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Monocle loads settings from JSON config files at startup. You can maintain a global config for personal preferences and a project config for repository-specific settings.

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File locations

Monocle loads config files in this order, with the project config taking precedence over the global one:
  1. Global: ~/.config/monocle/config.json (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/monocle/config.json)
  2. Project: .monocle/config.json in your working directory
Create either or both files — you only need to include the settings you want to override.

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Example config

{
  "layout": "auto",
  "diff_style": "unified",
  "sidebar_style": "flat",
  "wrap": false,
  "tab_size": 4,
  "context_lines": 3,
  "ignore_patterns": [],
  "keybindings": {},
  "mouse": true,
  "min_diff_width": 80,
  "auto_focus_mode": false,
  "review_format": {
    "include_snippets": true,
    "max_snippet_lines": 10,
    "include_summary": true
  }
}

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Settings

SettingValuesDefaultDescription
layout"auto", "side-by-side", "stacked""auto"Pane arrangement (auto switches based on terminal width)
diff_style"unified", "split", "file""unified"Diff display mode (file shows raw content)
sidebar_style"flat", "tree""flat"File list display mode
wraptrue, falsefalseWord-wrap long lines in diffs
tab_sizeinteger4Spaces per tab character
context_linesinteger3Unchanged lines shown around diff hunks
ignore_patternsstring array[]Glob patterns for files to exclude
min_diff_widthinteger80Minimum character width for the diff viewer in side-by-side layout
mousetrue, falsetrueEnable mouse interactions (click, scroll, drag)
auto_focus_modetrue, falsefalseAuto-enter focus mode (hide sidebar, enable wrap) when reviewing plans
keybindingsobject{}Custom key overrides (see Keybindings)
review_format.include_snippetstrue, falsetrueInclude code snippets in formatted reviews
review_format.max_snippet_linesinteger10Truncate snippets longer than this
review_format.include_summarytrue, falsetrueInclude comment count summary in formatted reviews
Toggle keybindings (T, t, w, f) change settings for the current session only. Edit the config file to persist your preferences.