Configuration

Sirchmunk is configured through environment variables stored in a .env file. After running sirchmunk init, the configuration file is created at ~/.sirchmunk/.env.

Environment Variables

LLM Configuration

VariableDescriptionDefault
LLM_API_KEYYour LLM API key (required for DEEP mode)
LLM_BASE_URLOpenAI-compatible API base URLhttps://api.openai.com/v1
LLM_MODELModel name to usegpt-4o

Search Configuration

VariableDescriptionDefault
SIRCHMUNK_WORK_PATHWorking directory for data storage~/.sirchmunk/
SIRCHMUNK_SEARCH_PATHSDefault search paths (comma-separated)
SIRCHMUNK_MAX_DEPTHMaximum directory traversal depth10
SIRCHMUNK_TOP_K_FILESNumber of top files to analyze20
SIRCHMUNK_KEYWORD_LEVELSKeyword granularity levels3

Server Configuration

VariableDescriptionDefault
SIRCHMUNK_HOSTAPI server bind address127.0.0.1
SIRCHMUNK_PORTAPI server port8584

Data Storage Layout

All persistent data is stored under SIRCHMUNK_WORK_PATH:

{SIRCHMUNK_WORK_PATH}/
  ├── .cache/
  │   ├── history/              # Chat session history (DuckDB)
  │   │   └── chat_history.db
  │   ├── knowledge/            # Knowledge clusters (Parquet)
  │   │   └── knowledge_clusters.parquet
  │   └── settings/             # User settings (DuckDB)
  │       └── settings.db
  ├── .env                      # Environment configuration
  └── mcp_config.json           # MCP server configuration

Search Parameters

When invoking search (via SDK, CLI, or API), the following parameters are available:

ParameterTypeDefaultDescription
querystringrequiredSearch query or question
pathsstring[]requiredDirectories or files to search
modestringDEEPDEEP (full analysis) or FILENAME_ONLY (fast)
max_depthintnullMaximum directory depth
top_k_filesintnullNumber of top files to return
keyword_levelsintnullKeyword granularity levels
include_patternsstring[]nullFile glob patterns to include
exclude_patternsstring[]nullFile glob patterns to exclude
return_clusterboolfalseReturn full KnowledgeCluster object
Note

FILENAME_ONLY mode does not require an LLM API key. DEEP mode requires a configured LLM.

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