Configuration file

Envite keeps its local state in the configuration root, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/envite, or ~/.config/envite when XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set:

~/.config/envite/
├── config.json      settings of this machine and the known vaults
├── logs/            envite.<date>.log, one per day, the last 7 kept
└── vaults/          default location of new local vaults

Everything is created owner-only: 0600 for files, 0700 for directories. Logs never contain a value, a password or a key.

config.json

Written atomically, readable by its owner only. It is created with the defaults on the first start and changed from the Options and Vaults screens; you do not need to edit it.

{
  "version": 3,
  "autolock": 5,
  "default_kdf": "standard",
  "poll_interval_seconds": 10,
  "known_vaults": [
    {
      "id": "0192f0c1-7a6e-7c3b-9d2e-5f1a2b3c4d5e",
      "name": "Home",
      "location": "/home/alice/home.envite",
      "last_user": "alice"
    },
    {
      "id": "0192f0c2-1b2c-7d3e-8f4a-5b6c7d8e9f0a",
      "name": "Team",
      "location": "ssh://alice@host:22/srv/team.envite"
    }
  ],
  "last_vault": "0192f0c1-7a6e-7c3b-9d2e-5f1a2b3c4d5e",
  "last_update_check": "2026-10-04",
  "skipped_version": "1.2.0"
}

Field	Meaning
version	Format version, always 3. Checked before anything else.
autolock	"never" or a number of idle minutes, 1 to 120. Default 5.
default_kdf	Key-derivation preset proposed for new passwords: "standard" or "high".
poll_interval_seconds	How often an open vault checks for changes saved elsewhere, 5 to 300. Default 10.
known_vaults	Known vaults in registration order: id, name, location (an absolute path or ssh://user@host:port/path) and optionally last_user, the member who opened it last.
last_vault	Optional id of the vault opened last, preselected on the home screen.
update_check	Optional. false when Check for updates at startup is off; written only then. Missing means on.
last_update_check	Optional local date, YYYY-MM-DD, of the last automatic check for a new version that completed. The check runs again on a later day.
skipped_version	Optional version chosen with Skip this version, such as 1.2.0. Only a newer version is announced.

The last three fields keep format version 3: a file without them still loads, with the check on and never run.

A known vault is identified by its id, the UUID stored in the header of the vault file. name is only the local alias it is listed under: unique ignoring case, and renaming it never touches the file. Two known vaults never share an id, a name or a location.

A file that cannot be read

When config.json exists but is not valid JSON, breaks a rule, was written by a newer version, or cannot be opened, envite does not start. It prints the reason with the path of the file and exits with status 1:

envite: /home/alice/.config/envite/config.json: configuration file is malformed
envite: /home/alice/.config/envite/config.json: unsupported configuration version 4

The file is never modified or replaced. Fix it by hand, or move it away to start again from the defaults and add your vault files again with Open existing.

Permission warnings

If config.json or the logs/ directory grants any permission to its group or to other users, envite warns in the status bar at startup with the command that fixes it, for example:

config.json is readable by other users — Run: chmod 600 /home/alice/.config/envite/config.json

The same check runs on a local vault file when it is opened. Envite never changes permissions itself.

Environment variables

Variable	Effect
NO_COLOR	When set and not empty, nothing is colored: styles use bold, reversed and underlined text only.
HOME	The home directory ~ stands for in the path of a file to import.
TZ	Time zone dates are shown in; the system default otherwise.
XDG_CONFIG_HOME	Parent of the configuration root.
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR	Where the sockets of shared SSH connections are kept; the system temporary directory otherwise.

Exit status

Status	When
0	You quit. The open vault was saved and closed, and every SSH connection closed.
1	The configuration could not be read or created, a directory could not be created, the terminal could not be used (for example, standard output is not a terminal), or an internal error stopped envite.
2	The command line has an unknown command, option or argument; nothing was started. See Command line, which also lists the statuses of envite update.