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permalink: cfg
title: Glyph – Project Configuration
type: page
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	<p>Glyph stores configuration settings in the following <span class="caps">YAML</span> files:</p>
<ol>
	<li>Your <em>Project Configuration</em> is stored in the <code>config.yml</code> file, included in each Glyph Project.</li>
	<li>Your <em>Global Configuration</em> is stored in a <code>.glyphrc</code> file in your <code>$HOME</code> (or <code>%HOMEPATH%</code> on Windows) directory (not created by default).</li>
	<li>The <em>System Configuration</em> is stored in the source directory of Glyph itself.</li>
</ol>
<p>When compiling, Glyph loads all these configuration files and merges them according to the following rules:</p>
<ul>
	<li>A setting configured in the <em>Project Configuration</em> overrides the same setting in both Global and System configuration.</li>
	<li>A setting configured in the <em>Global Configuration</em> overrides the same setting in the <em>System Configuration</em>.</li>
</ul>
<p>Typically, you should use the <em>Project Configuration</em> for all project-specific settings and the <em>Global Configuration</em> for settings affecting all your projects (for example, you may want to set the <a href="/glyph/book/config/document.html#s_document_author"><code>document.author</code></a> setting in the Global Configuration instead of setting it in the Project Configuration of all your Glyph projects). The <em>System Configuration</em> is best left untouched.</p>
<p>Instead of editing your configuration settings directly, you can use the <a href="/glyph/book/ref_commands.html#c_config"><code>config</code></a> command, as follows:</p>
<p><code>glyph config</code> <em>setting</em> <em>[value]</em></p>
<p>If no <em>value</em> is specified, Glyph prints the value of the configuration setting, so typing <code>glyph config document.author</code> right after creating a project (assuming you didn&#8217;t set this in the Global Configuration) will print nothing, because this setting is blank by default.</p>
<p>To change the value of a configuration setting, specify a value right after the setting, like this:</p>
<p><code>glyph config document.author "John Smith"</code></p>
<aside class="tip">
<p><span class="note-title">Tip</span>It is also possible to change configuration settings inside your document, using the <a href="/glyph/book/macros/macros_core.html#m_config_"><code>config:</code></a> macro.</p>
</aside>
<p>In this way, the document author will be set to <em>John Smith</em> for the current project. To save this setting globally, add a <code>-g</code> option, like this:</p>
<p><code>glyph config -g document.author "John Smith"</code></p>
<aside class="box">
<div class="box-title">Regarding configuration values and data types&#8230;</div>
<p>Glyph attempts to &#8220;guess&#8221; the data type of a configuration value by evaluation (<code>Kernel#instance_eval</code>) if the value:</p>
<ul>
	<li>is wrapped in quotes (<code>"</code> or <code>'</code>) &rarr; <code>String</code></li>
	<li>starts with a colon (<code>:</code>) &rarr; <code>Symbol</code></li>
	<li>is wrapped in square brackets (<code>[</code> and <code>]</code>) &rarr; <code>Array</code></li>
	<li>is wrapped in curly brackets (<code>{</code> and <code>}</code>) &rarr; <code>Hash</code></li>
	<li>is <em>true</em> or <em>false</em> &rarr; <code>Boolean</code></li>
	<li>is <em>nil</em> &rarr; <code>NilClass</code></li>
</ul>
<p>Note that this guessing is far from being foolproof: If you type something like <em>{:test, 2}</em>, for example, you&#8217;ll get an error.</p>
</aside>
<p>There are plenty of configuration settings that can be modified, but most of them are best if left alone (and in the System Configuration file).</p>
<p>For a complete reference, see <a href="/glyph/book/document.html#cfg_ref">Configuration Reference</a>. For everyday use, you may just want to change the settings defined in the <a href="/glyph/book/config/document.html#cfg_document"><code>document.*</code></a> namespace.</p> 
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