# vespa config

[](/en/reference/clients/vespa-cli/vespa_config.html.md "View as Markdown") 

## vespa config

Manage persistent values for global flags

### Synopsis

Manage persistent values for global flags.

This command allows setting persistent values for the global flags found in Vespa CLI. On future invocations the flag can then be omitted as it is read from the config file instead.

Configuration is written to $HOME/.vespa by default. This path can be overridden by setting the VESPA\_CLI\_HOME environment variable.

When setting an option locally, the configuration is written to .vespa in the working directory. When reading configuration, Vespa CLI searches for .vespa in the current directory and parent directories, allowing you to run commands from subdirectories of your application. This allows you to have separate configuration options per application.

Vespa CLI chooses the value for a given option in the following order, from most to least preferred:

1. Flag value specified on the command line
2. Local config value
3. Global config value
4. Default value

The following global flags/options can be configured:

application

Specifies the application ID to manage. It has three parts, separated by dots, with the third part being optional. If the third part is omitted it defaults to "default". This is only relevant for the "cloud" and "hosted" targets. See [https://docs.vespa.ai/en/learn/tenant-apps-instances.html](https://docs.vespa.ai/en/learn/tenant-apps-instances.html) for more details. This has no default value. Examples: tenant1.app1, tenant1.app1.instance1

cluster

Specifies the container cluster to manage. If left empty (default) and the application has only one container cluster, that cluster is chosen automatically. When an application has multiple cluster this must specify a valid cluster name, as specified in services.xml. See [https://docs.vespa.ai/en/reference/applications/services/container.html](https://docs.vespa.ai/en/reference/applications/services/container.html) for more details.

color

Controls how Vespa CLI uses colors. Setting this to "auto" (default) enables colors if supported by the terminal, "never" completely disables colors and "always" enables colors unilaterally.

instance

Specifies the instance of the application to manage. When specified, this takes precedence over the instance specified as part of the 'application' option. This has no default value and is only relevant for the "cloud" and "hosted" targets. Example: instance2

quiet

Suppress informational output. Errors are still printed.

target

Specifies the target to use for commands that interact with a Vespa platform, e.g. vespa deploy or vespa query. Possible values are:

- local: (default) Connect to a Vespa platform running at localhost. When using this target, container clusters are automatically discovered and are chosen with the cluster option. This assumes that the configserver is available on port 19071 (the default when using the Vespa container image).
- cloud: Connect to Vespa Cloud. When using this target, container clusters are automatically discovered and can be selected with the cluster option.
- hosted: Connect to hosted Vespa (reserved for internal use)
- _url_: Connect to a platform running at given URL. This instructs the command you're running to target a concrete URL. The cluster option cannot be used with this target.

Authentication is configured automatically for the cloud and hosted targets. To set a custom private key and certificate, e.g. for use with a self-hosted Vespa installation configured with mTLS, see the documentation of 'vespa auth cert'.

zone

Specifies a custom zone to use when connecting to a Vespa Cloud application. This is only relevant for cloud and hosted targets and defaults to a dev zone. See [https://docs.vespa.ai/en/operations/zones.html](https://docs.vespa.ai/en/operations/zones.html) for available zones. Examples: dev.aws-us-east-1c, dev.gcp-us-central1-f

default\_config\_scope

Controls whether config set and config unset write to local or global configuration by default. Valid values are "local" and "global". When unset, defaults to "global". In Vespa 9, the default will change to "local". Use –local or –global on individual commands to override this setting.

```
vespa config [flags]
```

### Options

```
-h, --help help for config
```

### Options inherited from parent commands

```
-a, --application string The application to use. Format "tenant.application.instance" - instance is optional (tenant required for cloud targets)
  -C, --cluster string The container cluster to use. This is only required for applications with multiple clusters
  -c, --color string Whether to use colors in output. Must be "auto", "never", or "always" (default "auto")
  -i, --instance string The instance of the application to use
  -q, --quiet Print only errors
  -t, --target string The target platform to use. Must be "local", "cloud", "hosted" or an URL (default "local")
  -z, --zone string The zone to use. This defaults to a dev zone (cloud only)
```

### SEE ALSO

- [vespa](vespa.html) - The command-line tool for Vespa.ai
- [vespa config get](vespa_config_get.html) - Show given configuration option, or all configuration options
- [vespa config set](vespa_config_set.html) - Set a configuration option.
- [vespa config unset](vespa_config_unset.html) - Unset a configuration option.

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### On this page:

- [vespa config](#page-title)
- [vespa config](#vespa-config)
- [Synopsis](#synopsis)
- [Options](#options)
- [Options inherited from parent commands](#options-inherited-from-parent-commands)
- [SEE ALSO](#see-also)