Configuration

Volt keeps day-to-day settings in YAML under user/ so you can change behavior without rebuilding the user package. Package metadata (commands, hooks, keybindings declared in Rust) still requires a rebuild of volt-user.

Master config file

user/config.yaml is a reference table, not a YAML include:

workspace: config/workspace.yaml
acp: config/acp.yaml
ui: config/ui.yaml
oil: config/oil.yaml

Volt reads the master file, then loads each child file at runtime through user/config.rs.

Config sections

Workspace discovery

user/config/workspace.yaml controls where the project picker searches:

project_search_roots:
  - path: P:\
    max_depth: 4
  - path: C:\Users\you\
    max_depth: 4

Missing paths are filtered out automatically.

UI, terminal, and pane defaults

user/config/ui.yaml covers picker truncation, ligatures, pane layout, and the terminal shell:

terminal:
  program: pwsh
  args: ["-NoLogo"]

Changing the terminal shell this way does not require rebuilding the user package.

Oil directory browser

user/config/oil.yaml:

defaults:
  show_hidden: true
  sort_mode: type-then-name
  trash_enabled: true

keybindings:
  open_entry: Enter
  toggle_hidden: "."

ACP clients

user/config/acp.yaml lists ACP clients, dock toggles, commands, args, env, and cwd.

Plugins backed by YAML today

Plugin module	Config section	Runtime changes
workspace.rs	workspace	Project search roots / max_depth
acp.rs	acp	Client list and launch settings
picker.rs	ui	Picker label truncation
ligatures.rs	ui	Font ligatures
pane.rs	ui.pane	Golden-ratio pane sizing
terminal.rs	ui.terminal	Default shell
oil.rs	oil	Hidden files, sort, trash, oil keys

Themes and fonts

Theme colors live in user/themes/*.toml. Shared options (font, font size, scrolloff, language defaults) live in user/themes/global.toml:

[options]
font = "Liga Berkeley Mono"
font_size = 18
scrolloff = 5

Default theme id is selected in user/theme.rs (DEFAULT_THEME_ID). The theme picker opens with F6 by default.

Hot reload

The SDL shell watches YAML and theme files and reloads compatible settings while Volt is running. Structural plugin changes — new packages, new commands, new Rust keybindings — still need:

cargo build -p volt-user

or, from a release install, the in-editor workspace.compile command. See Hot reload.

Add config to your own plugin

1. Create user/config/myplugin.yaml
2. Add a pointer in user/config.yaml (myplugin: config/myplugin.yaml)
3. Extend user/config.rs with a Deserialize section and load it in load_from_root
4. Read values with crate::config::load().myplugin

Keep parsing centralized in config.rs so every plugin shares one schema and reload path.

Related help topics

• Build the user package
• Edit a plugin
• Change keybindings
• Change the terminal shell