CLI Configuration

The Configuration File

Goal

You will locate the kongctl configuration file and understand how it groups settings by profile.

Locate the file

kongctl reads config.yaml from the standard configuration directory:

  • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kongctl/config.yaml when XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set.
  • $HOME/.config/kongctl/config.yaml otherwise, usually written as ~/.config/kongctl/config.yaml.

The installation routines do not create this file. The first kongctl command creates it when it is missing and writes an initial default profile. Otherwise kongctl does not write to this file.

Print the path for your current environment:

printf '%s\n' "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/kongctl/config.yaml"

You own the file

kongctl writes the file only when initializing a missing default configuration. After that initial creation, kongctl reads the file but does not rewrite it. You maintain the configuration values it consumes.

This prevents later commands from rewriting or reformatting your configuration choices.

Profiles are root keys

The file is YAML. Each top-level key is a profile name, and the values nested under it belong to that profile:

<profile>:
  <config-key>: <value>
<profile-2>:
  <config-key>: <value>

For example:

default:
  output: text
team-a:
  output: yaml

Check the profiles

After saving the file, list the profiles kongctl found:

kongctl get profiles

The example command should show default and team-a profiles.