Configuration

Configuration

jasem has no config file — everything is controlled by environment variables, read once at startup. Set them in your shell profile (~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc, …). To confirm what jasem actually resolved, run jasem help; it prints the active provider, model, and file paths at the bottom.

Files & directories

Variable	Default	Controls
JASEM_DIR	~/.jasem	the data directory
JASEM_FILE	<JASEM_DIR>/tasks.md	the tasks file
JASEM_TRACK_FILE	<JASEM_DIR>/timelog.md	the time-log file
JASEM_SPEND_FILE	<JASEM_DIR>/spending.md	the spending file

~ is expanded in all of these. Point them at a synced folder (Dropbox, a git repo, etc.) to back up or share your data — see Data Files.

export JASEM_DIR=~/Dropbox/jasem            # move everything at once
export JASEM_FILE=~/work/tasks.md           # or relocate one file

AI provider

Variable	Default	Controls
JASEM_PROVIDER	ollama	ollama · openai · anthropic
JASEM_MODEL	per-provider*	the model id
JASEM_API_KEY	—	API key for openai/anthropic
JASEM_OPENAI_API_BASE	—	base URL for OpenAI-compatible hosts
JASEM_API_BASE	—	generic base-URL fallback
OLLAMA_HOST	http://localhost:11434	the Ollama server

* Default model: qwen2.5:3b (ollama), gpt-4o-mini (openai), claude-opus-4-8 (anthropic).

Also recognised (fallbacks): the API key falls back to OPENAI_API_KEY then ANTHROPIC_API_KEY; the OpenAI base URL falls back through JASEM_OPENAI_BASE_URL → OPENAI_BASE_URL → JASEM_API_BASE. Full details and examples are on the AI Backends page.

Calendar

Variable	Default	Controls
JASEM_JALALI	unset (Gregorian)	set to 1/true/yes/on for the Persian (Jalali) calendar

Data on disk always stays Gregorian ISO, so the same files work with the flag on or off. See Jalali Calendar.

Colour & appearance

Variable	Default	Controls
JASEM_ACCENT	cyan	accent colour — a name (green, magenta, …) or r,g,b
NO_COLOR	unset	set (to anything) to force plain, uncoloured output
FORCE_COLOR	unset	set to force colour even when output isn't a terminal

Colour is on automatically when writing to a terminal. NO_COLOR wins when you want clean text for piping or logging; FORCE_COLOR is handy when piping into a pager that interprets colour.

export JASEM_ACCENT=magenta
export JASEM_ACCENT=255,128,0     # an orange accent via RGB

A sample profile block

# ~/.zshrc — jasem
export JASEM_DIR=~/Dropbox/jasem
export JASEM_PROVIDER=ollama
export JASEM_MODEL=qwen2.5:3b
export JASEM_ACCENT=cyan
# export JASEM_JALALI=true        # uncomment for the Persian calendar

Full variable list

JASEM_DIR · JASEM_FILE · JASEM_TRACK_FILE · JASEM_SPEND_FILE · JASEM_PROVIDER · JASEM_MODEL · JASEM_API_KEY · JASEM_OPENAI_API_BASE · JASEM_API_BASE · OLLAMA_HOST · JASEM_JALALI · JASEM_ACCENT — plus the standard NO_COLOR / FORCE_COLOR, and the fallbacks OPENAI_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, JASEM_OPENAI_BASE_URL, OPENAI_BASE_URL.

See also

• AI Backends · Jalali Calendar · Data Files