Configuration

Motebit uses a layered configuration system: config file for non-secret settings, OS keyring for secrets, environment variables for development overrides.

Config file

Location: ~/.motebit/config.json

{
  "motebit_id": "01926a3b-...",
  "device_id": "d-abcdef12",
  "default_provider": "anthropic",
  "default_model": "claude-sonnet-4-5-20250514",
  "sync_url": "https://relay.example.com",
  "mcp_servers": [
    {
      "name": "filesystem",
      "transport": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/home/user/docs"],
      "trusted": true
    }
  ]
}

Config fields

Field	Type	Description
`motebit_id`	string	Your motebit's UUID (auto-generated on first launch)
`device_id`	string	This device's registration ID
`default_provider`	`"ollama"` \| `"anthropic"`	LLM provider
`default_model`	string	Model identifier
`sync_url`	string	Sync relay server URL (optional)
`mcp_servers`	array	MCP server configurations (see Tools)

Secrets

Secrets are stored in the OS keyring, never in the config file:

Key	Description
`api_key`	LLM provider API key
`sync_master_token`	Sync relay authentication token
`operator_pin_hash`	SHA-256 hash of operator PIN
`private_key`	Ed25519 private key (or PBKDF2-encrypted in CLI)

On desktop, the Tauri keyring API handles storage. On CLI, the private key is encrypted with PBKDF2 and stored in the config file (the only exception to the "no secrets in config" rule, and it's encrypted).

Environment variables (dev mode)

For development without Tauri:

# apps/desktop/.env
VITE_AI_PROVIDER=anthropic
VITE_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

These are only used in Vite dev mode. Production builds read from config + keyring.

Database

Location: ~/.motebit/motebit.db

SQLite in WAL mode. Stores events, memories, identities, devices, audit logs, and state snapshots.

Models

Ollama

Install Ollama and pull a model:

ollama pull llama3.2
ollama pull mistral
ollama pull codellama

Set default_provider: "ollama" and default_model: "llama3.2" in config, or use the CLI flag --provider ollama --model llama3.2.

Ollama runs on http://localhost:11434 by default.

Anthropic

Set your API key via the desktop settings panel (stored in keyring) or environment variable. Set default_provider: "anthropic" and default_model: "claude-sonnet-4-5-20250514".

Custom endpoints

The CloudProvider supports custom base URLs for OpenAI-compatible APIs in code via the provider configuration. Note that base_url is not currently read from config.json by the CLI -- it must be set programmatically when constructing a provider.

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