaded remote configs (web_cache.json) are ignored.

Tips & Caveats

  • Always use your user file (~/.config/.../mycroft.conf) to override defaults—never edit system or package‑shipped files.
  • Ensure your JSON is valid; mixed file extensions may lead to load errors.
  • Remember that setting disable_user_config or disable_remote_config will silently skip those layers—use with caution.
  • Admin PHAL is a special service that runs as root, this means it can only access /etc/mycroft/mycroft.conf

References