Configuration

CIAK stores its configuration in the .ciak/ directory inside your project. This page documents the configuration files and their options.

Project Configuration — .ciak/config.toml

Created by ciak init, this file controls project settings, file monitoring, database, and parser behavior.

[project]

[project]
name = "my-project"
languages = [
    "python",
    "javascript",
    "typescript",
    "rust",
]

Key	Type	Description
name	string	Project name (used for identification)
languages	string[]	Languages to enable for parsing

[file_monitor]

Controls which files are watched and how changes are detected.

[file_monitor]
ignore_patterns = [
    ".git/**",
    "node_modules/**",
    "**/target/**",
    "**/__pycache__/**",
    "**/dist/**",
    "**/.venv/**",
]
debounce_ms = 300
recursive = true

Key	Type	Default	Description
ignore_patterns	string[]	(see above)	Glob patterns for files/directories to ignore
debounce_ms	integer	300	Milliseconds to wait before processing file changes
recursive	boolean	true	Watch subdirectories recursively

[database]

[database]
path = ".ciak/database.db"

Key	Type	Default	Description
path	string	.ciak/database.db	Path to the SQLite database file

[parser]

[parser]
max_file_size = 1048576  # 1MB

Key	Type	Default	Description
max_file_size	integer	1048576	Maximum file size in bytes to parse (default: 1 MB)

[ranking]

Controls path-based ranking priors for unified symbol search. By default, CIAK slightly boosts implementation paths and demotes test/spec/sample paths.

[ranking]
demote_patterns = [
  "**/test/**",
  "**/tests/**",
  "**/__tests__/**",
  "**/*.spec.*",
  "**/*.test.*",
  "**/samples/**",
  "**/examples/**",
  "**/fixtures/**",
  "**/mocks/**",
  "**/__mocks__/**",
]
demote_factor = 0.4

boost_patterns = [
  "src/**",
  "lib/**",
  "packages/*/src/**",
]
boost_factor = 1.2

Key	Type	Default	Description
demote_patterns	string[]	(see above)	Glob patterns to demote in search scoring
demote_factor	number	0.4	Multiplier for demoted paths (must be between 0.0 and 1.0)
boost_patterns	string[]	(see above)	Glob patterns to boost in search scoring
boost_factor	number	1.2	Multiplier for boosted paths (must be >= 1.0)

Notes:

• If demote_patterns = [], demotion is disabled.
• If boost_patterns = [], boosting is disabled.
• If both lists are empty, path-prior ranking is neutral.

Knowledge Base — .ciak/knowledge.json

Created by ciak knowledge init, this file defines domain-specific terms, acronyms, and synonyms. Import it into the database with ciak sync knowledge.

Structure

{
  "terms": [...],
  "acronyms": [...],
  "synonyms": [...]
}

Terms

Technical terms with definitions and metadata:

{
  "id": "unique-id",
  "term": "JWT",
  "definition": "JSON Web Token - a compact token format for authentication",
  "category": "security",
  "synonyms": ["json web token", "bearer token"],
  "related_terms": ["OAuth", "authentication"],
  "programming_languages": ["typescript", "python"],
  "confidence": 1.0
}

Field	Type	Required	Description
id	string	✅	Unique identifier
term	string	✅	The technical term
definition	string	✅	Human-readable definition
category	string	—	Category for grouping (e.g., "security", "database")
synonyms	string[]	—	Alternative names for this term
related_terms	string[]	—	Related concepts
programming_languages	string[]	—	Languages where this term is relevant
confidence	number	—	Confidence score 0.0–1.0 (default: 1.0)

Acronyms

Acronym expansions:

{
  "id": "unique-id",
  "acronym": "API",
  "expansion": "Application Programming Interface",
  "context": "web development",
  "domain": "general",
  "confidence": 1.0,
  "usage_frequency": "high"
}

Field	Type	Required	Description
id	string	✅	Unique identifier
acronym	string	✅	The acronym
expansion	string	✅	What the acronym stands for
context	string	—	Usage context
domain	string	—	Domain (e.g., "general", "security")
confidence	number	—	Confidence score 0.0–1.0
usage_frequency	string	—	How often it's used: "high", "medium", "low"

Synonyms

Bidirectional term mappings:

{
  "id": "unique-id",
  "source_term": "authenticate",
  "target_term": "login",
  "context": "user authentication",
  "confidence": 0.9,
  "mapping_type": "bidirectional",
  "domain": "security"
}

Field	Type	Required	Description
id	string	✅	Unique identifier
source_term	string	✅	First term
target_term	string	✅	Second term
context	string	—	Usage context
confidence	number	—	Confidence score 0.0–1.0
mapping_type	string	—	bidirectional or unidirectional
domain	string	—	Domain category

License File — ~/.ciak/license

Stored globally at ~/.ciak/license, this JSON file is created by ciak license activate and contains your subscription tier, user ID, expiration date, and enabled features. It is used automatically by cloud sync and feature gating.

See license for details.

Environment Variables

These environment variables can override configuration:

Variable	Description
CIAK_DB_PATH	Override the database path
EMBEDDING_MODEL_PATH	Override the embedding model path
QDRANT_URL	Qdrant server URL for cloud mode (default: http://localhost:6333)
SYNC_WORKER_URL	Sync worker URL for cloud mode (default: http://localhost:8090)