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Configuration

Precedence

When multiple sources specify the model, provider, or API key, the highest-priority source wins:

1. CLI flags          --model, --provider, --base-url        (highest)
       ↓
2. Shell env vars     KODA_MODEL, KODA_PROVIDER, KODA_BASE_URL
       ↓
3. Keystore / DB      saved by /model, /provider, /key (injected at startup)
       ↓
4. Built-in defaults  Claude Sonnet via Anthropic              (lowest)

API keys (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, GEMINI_API_KEY, …) follow the same chain. Keys saved with /key are injected at startup — but a key already in the shell environment takes precedence and is never overwritten.

# Per-call override (doesn't change saved config)
koda "review auth.rs" --model o3

# Per-project via direnv (.envrc)
export KODA_MODEL=gemini-2.5-pro

# CI / GitHub Actions
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_KEY }} koda -p "check types"

Config files

Everything lives in ~/.config/koda/:

PathContent
db/koda.dbSQLite — sessions, messages, settings, API keys, input history
logs/koda.logRolling daily tracing log (not shown in the TUI)
agents/Global custom agent JSON definitions
skills/Global custom skill markdown files
memory.mdGlobal memory (injected into all system prompts)

Project-level overrides live in .koda/ at your project root and take priority over global config:

PathContent
.koda/agents/Project-specific agent definitions
.koda/skills/Project-specific skills
MEMORY.mdProject memory (also checks CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md)

Display

Koda’s TUI ships ANSI-colored syntax highlighting by default. Disable with one flag for environments where the output looks awful (monochrome themes, non-RGB-aware terminals).

Env varDefaultDisable with
KODA_SYNTAX_HIGHLIGHTonoff, 0, false, or no
  • KODA_SYNTAX_HIGHLIGHT controls TUI syntax highlighting for Read, Bash headers, and inline code. Disable for monochrome terminals or terminals where ANSI-RGB output looks washed out. Memoized on first call — restart koda after changing.

The negative values above (off, 0, false, no) are case-insensitive; everything else (including empty string and on) keeps the feature enabled.

Removed in v0.2.26: KODA_TRANSCRIPT_HYPERLINKS and KODA_EXPORT_VERBOSE previously controlled /export output formatting. Both were removed alongside /export itself when RFC #1167 collapsed transcript export into /debug-bundle. Setting either var is now a silent no-op; remove them from your shell rc files.