DATALAD-CONFIGURATION(1)

💅 datalad configuration(1) — the glow-up

okay so bestie, this is a page from the General Commands Manual, and honestly? it's a whole vibe. welcome to datalad configuration, the command that gets and sets your dataset, dataset-clone-local, or global configuration. think of it as git-config's cooler cousin who also goes to the gym 🏋️

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

datalad configuration [-h] [--scope {global|local|branch}] [-d DATASET]
       [-r] [-R LEVELS] [--version] [{dump|get|set|unset}] [name[=value]
       ...]

like, look at that. gorgeous. no notes. 🎀

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So this command works similar to git-config, right? but bestie, some features are not supported (e.g., modifying system configuration 😔), while other features are straight-up not available in git-config at all (e.g., multi-configuration queries — yes that's her main character energy 👑).

Query and modification of three distinct configuration scopes is supported:

• 'branch': the persistent configuration in .datalad/config of a dataset branch
• 'local': a dataset clone's Git repository configuration in .git/config
• 'global': non-dataset-specific configuration (usually in $USER/.gitconfig)

⚠️ Heads up: modifications of the persistent 'branch' configuration will not be saved by this command — you have to commit them with a subsequent SAVE call. no cap. don't forget or you'll be sad 😭

Rules of precedence regarding different configuration scopes are the same as in Git, with two exceptions:

1. environment variables can be used to override any datalad configuration, and have precedence over any other configuration scope (see below). 💅
2. the 'branch' scope is considered in addition to the standard git configuration scopes. Its content has lower precedence than Git configuration scopes, but it is committed to a branch, hence can be used to ship (default and branch-specific) configuration with a dataset. iconic behavior fr fr.

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🦋 the environment variable situation (iykyk)

Besides storing configuration settings statically via this command or `git config`, DataLad also reads any DATALAD_* environment on process startup or import, and maps it to a configuration item. Their values take precedence over any other specification. In variable names `_` encodes a `.` in the configuration name, and `__` encodes a `-`, such that `DATALAD_SOME__VAR` is mapped to `datalad.some-var`. 🧚

Additionally, a DATALAD_CONFIG_OVERRIDES_JSON environment variable is queried, which may contain configuration key-value mappings as a JSON-formatted string of a JSON-object:

DATALAD_CONFIG_OVERRIDES_JSON='{"datalad.credential.example_com.user": "jane", ...}'

This is useful when characters are part of the configuration key that cannot be encoded into an environment variable name. 💡 If both individual configuration variables and JSON-overrides are used, the former take precedent over the latter, overriding the respective individual settings from configurations declared in the JSON-overrides. so, individual wins. the way that works. ⭐

This command supports recursive operation for querying and modifying configuration across a hierarchy of datasets. 🌈

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🍓 Examples

Dump the effective configuration, including an annotation for common items:

% datalad configuration

Query two configuration items:

% datalad configuration get user.name user.email

Recursively set configuration in all (sub)dataset repositories:

% datalad configuration -r set my.config=value

Modify the persistent branch configuration (changes are not committed):

% datalad configuration --scope branch set my.config=value

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🔥 OPTIONS 🔥

• {dump|get|set|unset} — which action to perform. Constraints: value must be one of ('dump', 'get', 'set', 'unset') [Default: 'dump']
• name[=value] — configuration name (for actions 'get' and 'unset'), or name/value pair (for action 'set'). 💖
• -h, --help, --help-np — show this help message. --help-np forcefully disables the use of a pager for displaying the help message. (np = no pager, she's direct like that 🙈)
• --scope {global|local|branch} — scope for getting or setting configuration. If no scope is declared for a query, all configuration sources (including overrides via environment variables) are considered according to the normal rules of precedence. For action 'get' only 'branch' and 'local' (which include 'global' here) are supported. For action 'dump', a scope selection is ignored and all available scopes are considered. Constraints: value must be one of ('global', 'local', 'branch')
• -d DATASET, --dataset DATASET — specify the dataset to query or to configure. Constraints: Value must be a Dataset or a valid identifier of a Dataset (e.g. a path) or value must be NONE
• -r, --recursive — if set, recurse into potential subdatasets. 🫶
• -R LEVELS, --recursion-limit LEVELS — limit recursion into subdatasets to the given number of levels. Constraints: value must be convertible to type 'int' or value must be NONE
• --version — show the module and its version which provides the command ⭐

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

datalad is developed by The DataLad Team and Contributors <team@datalad.org>. 💜

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aaaand that's the whole page bestie, you ate that 🎀 this was datalad configuration version 1.1.5, dated 2025-06-15 — go forth and configure responsibly, mwah 💅✨🦋