Configuration

File location

Ink looks for one user configuration file:

1. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ink/config.toml when XDG_CONFIG_HOME is a non-empty absolute path
2. $HOME/.config/ink/config.toml when XDG_CONFIG_HOME is unset, empty, or relative

When the XDG path is active, Ink does not also read the home fallback.

Precedence

Settings resolve in this order, from lowest to highest priority:

1. Built-in defaults
2. User configuration
3. Explicit command-line options

For example, --theme nord overrides a theme selected in config.toml.

Settings

The configuration file accepts these settings:

• normal: whether the prompt starts in Normal mode (false by default)
• line-numbers: whether textarea shows line numbers (true by default)
• theme: a case-insensitive bundled theme name, using hyphens as separators (tokyo-night by default)
• colors: semantic #RRGGBB overrides applied after the selected theme

#:schema https://dkarter.github.io/ink/schema/ink-config.schema.json
normal = true
theme = "catppuccin-mocha"

[colors]
selection = "#33467c"
normal-mode = "#7aa2f7"

See Themes for every supported color role.

Schema and validation

Ink publishes its complete TOML schema at https://dkarter.github.io/ink/schema/ink-config.schema.json. Config files written by ink theme include the Taplo-compatible association automatically. Add this first line to existing hand-written files for editor completion and validation:

#:schema https://dkarter.github.io/ink/schema/ink-config.schema.json

Validate the same path Ink uses during normal startup:

ink config validate

A valid file, or an absent file that uses defaults, exits 0 with a concise message. Invalid or unreadable files exit 1 with a path-bearing diagnostic. Command usage errors exit 2.

Invalid settings

Invalid syntax, unknown themes, unsupported values, and unknown settings fail before Ink enters terminal raw mode. The diagnostic identifies the file and setting, standard output remains empty, and the process exits with status 1.