Self-hosting

Configuration

Settings live in zerowidth.json, written by `zerowidth init`. Command-line options override it.

zerowidth init writes zerowidth.json in the folder you run ZeroWidth from. Command-line options override it, and paths in it are relative to its folder.

zerowidth.json names where keys are, never a key. Keep keys in environment variables.

Settings

Setting	What the setting does
`store`	The record's file, such as `team.db`
`label`	The record's name in the console
`user`	Who "user" is in a Claude Code transcript
`port`	The port `serve` uses, 4380 unless set
`host`	The address `serve` listens on. Anything but this computer asks for a token.
`tokenEnv`	The environment variable that holds the team token
`model`	The AI model: `name`, `endpoint`, `keyEnv` and `embed`. AI models and costs
`decider`	The id of a model that judges whether two decisions are the same, which `zerowidth duplicates` and the dream use. None unless you name one, and nothing is sent to one until you do
`zdr`	Always `true`: ZeroWidth uses only model hosts that keep nothing
`readings`	Where the numbers are kept, when not beside the record
`metrics`	Settings for linking metrics to decisions, such as `rejected` for proposed links you turned down
`dream`	When a dream is due. `serve` never dreams on a timer: run `zerowidth dream --if-due` from a scheduler, or Dream now in the console. Dreaming
`import`	What to read: `sources`, and `holdBack`
`sources`	Where to pull numbers from. Metrics

Settings files from elsewhere

A zerowidth.json in a folder you did not make, such as a cloned repository or an unpacked archive, can ask for things that send your model key and the text being read to another address, or run a program. Until you approve that file, ZeroWidth reads it without its model endpoint, its key names and its sources, and says so. Run zerowidth trust in the folder to approve the file as it is now. If the file changes, it asks again. For a container or pipeline that writes its own file, set ZEROWIDTH_TRUST_SETTINGS=1.

Example

zerowidth.json

{
  "store": "team.db",
  "label": "Acme",
  "model": { "name": "anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5", "keyEnv": "OPENROUTER_API_KEY" },
  "dream": { "everyHours": 24, "scope": "changed" }
}