# Configuration > Configure and customize gent through ~/.gent/init.janet and .gent/init.janet. Use when the user asks to "configure gent", "change colors", "add hooks", "customize behavior", "modify themes", "create tools", "add a tool at runtime", "register a tool", "change UI settings", "set up gent", "modify the UI", "add a widget", "create a widget", "register a widget", "add a slash command", "create a command", "change the layout", "customize the TUI", "add a keybinding", or wants to modify gent's appearance, behavior, widgets, tools, commands, or functionality at runtime. Use when this capability is needed. - Skill: `tomevault-io/configuration` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/configuration` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/configuration/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/configuration --- # Configuring Gent Gent is highly configurable through Janet code in configuration files. The main configuration files are: - `~/.gent/init.janet` — User-level configuration (like `~/.emacs`) - `.gent/init.janet` — Project-level configuration (like `.dir-locals.el`) Configuration files are loaded during boot and have full access to gent's runtime. ## Quick Start Create your configuration directory and file: ```bash mkdir -p ~/.gent touch ~/.gent/init.janet ``` ## Common Customizations ### Theme Switching ```janet (import widgets/chat :as chat) # Auto-detect OS dark/light mode (default) (chat/auto-theme) # Or choose explicitly (chat/set-theme :dark) # Catppuccin Mocha (chat/set-theme :light) # Catppuccin Latte ``` ### Custom Colors Override specific colors while keeping a theme: ```janet (import widgets/chat :as chat) (chat/set-theme :dark) (chat/set-colors @{:user-label (tui/style :fg [:rgb 255 100 100] :bold true) :agent-label (tui/style :fg [:rgb 100 255 100] :bold true)}) ``` **→ See [references/colors.md](references/colors.md) for complete color customization** ### UI Settings ```janet (import widgets/chat :as chat) # Show more tool output (default is 10 lines) (chat/set-tool-result-max-lines 20) # Custom system prompt (chat/set-system-prompt "You are a helpful assistant specialized in [your domain].") ``` ## Extending Behavior with Hooks Hooks let you run code at key points. Example: log all tool calls. ```janet (import core/hooks :as hooks) (hooks/add :before-tool-call (fn [name input] (printf "Running tool: %s" name))) (hooks/add :after-tool-call (fn [name input result] (printf "Tool %s completed" name))) ``` **→ See [references/hooks.md](references/hooks.md) for all hooks and advanced examples** ## Creating Custom Tools ```janet (import core/tools :as tools) (tools/register "timestamp" {:description "Get the current timestamp" :schema {:type "object" :properties {} :required []} :function (fn [input] (string (os/date)))}) ``` **→ See [references/tools.md](references/tools.md) for async tools and complex schemas** ## Adding Slash Commands ```janet (import core/commands :as commands) (commands/register "hello" {:description "Say hello" :usage "/hello [name]" :function (fn [args] (string "Hello, " (if (empty? args) "World" args) "!"))}) ``` **→ See [references/commands.md](references/commands.md) for full command examples** ## Configuration File Loading Gent loads configuration files in this order: 1. `~/.gent/init.janet` (user config) 2. `.gent/init.janet` (project config) 3. Files specified via `-l` / `--load` flags All config files are optional. Skip with `--no-init-file` or `-q`. ## Example Configuration Here's a complete `~/.gent/init.janet` example: ```janet # My gent configuration # Theme (import widgets/chat :as chat) (chat/auto-theme) (chat/set-colors @{:user-label (tui/style :fg [:rgb 100 150 255] :bold true)}) # UI settings (chat/set-tool-result-max-lines 15) # Simple tool logging (import core/hooks :as hooks) (hooks/add :before-tool-call (fn [name input] (spit (string (os/getenv "HOME") "/.gent/tool-log.txt") (string (os/date) " " name "\n") :a))) # Custom tool (import core/tools :as tools) (tools/register "weather" {:description "Get weather for a city (mock)" :schema {:type "object" :properties {:city {:type "string" :description "City name"}} :required ["city"]} :function (fn [input] (string "Weather in " (get input :city) ": Sunny, 72°F"))}) (print "Loaded custom gent configuration!") ``` ## Advanced Topics - **[Color Customization](references/colors.md)** — Complete guide to all color keys and syntax - **[Hooks](references/hooks.md)** — All hook types, guards, logging, custom rendering - **[Custom Tools](references/tools.md)** — Async tools, complex schemas, external commands - **[Slash Commands](references/commands.md)** — Command creation and examples - **[Widget System](references/widgets.md)** — Build custom TUI widgets and layouts - **[Advanced Config](references/advanced.md)** — Registers, API config, conditional config, modules ## Best Practices 1. **Start small** — begin with theme and basic settings 2. **Test incrementally** — use `eval_janet` to test code before adding to config 3. **Handle errors** — wrap risky operations in `try`/`catch` 4. **Use comments** — document your customizations 5. **Version control** — keep `~/.gent/init.janet` in dotfiles repo 6. **Project configs** — use `.gent/init.janet` for project-specific settings only 7. **Hot-reload widgets** — after registering widgets or changing layouts in a live session, use `(widget/mark-all-dirty)` to trigger a re-render ## Getting Help - `/tools` — list available tools - `/hooks` — list active hooks - `/skills` — list available skills - `/config` — show API configuration - `eval_janet` tool — test Janet code interactively --- > Source: [pepegar/gent](https://github.com/pepegar/gent) — distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io).