Configuration

The Cat is configured with a single, optional file: config.py, placed in your project folder (next to pyproject.toml and the plugins/ folder).

If the file is absent, the Cat runs on sensible defaults. When present, it overrides only the settings you redefine. Everything else keeps its default.

How it works

Configuration is a set of UPPERCASE constants. The Cat starts from its built-in defaults, then imports your config.py and lets it override any of them:

# lock the installation for production
API_KEY = "a-very-long-and-alphanumeric-secret"
JWT_SECRET = "yet-another-very-long-and-alphanumeric-secret"

# public address the Cat is reachable at
URL = "https://assistant.mycompany.com"

config.py is plain Python, so you are free to read values from the environment or a .env file yourself:

import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()  # read a local .env if present

API_KEY = os.environ["CAT_API_KEY"]
JWT_SECRET = os.environ["CAT_JWT_SECRET"]
SQL = os.environ.get("DATABASE_URL", "sqlite:///data/core/core.db")

This keeps secrets out of your codebase while still giving you the full power of Python for anything computed.

Available settings

Setting	Default	Description
`URL`	`http://localhost:1865`	Public address the Cat is reachable at. Set it in production so the Cat knows its own address.
`SQL`	`sqlite:///data/core/core.db`	Database connection. Supports SQLite and PostgreSQL (e.g. `postgresql://user:pass@host/db`).
`API_KEY`	`meow`	Master key for machine-to-machine access, mapped to the admin user. Set to `None` to disable key auth entirely (JWT only).
`JWT_SECRET`	`meow_jwt`	Secret used to sign and validate JWTs.
`JWT_EXPIRE_MINUTES`	`1440`	JWT lifetime, in minutes (1 day).
`DEBUG`	`true`	Self-reload on file changes during development. Turn off in production.
`LOG_LEVEL`	`INFO`	One of `DEBUG`, `INFO`, `WARNING`, `ERROR`, `CRITICAL`.
`HTTPS_PROXY_MODE`	`false`	Enable when running behind an HTTPS reverse proxy, otherwise redirects break.
`CORS_FORWARDED_ALLOW_IPS`	`*`	Comma separated list of IPs to trust with proxy headers.
`CORS_ENABLED`	`true`	Whether CORS is enabled.
`CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS`	`*`	Comma separated list of allowed origins, or `*` for all.
`DEFAULT_LLM`	`default:default`	Default language model as a `provider:model` string (e.g. `openai:gpt-4o`).
`DEFAULT_EMBEDDER`	`default:default`	Default embedder as a `provider:model` string.
`TELEMETRY`	`true`	Anonymous usage telemetry.