Preferences

Settings file

Ante stores user preferences in ~/.ante/settings.json:

{
  "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
  "provider": "anthropic",
  "theme": "default",
  "policy": "default",
  "has_completed_onboarding": true,
  "channel": "stable",
  "status_line": ["model-name", "current-dir"],
  "model_thinking": {
    "claude-sonnet-4-6": "Enabled",
    "gpt-5.4": "Deep"
  },
  "mcp_servers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/tmp"]
    }
  }
}

Field	Description
`model`	Default model name
`provider`	Default API provider
`theme`	TUI color theme
`policy`	Default permission policy (`default` or `yolo`)
`has_completed_onboarding`	Whether the onboarding flow has been completed
`channel`	Release channel `ante update` tracks (`stable` or `nightly`). Defaults to `stable`. See Update & Channels.
`status_line`	Items to display in the TUI status line footer (see below)
`model_thinking`	Per-model thinking level overrides — keys are model names, values are `Disabled` / `Enabled` / `Deep` / `Max`
`mcp_servers`	MCP servers to launch on session start (see MCP Servers)

Status line

The status_line field controls which items appear in the TUI's footer bar. It accepts an array of item identifiers:

Item	Description
`model-name`	Current model name
`provider`	Current provider
`current-dir`	Current working directory
`git-branch`	Current Git branch (omitted when unavailable)

Default: ["model-name", "current-dir"]. Configure via ~/.ante/settings.json or the /statusline command in the TUI.

Settings can be overridden per-session via CLI flags.

Environment variables

Variable	Description
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	API key for Anthropic (Claude)
`OPENAI_API_KEY`	API key for OpenAI
`OPENAI_COMPATIBLE_API_KEY`	API key for OpenAI-compatible providers
`GEMINI_API_KEY`	API key for Google Gemini
`VERTEX_GEMINI_API_KEY`	API key for Vertex AI Gemini
`XAI_API_KEY`	API key for Grok (xAI)
`OPENROUTER_API_KEY`	API key for Open Router
`Z_AI_API_KEY`	API key for Zai
`DEEPSEEK_API_KEY`	API key for DeepSeek
`ALI_CODING_PLAN_API_KEY`	API key for Ali Coding Plan
`ANTIX_API_KEY`	API key for Antix
`MODEL_BASE_URL`	Global fallback base URL (overridden by per-provider vars below)
`ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL`	Override the Anthropic base URL
`OPENAI_BASE_URL`	Override the OpenAI base URL
`OPENAI_COMPATIBLE_BASE_URL`	Override the base URL for the OpenAI Compatible provider
`DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL`	Override the DeepSeek base URL
`MODEL_TEMPERATURE`	Override model temperature (float)
`MODEL_TOP_P`	Override model top_p sampling parameter (float)
`MODEL_THINKING`	Override thinking mode (`none`, `enabled`, `deep`, `max`). These map to the protocol-level values `Disabled`, `Enabled`, `Deep`, `Max` respectively
`MODEL_MAX_TOKENS`	Override max output tokens (integer)
`MODEL_CONTEXT_LIMIT`	Override max context window size (integer)
`ANTE_LOCAL_PROVIDER_PORT`	Override the local provider port (default: 8080)
`ANTE_HOME`	Override the home config directory (default: `~/.ante`)
`ANTE_DISABLE_STREAMING`	Disable streaming responses in TUI mode
`ANTE_OPENAI_TRANSPORT`	OpenAI Responses transport: `http_sse` (default) or `websocket_auto` (see OpenAI transports)

Directory structure

User-level (`~/.ante/`)

~/.ante/
├── settings.json      # User preferences
├── catalog.json       # Custom provider/model catalog
├── sessions/          # Persisted sessions (for /resume)
├── skills/            # User-level skills
└── agents/            # User-level sub-agents

Project-level

.ante/
├── skills/            # Project-specific skills
└── agents/            # Project-specific sub-agents

.agents/
├── skills/            # Project-specific skills
└── agents/            # Project-specific sub-agents

.claude/
├── skills/            # Project-specific skills (Claude Code compatibility)
└── agents/            # Project-specific sub-agents (Claude Code compatibility)

Project memory (`~/.ante/projects/`)

Project-scoped state — memory, persisted sessions, event logs — lives under ~/.ante/projects/<project-id>/, where <project-id> is a sanitized form of the project's absolute path.

~/.ante/projects/
└── <project-id>/
    └── memory/
        └── MEMORY.md      # Auto-memory for this project

Temporary files

Per-project temp files live under ~/.ante/cache/<project-id>/.

Precedence

Configuration is resolved in this order (later overrides earlier):

Built-in defaults
~/.ante/settings.json
CLI flags (--model, --provider, etc.)

Settings file​

Status line​

Environment variables​

Directory structure​

User-level (~/.ante/)​

Project-level​

Project memory (~/.ante/projects/)​

Temporary files​

Precedence​