Configuration

This document covers CoderMind configuration that is useful after installation: AI assistant setup, MCP registration, auto-approval, hooks, and initial encoding.

Data paths. References below such as .cmind/data/rpg.json and .cmind/logs/... are logical names. Runtime files actually live under ~/.cmind/workspaces/<workspace-id>/{data,logs}/ so they stay outside your git repo, where <workspace-id> is the slug-based workspace identifier used by the home-side store (with an optional -<hash6> suffix when needed). Reports stay in the workspace at <workspace>/.cmind/reports/. The MCP server, hooks, and pipeline scripts all resolve the home-dir location automatically from the workspace root. Run cmind version from inside the workspace to see the resolved Data / Logs paths; see project-structure.md for the full layout.

AI Assistant CLI Requirements

CoderMind slash commands are executed by an AI coding agent. Before running cmind init, install and authenticate at least one supported AI assistant CLI.

Currently verified assistants:

Agent	--ai value	Generated configuration	Requirement
GitHub Copilot	copilot	.github/, .vscode/	Copilot CLI available and authenticated
Claude Code	claude	.claude/	Claude Code CLI available and authenticated

Use cmind check to verify required local tools.

cmind check

If the selected AI assistant is not found, install and authenticate it, then rerun cmind init or cmind update.

Workspace Configuration (.cmind/config.toml)

Since 0.1.3, every workspace owns a .cmind/config.toml file that records which AI CLI command the pipeline scripts should invoke. This decouples the scripts from a single AI at packaging time — the same packaged scripts now serve any AI you pick.

# .cmind/config.toml
[cmind]
ai_cli_cmd = "claude"

The file is created automatically by cmind init --ai <agent>. Edit it any time to switch the workspace to a different AI; no need to re-run init.

Resolution priority

When a pipeline script (or a hook, or the MCP server) needs to invoke the AI CLI, it resolves the command via the following chain. The first non-empty value wins:

#	Source	Use case
P1	LLMClient(tool="...") constructor argument	Programmatic override (rare)
P2	CMIND_AI_CLI_CMD environment variable	CI runs, one-off experiments
P3	.cmind/config.toml [cmind].ai_cli_cmd	Normal default (per workspace)
P4	Release-zip baked-in literal	Legacy workspaces provisioned before v0.1.4

If all four resolve to empty, the next LLMClient.generate() call raises a RuntimeError instructing the user to run cmind init or set the env var.

Supported AI CLI commands

The values written to ai_cli_cmd mirror the per-AI substitutions performed by the GitHub release-zip CI:

--ai value	ai_cli_cmd
copilot	copilot
claude	claude
gemini	gemini -p
qwen	qwen -p
cursor-agent	agent -p
auggie	augment -p
codex	codex exec
codebuddy	codebuddy -p
qoder	qodercli -p
opencode	opencode run
amp	amp --execute

Only copilot and claude are currently verified end-to-end; the others are scaffolded but may need integration adjustments.

Other config keys

The [cmind] table currently holds only ai_cli_cmd. Future releases will add timeouts, retry budgets, and model overrides under the same namespace; older keys remain forward-compatible.

Initialization Options

AI assistant selection

cmind init my-project --ai claude
cmind init my-project --ai copilot

If --ai is omitted in an interactive terminal, CoderMind prompts for a supported assistant.

Script type

cmind init my-project --script sh
cmind init my-project --script ps

sh installs POSIX shell-oriented command snippets. ps installs PowerShell-oriented snippets.

MCP registration

By default, cmind init registers the CoderMind MCP server for the selected assistant.

cmind init my-project

Pass --no-mcp to skip MCP registration:

cmind init my-project --no-mcp
cmind update --no-mcp

Skipping MCP means the slash-command pipeline still works, but the AI assistant will not get the rpg-tools graph-query tools automatically.

Initial encode

The MCP tools query .cmind/data/rpg.json. For existing codebases, that file is created by the encoder.

cmind init supports:

cmind init --here --encode
cmind init --here --no-encode

Behavior:

• --encode runs the encoder at the end of init without prompting.
• --no-encode skips the encoder prompt.
• If neither flag is provided, CoderMind may prompt in an interactive terminal when Python code is present.

You can always run the encoder later from the AI assistant:

/cmind.encode

MCP Server

CoderMind's MCP server is named rpg-tools. It reads .cmind/data/rpg.json and exposes read-only graph-query tools to the AI assistant.

Tool	Purpose
search_rpg	Search code entities or features by keyword, path, function, class, or feature name
explore_rpg	Traverse dependencies and call chains from a starting node
get_node_detail	Fetch details for a specific node, optionally including source code
list_rpg_tree	Render the functional architecture as a tree

If .cmind/data/rpg.json does not exist yet, the tools return an rpg_unavailable response with a next step telling the agent to run /cmind.encode.

Assistant Configuration Files

Claude Code

For Claude Code, CoderMind writes command definitions and settings under .claude/:

.claude/
├── commands/              # /cmind.* command definitions
└── settings.json          # permissions and MCP auto-approval

The settings file grants project-scoped permissions needed by CoderMind commands, including access to the rpg-tools MCP server. Review .claude/settings.json if your team wants stricter local permission prompts.

GitHub Copilot / VS Code

For Copilot, CoderMind writes agent instructions under .github/ and VS Code MCP configuration under .vscode/:

.github/
├── agents/                # cmind.* agent definitions
└── prompts/               # companion prompts
.vscode/
└── mcp.json               # rpg-tools registration

Open the project in VS Code after initialization so the workspace MCP configuration is available to Copilot.

Auto-approval and Scope

CoderMind pre-authorizes the rpg-tools MCP server where the selected assistant supports project-scoped permissions. The goal is to avoid prompting on every graph query during chat.

Scope rules:

• Configuration is written into the project that ran cmind init or cmind update.
• User-level assistant settings are not modified.
• Passing --no-mcp skips MCP registration and related auto-approval entries.

Git Hooks and Incremental Updates

CoderMind installs local git hooks to keep the RPG aligned with code changes.

The important hook behavior is:

• After commits, CoderMind can run an incremental update in the background.
• The update refreshes .cmind/data/rpg.json and .cmind/data/dep_graph.json.
• Logs are written to .cmind/logs/update_rpg.log.

Manual fallback:

/cmind.update_rpg

Use /cmind.update_rpg when:

• The hook failed.
• The hook was skipped.
• You want to force a foreground update and inspect the result.

If the RPG seems significantly stale or corrupted, run a full encode instead:

/cmind.encode

Updating an Existing CoderMind Project

Run cmind update from the project root to refresh scripts, command definitions, MCP configuration, gitignore rules, and hooks.

cmind update
cmind update --ai claude
cmind update --no-upgrade
cmind update --no-mcp

cmind update auto-detects the existing assistant configuration when possible.

Troubleshooting

AI assistant CLI not found

Run:

cmind check

Install and authenticate the missing assistant CLI, or rerun init with the assistant you want:

cmind init my-project --ai claude
cmind init my-project --ai copilot

MCP tools say rpg_unavailable

The MCP server is configured, but .cmind/data/rpg.json has not been created yet. Run:

/cmind.encode

Incremental update failed

Check:

tail -n 200 .cmind/logs/update_rpg.log

Then run:

/cmind.update_rpg

If the graph is corrupted or too stale, run /cmind.encode for a full rebuild.

Template download hits rate limits or private repo access errors

As of v0.1.4 cmind init and cmind update no longer fetch templates from GitHub releases — templates are bundled inside the installed cmind-cli wheel, so this class of error should no longer occur during provisioning. To pick up newer templates, upgrade the CLI itself:

uv tool upgrade cmind-cli

cmind update does this automatically by default; pass --no-upgrade to opt out.