type: operations title: Configuration and data files description: How src/config.rs loads config.toml, the supported keys and defaults, where the data directory and databases live, and operational and security caveats. tags: [configuration, toml, data-directory, sqlite, security] verified:

by: openwiki/0.7.2 at: 2026-10-19T18:58:46.219Z sources:
id: openwiki-source-ea70eb6c04 resource: repo://.gitignore
id: openwiki-source-2a737474d8 resource: repo://src/config.rs generated: { by: "claude-code", at: "2026-10-19T18:58:46.219Z" } ---

Configuration and data files

All runtime settings come from one TOML file loaded by Config::load (src/config.rs:188-192). No environment variable is ever read (src/config.rs:1-13).

Data directory

The data directory is fixed: <platform config dir>/wh, resolved with dirs::config_dir() (src/config.rs:106-110). On Windows this is %APPDATA%\wh. It cannot be changed from the config file. At startup ensure_data_dir creates it if missing (src/config.rs:214-217).

File	Purpose	Defined by
`config.toml`	Optional settings	`CONFIG_FILE`, `src/config.rs:34`
`session.db`	WhatsApp session store used by `whatsapp-rust` (WhatsApp client)	`session_db_path`, `src/config.rs:223-225`
`history.db`	Local messages, chats, contacts and autoreply flags (History store)	`history_db_path`, `src/config.rs:231-233`

Keys

Key	Purpose	Default when missing or blank
`openai_api_key`	Bearer token for the AI endpoint (trimmed)	none — the AI client cannot be built
`openai_base_url`	Base URL of the OpenAI-compatible endpoint (trimmed, trailing `/` removed)	`https://ollama.com/v1`
`openai_model`	Model for text replies (trimmed)	`deepseek-v4.1-flash`
`openai_vision_model`	Model for image replies (trimmed)	none — image understanding disabled
`system_prompt`	Persona/instructions for autoreplies, kept as written (not trimmed, multiline allowed)	none — AI not configured

Mapping and defaults: src/config.rs:198-208, src/config.rs:23-25. The binary embeds no prompt text: without system_prompt the AI is not configured and the status line says so (see Application state). Unknown keys are ignored.

Loading rules

Missing file → all defaults (src/config.rs:142-152).
Unreadable file → cannot read config file <path>.
Invalid TOML or wrong value type → invalid config file <path> with the cause invalid TOML syntax or value type at line L, column C; the error never echoes file content (src/config.rs:127-136).
A leading UTF-8 BOM (common with Windows editors) and CRLF line endings are tolerated.
openai_base_url consisting only of slashes is rejected with openai_base_url in config.toml must not be empty or only slashes (src/config.rs:174-181).

Startup aborts with cannot load configuration on any of these errors (Runtime).

Security and operational notes

The API key is never printed: Config's Debug shows *** or <unset> (src/config.rs:80-100), and the raw FileConfig has no Debug impl at all (src/config.rs:64-78). The AI client redacts it too.
Keep config.toml in the data directory, outside the repository. .gitignore ignores a root-level /config.toml and .env (.gitignore:4-6), as well as SQLite journal/WAL/SHM files; note that the *.db pattern is commented out (.gitignore:7), so databases copied into the repo would not be ignored.
session.db holds the linked-device credentials: deleting it forces a new QR pairing. history.db can be deleted to reset local history and autoreply flags; it is recreated on start.
Images downloaded for vision replies are kept in memory only and never written to the data directory.

Tests

src/config.rs:236+ covers defaults, full files, blank values, multiline prompts, trimming, base URL normalisation and errors, Debug masking, vision model, DB paths, unknown keys, BOM/CRLF, non-leaking parse errors, missing, existing, invalid and unreadable files. See Unit tests.

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