Configuration

Config Files

lynox uses two config files, merged at startup:

File	Scope	Purpose
~/.lynox/config.json	User	API key, model, personal preferences
.lynox/config.json	Project	Project-specific overrides (safe subset only)

Project configs cannot override security-sensitive fields like API keys or vault settings.

Key Settings

LLM Provider

{
  "provider": "anthropic",
  "api_base_url": "https://api.mistral.ai/v1",
  "openai_model_id": "mistral-large-latest"
}

Setting	Values	Default
provider	anthropic, openai (Mistral / Ollama / LM Studio / OpenAI / Groq / vLLM / Gemini long-context), custom (Anthropic-compat proxy via LiteLLM), vertex (legacy)	anthropic
api_base_url	Endpoint for provider: openai or custom	—
openai_model_id	Model ID for provider: openai (e.g. mistral-large-latest, llama3.2)	—

Only configure the fields relevant to your provider. See LLM Providers for full setup guides per provider, including a “Legacy: Vertex AI” footnote for existing provider: vertex users.

Model & Intelligence

{
  "default_tier": "sonnet",
  "thinking_mode": "adaptive",
  "effort_level": "high"
}

Setting	Values	Default
default_tier	opus, sonnet, haiku	sonnet
thinking_mode	adaptive, disabled	adaptive
effort_level	low, medium, high, max	high

• opus — Most capable, higher cost
• sonnet — Balanced (recommended)
• haiku — Fastest, lowest cost

Cost Limits

{
  "max_session_cost_usd": 50.00,
  "max_daily_cost_usd": 100.00,
  "max_monthly_cost_usd": 500.00
}

lynox tracks token usage per session, day, and month. Defaults shown above are the engine’s built-in ceilings; lower them in config.json if you want a tighter budget. When a limit is reached, it pauses and asks before continuing.

Web Search

Web search is included out of the box via SearXNG (bundled in docker-compose). No configuration needed — it works automatically.

{
  "search_provider": "searxng",
  "searxng_url": "http://searxng:8080"
}

Setting	Values	Default
search_provider	searxng, tavily	searxng
searxng_url	SearXNG instance URL	—

See SearXNG setup for details.

Memory

{
  "memory_extraction": true,
  "memory_half_life_days": 90
}

• memory_extraction — Automatically extract and store insights from conversations
• memory_half_life_days — How quickly memories fade (higher = longer retention)

Knowledge Graph

{
  "knowledge_graph_enabled": true,
  "embedding_provider": "onnx",
  "embedding_model": "all-minilm-l6-v2"
}

Setting	Values	Default
knowledge_graph_enabled	true, false	true
embedding_provider	onnx, local	onnx
embedding_model	all-minilm-l6-v2, multilingual-e5-small, bge-m3	all-minilm-l6-v2

Use multilingual-e5-small or bge-m3 if you primarily work in non-English languages.

Changeset Review

{
  "changeset_review": true
}

When enabled, file writes are staged and shown as a diff for review before being applied. Useful for high-autonomy setups where you still want a final check.

Backups

{
  "backup_schedule": "0 3 * * *",
  "backup_retention_days": 30,
  "backup_encrypt": true,
  "backup_gdrive": false
}

See Backups for details.

Security

{
  "enforce_https": false
}

When enforce_https is true, all outbound HTTP requests from tools are blocked — only HTTPS is allowed.

Extensions

{
  "agents_dir": "./agents",
  "manifests_dir": "./workflows",
  "mcp_servers": [
    { "name": "my-server", "url": "https://my-mcp-server.example.com/sse" }
  ],
  "mcp_exposed_tools": ["lynox_run", "lynox_memory"]
}

See Extension Points and MCP for details.

Experience Mode

{
  "experience": "business"
}

• business — Optimized for business users (default)
• developer — Shows more technical details and options (experimental)

Environment Variables

Environment variables always take the highest precedence. The full priority chain for secrets is:

1. Environment variable (e.g. ANTHROPIC_API_KEY) — always wins, useful for overriding stale vault entries
2. Encrypted vault (~/.lynox/vault.db) — persisted via Web UI or ask_secret
3. Config file (~/.lynox/config.json) — lowest priority

When an env var overrides a vault value, a log message is printed: [lynox] ANTHROPIC_API_KEY env var overrides vault value.

Credentials can also be stored interactively via lynox’s secure ask_secret dialog — the agent will prompt you when it needs a key, and the value goes directly to the encrypted vault without ever entering the chat. See Security for details.

LLM Provider

Variable	Purpose
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Claude API key (Anthropic provider) — also reused as the generic key for provider: openai
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL	Endpoint for provider: openai or custom (e.g. https://api.mistral.ai/v1)
LYNOX_LLM_PROVIDER	LLM provider: anthropic (default), openai, custom (Anthropic-compat proxy), vertex (legacy)

OpenAI-Compatible

Variable	Purpose
OPENAI_MODEL_ID	Model ID, e.g. mistral-large-latest, llama3.2, gpt-4o, llama-3.3-70b-versatile
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	API key for the provider (reused env var; leave blank for local Ollama / LM Studio without auth)
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL	Provider base URL — see LLM Providers for the value per backend

Legacy: Google Vertex AI

provider: vertex is no longer offered by the installer; the env vars below remain wired for existing config.json setups that still point at Vertex. New installs should use Anthropic direct or the OpenAI-compatible path above.

Variable	Purpose
GCP_PROJECT_ID	GCP project ID
CLOUD_ML_REGION	Vertex region, e.g. europe-west4, us-east5
GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS	Path to GCP service-account JSON

Web Search

Variable	Purpose
SEARXNG_URL	SearXNG instance URL (included in docker-compose, recommended)
TAVILY_API_KEY	Tavily API key (alternative to SearXNG, 1K free/month)

Network & Server

Variable	Purpose
LYNOX_HTTP_PORT	HTTP API port (default: 3000 in Docker, 3100 locally)
LYNOX_HTTP_SECRET	Bearer token for HTTP API authentication
LYNOX_WEBUI_URL	Web UI URL (default: http://localhost:5173)
LYNOX_MCP_PORT	MCP server port (default: 3042)
LYNOX_MCP_SECRET	Bearer token for MCP server authentication

Security & Storage

Variable	Purpose
LYNOX_VAULT_KEY	Encryption key for the secret vault
LYNOX_DATA_DIR	Override data directory (default: ~/.lynox)
LYNOX_WORKSPACE	Working directory for file operations
LYNOX_BUGSINK_DSN	Error reporting DSN (self-hosted, opt-in)

Google Workspace

Variable	Purpose
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID	Google OAuth client ID
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET	Google OAuth client secret
GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_KEY	Path to Google service account JSON key file (headless/Docker)

Editing Config

You can edit config in three ways:

1. Web UI — Settings → Config
2. Direct — Edit ~/.lynox/config.json manually (restart required)