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Config

Atuin maintains two configuration files, stored in ~/.config/atuin/. We store data in ~/.local/share/atuin (unless overridden by XDG_*).

The full path to the config file would be ~/.config/atuin/config.toml

The config location can be overridden with ATUIN_CONFIG_DIR

db_path

Default: ~/.local/share/atuin/history.db

The path to the Atuin SQLite database.

db_path = "~/.history.db"

key_path

Default: ~/.local/share/atuin/key

The path to the Atuin encryption key.

key_path = "~/.atuin-key"

session_path

Default: ~/.local/share/atuin/session

The path to the Atuin server session file. This is essentially just an API token

session_path = "~/.atuin-session"

dialect

Default: us

This configures how the stats command parses dates. It has two possible values

dialect = "uk"

or

dialect = "us"

auto_sync

Default: true

Configures whether or not to automatically sync, when logged in.

auto_sync = true/false

update_check

Default: true

Configures whether or not to automatically check for updates.

update_check = true/false

sync_address

Default: https://api.atuin.sh

The address of the server to sync with!

sync_address = "https://api.atuin.sh"

sync_frequency

Default: 1h

How often to automatically sync with the server. This can be given in a “human-readable” format. For example, 10s, 20m, 1h, etc.

If set to 0, Atuin will sync after every command. Some servers may potentially rate limit, which won’t cause any issues.

sync_frequency = "1h"

search_mode

Default: fuzzy

Which search mode to use. Atuin supports “prefix”, “fulltext”, “fuzzy”, and “skim” search modes.

Prefix mode searches for “query*”; fulltext mode searches for “*query*”; “fuzzy” applies the fuzzy search syntax; “skim” applies the skim search syntax.

fuzzy search syntax

The “fuzzy” search syntax is based on the fzf search syntax.

TokenMatch typeDescription
sbtrktfuzzy-matchItems that match sbtrkt
'wildexact-match (quoted)Items that include wild
^musicprefix-exact-matchItems that start with music
.mp3$suffix-exact-matchItems that end with .mp3
!fireinverse-exact-matchItems that do not include fire
!^musicinverse-prefix-exact-matchItems that do not start with music
!.mp3$inverse-suffix-exact-matchItems that do not end with .mp3

A single bar character term acts as an OR operator. For example, the following query matches entries that start with core and end with either go, rb, or py.

^core go$ | rb$ | py$

filter_mode

Default: global

The default filter to use when searching

ModeDescription
global (default)Search history from all hosts, all sessions, all directories
hostSearch history just from this host
sessionSearch history just from the current session
directorySearch history just from the current directory

Filter modes can still be toggled via ctrl-r

filter_mode = "host"

search_mode_shell_up_key_binding

Atuin version: >= 17.0

Default: fuzzy

The default searchmode to use when searching and being invoked from a shell up-key binding.

Accepts exactly the same options as search_mode above

search_mode_shell_up_key_binding = "fuzzy"

Defaults to the value specified for search_mode.

filter_mode_shell_up_key_binding

Default: global

The default filter to use when searching and being invoked from a shell up-key binding.

Accepts exactly the same options as filter_mode above

filter_mode_shell_up_key_binding = "session"

Defaults to the value specified for filter_mode.

workspaces

Atuin version: >= 17.0

Default: false

This flag enables a pseudo filter-mode named “workspace”: the filter is automatically activated when you are in a git repository.

With workspace filtering enabled, Atuin will filter for commands executed in any directory within a git repository tree.

Filter modes can still be toggled via ctrl-r.

style

Default: auto

Which style to use. Possible values: auto, full and compact.

  • compact:

compact

  • full:

full

This means that Atuin will automatically switch to compact mode when the terminal window is too short for full to display properly.

invert

Atuin version: >= 17.0

Default: false

Invert the UI - put the search bar at the top.

invert = true/false

inline_height

Default: 0

Set the maximum number of lines Atuin’s interface should take up.

inline_height

If set to 0, Atuin will always take up as many lines as available (full screen).

show_preview

Default: true

Configure whether or not to show a preview of the selected command.

show_preview

Useful when the command is longer than the terminal width and is cut off.

max_preview_height

Atuin version: >= 17.0

Default: 4

Configure the maximum height of the preview to show.

Useful when you have long scripts in your history that you want to distinguish by more than the first few lines.

show_help

Atuin version: >= 17.0

Default: true

Configure whether or not to show the help row, which includes the current Atuin version (and whether an update is available), a keymap hint, and the total amount of commands in your history.

show_tabs

Atuin version: >= 18.0

Default: true

Configure whether or not to show tabs for search and inspect.

exit_mode

Default: return-original

What to do when the escape key is pressed when searching

ValueBehaviour
return-original (default)Set the command-line to the value it had before starting search
return-querySet the command-line to the search query you have entered so far

Pressing ctrl+c or ctrl+d will always return the original command-line value.

exit_mode = "return-query"

history_format

Default to history list

The history format allows you to configure the default history list format - which can also be specified with the —format arg.

The specified —format arg will prioritize the config when both are present

More on history list

history_filter

The history filter allows you to exclude commands from history tracking - maybe you want to keep ALL of your curl commands totally out of your shell history, or maybe just some matching a pattern.

This supports regular expressions, so you can hide pretty much whatever you want!

## Note that these regular expressions are unanchored, i.e. if they don't start
## with ^ or end with $, they'll match anywhere in the command.
history_filter = [
"^secret-cmd",
"^innocuous-cmd .*--secret=.+"
]

cwd_filter

The cwd filter allows you to exclude directories from history tracking.

This supports regular expressions, so you can hide pretty much whatever you want!

## Note that these regular expressions are unanchored, i.e. if they don't start
## with ^ or end with $, they'll match anywhere in the command.
# cwd_filter = [
# "^/very/secret/directory",
# ]

After updating that parameter, you can run the prune command to remove old history entries that match the new filters.

store_failed

Atuin version: >= 18.3.0

Default: true

store_failed = true

Configures whether to store commands that failed (those with non-zero exit status) or not.

secrets_filter

Atuin version: >= 17.0

Defatults: true

secrets_filter = true

This matches history against a set of default regex, and will not save it if we get a match. Defaults include

  1. AWS key id
  2. Github pat (old and new)
  3. Slack oauth tokens (bot, user)
  4. Slack webhooks
  5. Stripe live/test keys
  6. Atuin login command
  7. Cloud environment variable patterns (AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AZURE_STORAGE_CLASS_KEY, GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_KEY)
  8. Netlify authentication tokens
  9. Npm pat
  10. Pulumi pat

macOS Ctrl-n key shortcuts

Default: true

macOS does not have an Alt key, although terminal emulators can often be configured to map the Option key to be used as Alt. However, remapping Option this way may prevent typing some characters, such as using Option-3 to type # on the British English layout. For such a scenario, set the ctrl_n_shortcuts option to true in your config file to replace Alt-0 to Alt-9 shortcuts with Ctrl-0 to Ctrl-9 instead:

# Use Ctrl-0 .. Ctrl-9 instead of Alt-0 .. Alt-9 UI shortcuts
ctrl_n_shortcuts = true

network_timeout

Atuin version: >= 18.0

Default: 30

The max amount of time (in seconds) to wait for a network request. If any operations with a sync server take longer than this, the code will fail - rather than wait indefinitely.

network_connect_timeout

Atuin version: >= 18.0

Default: 5

The max time (in seconds) we wait for a connection to become established with a remote sync server. Any longer than this and the request will fail.

local_timeout

Atuin version: >= 18.0

Default: 5

Timeout (in seconds) for acquiring a local database connection (sqlite).

enter_accept

Atuin version: >= 17.0

Default: false

Not supported by NuShell presently

When set to true, Atuin will default to immediately executing a command rather than the user having to press enter twice. Pressing tab will return to the shell and give the user a chance to edit.

This technically defaults to true for new users, but false for existing. We have set enter_accept = true in the default config file. This is likely to change to be the default for everyone in a later release.

keymap_mode

Atuin version: >= 18.0

Default: emacs

The initial keymap mode of the interactive Atuin search (e.g. started by the keybindings in the shells). There are four supported values: "emacs", "vim-normal", "vim-insert", and "auto". The keymap mode "emacs" is the most basic one. In the keymap mode "vim-normal", you may use k and j to navigate the history list as in Vim, whilst pressing i changes the keymap mode to "vim-insert". In the keymap mode "vim-insert", you can search for a string as in the keymap mode "emacs", while pressing Esc switches the keymap mode to "vim-normal". When set to "auto", the initial keymap mode is automatically determined based on the shell’s keymap that triggered the Atuin search. "auto" is not supported by NuShell at present, where it will always trigger the Atuin search with the keymap mode "emacs".

keymap_cursor

Atuin version: >= 18.0

Default: (empty dictionary)

The terminal’s cursor style associated with each keymap mode in the Atuin search. This is specified by a dictionary whose keys and values being the keymap names and the cursor styles, respectively. A key specifies one of the keymaps from emacs, vim_insert, and vim_normal. A value is one of the cursor styles, default or {blink,steady}-{block,underline,bar}. The following is an example.

keymap_cursor = { emacs = "blink-block", vim_insert = "blink-block", vim_normal = "steady-block" }

If the cursor style is specified, the terminal’s cursor style is changed to the specified one when the Atuin search starts with or switches to the corresponding keymap mode. Also, the terminal’s cursor style is reset to the one associated with the keymap mode corresponding to the shell’s keymap on the termination of the Atuin search.

prefers_reduced_motion

Atuin version: >= 18.0

Default: false

Enable this, and Atuin will reduce motion in the TUI as much as possible. Users with motion sensitivity can find the live-updating timestamps distracting.

Alternatively, set env var NO_MOTION

Stats

This section of client config is specifically for configuring Atuin stats calculations

[stats]
common_subcommands = [...]
common_prefix = [...]

common_subcommands

Default:

common_subcommands = [
"apt",
"cargo",
"composer",
"dnf",
"docker",
"git",
"go",
"ip",
"kubectl",
"nix",
"nmcli",
"npm",
"pecl",
"pnpm",
"podman",
"port",
"systemctl",
"tmux",
"yarn",
]

Configures commands where we should consider the subcommand as part of the statistics. For example, consider kubectl get rather than just kubectl.

common_prefix

Atuin version: >= 17.1

Default:

common_prefix = [
"sudo",
]

Configures commands that should be totally stripped from stats calculations. For example, ‘sudo’ should be ignored.

sync

We have developed a new version of sync, that is both faster and more efficient than the original version.

Presently, it is the default for fresh installs but not for existing users. This will change in a later release.

To enable sync v2, add the following to your config

[sync]
records = true

dotfiles

Atuin version: >= 18.1

Default: false

To enable sync of shell aliases between hosts. Requires sync enabled.

Add the new section to the bottom of your config file, for every machine you use Atuin with

[dotfiles]
enabled = true

Note: you will need to have sync v2 enabled. See the above section.

Manage aliases using the command line options

# Alias 'k' to 'kubectl'
atuin dotfiles alias set k kubectl
# List all aliases
atuin dotfiles alias list
# Delete an alias
atuin dotfiles alias delete k

After setting an alias, you will either need to restart your shell or source the init file for the change to take affect

keys

This section of the client config is specifically for configuring key-related settings.

[keys]
scroll_exits = [...]
prefix = 'a'

scroll_exits

Atuin version: >= 18.1

Default: true

Configures whether the TUI exits, when scrolled past the last or first entry.

prefix

Atuin version: > 18.3

Default: a

Which key to use as the prefix

preview

This section of the client config is specifically for configuring preview-related settings. (In the future the other 2 preview settings will be moved here.)

[preview]
strategy = [...]

strategy

Atuin version: >= 18.3

Default: auto

Which preview strategy is used to calculate the preview height. It respects max_preview_height.

ValuePreview height is calculated from the length of the
auto (default)selected command
staticlongest command in the current result set
fixeduse max_preview_height as fixed value

By using auto a preview is shown, iff the command is longer than the width of the terminal.

Daemon

Atuin version: >= 18.3

Default: false

Enable the background daemon

Add the new section to the bottom of your config file

[daemon]
enabled = true

sync_frequency

Default: 300

How often the daemon should sync, in seconds

sync_frequency = 300

socket_path

Default:

socket_path = "~/.local/share/atuin/atuin.sock"

Where to bind a unix socket for client -> daemon communication

systemd_socket

Default false

Use a socket passed via systemd socket activation protocol instead of the path

systemd_socket = false

tcp_port

Default: 8889

The port to use for client -> daemon communication. Only used on non-unix systems.

tcp_port = 8889

theme

Atuin version: >= 18.4

The theme to use for showing the terminal interface.

[theme]
name = ""
debug = false
max_depth = 10

name

Default: ""

A theme name that must be present as a built-in (an empty string for the default, autumn or marine), or found in the themes directory, with the suffix .toml. By default this is ~/.config/atuin/themes/ but can be overridden with the ATUIN_THEME_DIR environment variable.

name = "my-theme"

debug

Default: false

Output information about why a theme will not load. Independent from other log levels as it can cause data from the theme file to be printed unfiltered to the terminal.

debug = false

max_depth

Default: 10

Number of levels of “parenthood” that will be traversed for a theme. This should not need to be added in or changed in normal usage.

max_depth = 10