YAML file configuration options
August 18, 2026 ยท View on GitHub
Gdu provides an additional set of configuration options to the usual command line options.
You can get the full list of all possible options by running:
gdu --write-config
This will create file $HOME/.gdu.yaml with all the options set to default values.
Let's go through them one by one:
log-file
Path to a logfile (default "/dev/null")
input-file
Import analysis from JSON file
output-file
Export all info into file as JSON
ignore-dirs
Paths to ignore (separated by comma). Can be absolute (like /proc) or relative to the current working directory (like node_modules). Default values are [/proc,/dev,/sys,/run].
ignore-dir-patterns
Path patterns to ignore (separated by comma). Patterns can be absolute or relative to the current working directory.
ignore-from-file
Read path patterns to ignore from file. Patterns can be absolute or relative to the current working directory.
max-cores
Set max cores that Gdu will use.
sequential-scanning
Use sequential scanning (intended for rotating HDDs)
show-apparent-size
Show apparent size
show-relative-size
Show relative size
show-item-count
Show number of items in directory
show-symlink-target
Show symlink target (name -> target) in the file list. Disabled by default.
no-color
Do not use colorized output
mouse
Use mouse
non-interactive
Do not run in interactive mode
interactive
Force interactive mode even when output is not a TTY
no-progress
Do not show progress in non-interactive mode
no-cross
Do not cross filesystem boundaries
no-hidden
Ignore hidden directories (beginning with dot)
no-delete
Do not allow deletions
no-view-file
Do not allow viewing file contents
no-confirm-quit
Do not ask for confirmation before quitting after a long scan. By default, pressing q/Q after a scan that took more than a few seconds shows a confirmation dialog so that results are not lost by an accidental key press.
follow-symlinks
Follow symlinks for files, i.e. show the size of the file to which symlink points to (symlinks to directories are not followed)
profiling
Enable collection of profiling data and provide it on http://localhost:6060/debug/pprof/
read-from-storage
Read analysis data from persistent key-value storage
summarize
Show only a total in non-interactive mode
use-si-prefix
Show sizes with decimal SI prefixes (kB, MB, GB) instead of binary prefixes (KiB, MiB, GiB)
no-prefix
Show sizes as raw numbers without any prefixes (SI or binary) in non-interactive mode
reverse-sort
Reverse sorting order (smallest to largest) in non-interactive mode
change-cwd
Set CWD variable when browsing directories
delete-in-background
Delete items in the background, not blocking the UI from work
delete-in-parallel
Delete items in parallel, which might increase the speed of deletion
browse-parent-dirs
Allow navigating above the launch directory by pressing the left arrow key. When enabled, pressing left at the top-level directory will rescan and open its parent directory. Disabled by default.
web.listen
Address the web UI (--web) listens on, e.g. localhost:8080. When empty (the default), Gdu binds to localhost on a random free port. Binding to a non-loopback address exposes file names and sizes to other hosts on the network and prints a warning.
web.open-browser
Whether the web UI opens in the default browser on start. Enabled by default. The URL is always printed regardless of this setting. Can be overridden on the command line with --web-open=false.
web.browser
Override the command used to open the browser (the URL is appended as the final argument), e.g. firefox --new-window. When empty (the default), the operating system's default handler is used.
style.selected-row.text-color
Color of text for the selected row
style.selected-row.background-color
Background color for the selected row
style.marked.text-color
Color of text for marked items
style.marked.background-color
Background color for marked items
style.progress-modal.current-item-path-max-len
Maximum length of file path for the current item in progress bar. When the length is reached, the path is shortened with "/.../".
style.use-old-size-bar
Show size bar without Unicode symbols.
style.show-bar-percentage
Show the numeric usage percentage (e.g. 61.4%) next to the size bar in the directory listing.
style.footer.text-color
Color of text for footer bar
style.footer.background-color
Background color for footer bar
style.footer.number-color
Color of numbers displayed in the footer
style.header.text-color
Color of text for header bar
style.header.background-color
Background color for header bar
style.header.hidden
Hide the header bar
style.result-row.number-color
Color of numbers in result rows
style.result-row.directory-color
Color of directory names in result rows
sorting.by
Sort items. Possible values:
- name - name of the item
- size - usage or apparent size
- itemCount - number of items in the folder tree
- mtime - modification time
sorting.order
Set sorting order. Possible values:
- asc - ascending order
- desc - descending order