5. Configuration

Config home directory

Rayu resolves a single config home directory used for settings, providers, sessions, skills, projects, etc. Resolution order:

1. RAYU_CONFIG_DIR — explicit override.
2. ~/.rayu — if it exists (Rayu's own config).
3. ~/.rayu — default for fresh installs.

Force a different directory with the env var:

RAYU_CONFIG_DIR=/tmp/rayu-test rayu  # isolated/throwaway config

Files & locations

Within the config home (e.g. ~/.rayu/):

When RAYU_CONFIG_DIR is set, all config files live inside that directory instead of the default ~/.rayu.

providers.json schema

{
  "activeProvider": "nvidia",
  "subagent": { "providerId": "nvidia", "model": "meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct" },
  "subagentByAgent": { "backend": { "providerId": "deepseek", "model": "deepseek-chat" } },
  "imageModel": "imagen-4.0-generate-001",
  "videoModel": "veo-3.1-generate-001",
  "projectProfile": "default",
  "providers": [
    {
      "id": "nvidia",
      "kind": "openai-compatible",
      "apiKey": "nvapi-xxxxx",
      "baseURL": "https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1",
      "defaultModel": "meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct",
      "smallFastModel": "nvidia/llama-3.1-nemotron-nano-8b-v1",
      "models": ["my/custom-model"],
      "fetchedModels": ["...catalog from /v1/models..."],
      "contextWindow": 131072,
      "modelContextWindows": { "deepseek-ai/deepseek-v4-flash": 1000000 }
    },
    { "id": "anthropic", "kind": "anthropic", "apiKey": "sk-ant-xxxxx" },
    { "id": "bedrock", "kind": "bedrock", "bedrockApi": "converse", "apiKey": "aws-xxxxx", "awsRegion": "us-east-1" },
    { "id": "gemini-vertex", "kind": "vertex", "gcpProject": "my-project", "gcpRegion": "global" },
    { "id": "kiro", "kind": "kiro", "kiroAuthType": "oauth" }
  ]
}

You can edit this file by hand; restart Rayu to pick up changes.

Environment variables

Config & providers

Models & context

Diagnostics & privacy

See Diagnostics & Privacy for the privacy model.

Project settings & memory

Rayu reads project files when present:

• RAYU.md, .rayu/RAYU.md, .rayu/rules/*.md — project memory/instructions.
• .rayu/settings.json, .rayu/settings.local.json — project/local settings.
• .mcp.json — project MCP servers.

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