Config Files

Audience: Total newbies · Prereqs: Installation
Canonical source: src/shell/general/misc.js (instantiateSS), src/defaultconfig/*.yaml

Where settings live

Two folders matter:

src/defaultconfig/ - the template defaults, checked into git. You never edit these directly.
store/config/ - your actual, personal settings, created by npm run init as a copy of the defaults (see Installation). This folder is not checked into git - it's yours, and it's safe to edit.

Every server merges store/config/<file>.yaml over src/defaultconfig/<file>.yaml at startup: anything you've changed in your copy wins, anything you haven't touched falls back to the shipped default. There's also a special all.yaml whose contents get merged into every server's top-level config, regardless of which role reads it.

You edit files in store/config/, then restart the affected server(s) for changes to take effect - config isn't hot-reloaded.

The eight config files

File	Affects	What's in it
`all.yaml`	All three servers	Just two global toggles: `verbose` and `devlogs` logging.
`services.yaml`	Services only	Port, password hashing cost, session lifetime, rate limits, backup schedule, feedback webhook.
`game.yaml`	Game only	Port, which services server to sync with, your `auth_key`.
`client.yaml`	Client only	Port, which services server to sync with, site URL, optional HTTP login gate.
`distributed_all.yaml`	All (via services)	Settings services pushes out to every connected server - see Running a Server for the distributed-deployment case.
`distributed_client.yaml`	Client (via services)	Client-specific settings pushed the same way.
`distributed_permissions.yaml`	Game (via services)	Rank names and numeric levels, and per-command permission overrides - see Users and Ranks.
`perpetual_all.yaml`	The process manager	Auto-restart schedule, git auto-pull, Discord webhook alerts - see Perpetual.

The "distributed" files are a bit different from the rest: they live in store/config/ like everything else, but they're read by the services server and pushed out live to every game/client server that connects to it, rather than each server reading its own local copy in isolation. That's how a whole fleet of servers stays configured consistently from one place. For a single local instance this distinction doesn't matter much - just know that changing a distributed_*.yaml file only takes effect after restarting services, not just the server you'd naively expect.

The two you'll touch first

store/config/all.yaml - the two logging toggles npm run init asked you about:

verbose: false   # loads of more logs?
devlogs: false   # even more logs in the browser console

store/config/game.yaml - where your game server's identity lives:

port: 13372
services_server: "ws://localhost:13371"
auth_key: "..."   # filled in automatically by npm run init, if you said yes to the auth-server prompt

If npm run init didn't fill in auth_key for you (you said no to that prompt, or ran init before setting up a database), see Adding Game Servers to do it manually.

Every setting is commented

Every default config file has an inline comment above each setting explaining what it does - src/defaultconfig/*.yaml is genuinely worth just reading through once, since it's the most up-to-date reference and this page deliberately doesn't repeat every single option here (to avoid this page silently going stale as new options get added).

Next: Making an Account.

This page was drafted with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy. If something looks wrong, please open a PR or flag it.