Config

summarize supports an optional JSON config file for defaults.

Location

Default path:

• ~/.summarize/config.json

Precedence

For model:

1. CLI flag --model
2. Env SUMMARIZE_MODEL
3. Config file model
4. Built-in default (auto)

For output language:

1. CLI flag --language / --lang
2. Config file output.language (preferred) or language (legacy)
3. Built-in default (auto = match source content language)

See docs/language.md for supported values.

For prompt:

1. CLI flag --prompt / --prompt-file
2. Config file prompt
3. Built-in default prompt

For UI theme:

1. CLI flag --theme
2. Env SUMMARIZE_THEME
3. Config file ui.theme
4. Built-in default (aurora)

   Format

~/.summarize/config.json:

{
  "model": { "id": "google/gemini-3-flash-preview" },
  "output": { "language": "auto" },
  "prompt": "Explain like I am five.",
  "ui": { "theme": "ember" }
}

Shorthand (equivalent):

{
  "model": "google/gemini-3-flash-preview"
}

model can also be auto:

{
  "model": { "mode": "auto" }
}

Shorthand (equivalent):

{
  "model": "auto"
}

Prompt

prompt replaces the built-in summary instructions (same behavior as --prompt).

Example:

{
  "prompt": "Explain for a kid. Short sentences. Simple words."
}

Cache

Configure the on-disk SQLite cache (extracted content, transcripts, summaries).

{
  "cache": {
    "enabled": true,
    "maxMb": 512,
    "ttlDays": 30,
    "path": "~/.summarize/cache.sqlite",
    "media": {
      "enabled": true,
      "maxMb": 2048,
      "ttlDays": 7,
      "path": "~/.summarize/cache/media",
      "verify": "size"
    }
  }
}

Notes:

• cache.media controls the media file cache (yt-dlp downloads).
• --no-cache bypasses summary caching only (LLM output); extract/transcript caches still apply. Use --no-media-cache for media.
• verify: size (default), hash, or none.

UI theme

Set a default CLI theme:

{
  "ui": { "theme": "moss" }
}

Slides defaults

Enable slides by default and tune extraction parameters:

{
  "slides": {
    "enabled": true,
    "ocr": false,
    "dir": "slides",
    "sceneThreshold": 0.3,
    "max": 20,
    "minDuration": 2
  }
}

Logging (daemon)

Enable JSON log files for the daemon:

{
  "logging": {
    "enabled": true,
    "level": "info",
    "format": "json",
    "file": "~/.summarize/logs/daemon.jsonl",
    "maxMb": 10,
    "maxFiles": 3
  }
}

Notes:

• Default: logging is off.
• format: json (default) or pretty.
• maxMb is per file; maxFiles controls rotation (ring).
• Extension “Extended logging” sends full input/output to daemon logs (large). Cache hits skip content logging.

Presets

Define presets you can select via --model <preset>:

{
  "models": {
    "fast": { "id": "openai/gpt-5-mini" },
    "or-free": {
      "rules": [
        {
          "candidates": [
            "openrouter/google/gemini-2.0-flash-exp:free",
            "openrouter/meta-llama/llama-3.3-70b-instruct:free"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Notes:

• auto is reserved and can’t be defined as a preset.
• free is built-in (OpenRouter :free candidates). Override it by defining models.free in your config, or regenerate it via summarize refresh-free.

Use a preset as your default model:

{
  "model": "fast"
}

Notes:

• For presets, "mode": "auto" is optional when "rules" is present.

For auto selection with rules:

{
  "model": {
    "mode": "auto",
    "rules": [
      {
        "when": ["video"],
        "candidates": ["google/gemini-3-flash-preview"]
      },
      {
        "when": ["website", "youtube"],
        "bands": [
          {
            "token": { "max": 8000 },
            "candidates": ["openai/gpt-5-mini"]
          },
          {
            "candidates": ["xai/grok-4-fast-non-reasoning"]
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "candidates": ["openai/gpt-5-mini", "openrouter/openai/gpt-5-mini"]
      }
    ]
  },
  "media": { "videoMode": "auto" }
}

Notes:

• Parsed leniently (JSON5), but comments are not allowed.
• Unknown keys are ignored.
• model.rules is optional. If omitted, built-in defaults apply.
• model.rules[].when (optional) must be an array (e.g. ["video","youtube"]).
• model.rules[] must use either candidates or bands.

Output language

Set a default output language for summaries:

{
  "output": { "language": "auto" }
}

Examples:

• "auto" (default): match the source language.
• "en", "de": common shorthands.
• "english", "german": common names.
• "en-US", "pt-BR": BCP-47-ish tags.

CLI config

{
  "cli": {
    "enabled": ["gemini"],
    "codex": { "model": "gpt-5.2" },
    "claude": { "binary": "/usr/local/bin/claude", "extraArgs": ["--verbose"] }
  }
}

Notes:

• cli.enabled is an allowlist (auto uses CLIs only when set; explicit --cli / --model cli/... must be included).
• Recommendation: keep cli.enabled to ["gemini"] unless you have a reason to add others (extra latency/variance).
• cli.<provider>.binary overrides CLI binary discovery.
• cli.<provider>.extraArgs appends extra CLI args.

OpenAI config

{
  "openai": {
    "baseUrl": "https://my-openai-proxy.example.com/v1",
    "useChatCompletions": true,
    "whisperUsdPerMinute": 0.006
  }
}

Notes:

• openai.baseUrl overrides the OpenAI-compatible API endpoint. Use this for proxies, gateways, or OpenAI-compatible APIs. Env OPENAI_BASE_URL takes precedence.
• openai.whisperUsdPerMinute is only used to estimate transcription cost in the finish-line metrics when Whisper transcription runs via OpenAI.

Provider base URLs

Override API endpoints for any provider to use proxies, gateways, or compatible APIs:

{
  "openai": { "baseUrl": "https://my-openai-proxy.example.com/v1" },
  "anthropic": { "baseUrl": "https://my-anthropic-proxy.example.com" },
  "google": { "baseUrl": "https://my-google-proxy.example.com" },
  "xai": { "baseUrl": "https://my-xai-proxy.example.com" }
}

Or via environment variables (which take precedence over config):