# Manage Your chainctl Configuration

URL: https://edu.chainguard.dev/chainguard/chainctl-usage/manage-chainctl-config.md
Last Modified: July 23, 2025
Tags: chainctl

Chainguard’s chainctl configuration management enables you to customize CLI behavior, set default organizations, configure output formats, and optimize your workflow for managing container security resources. Proper configuration ensures efficient interaction with Chainguard’s platform across different environments and use cases.
chainctl config CLI chainctl has a local configuration you can manage. To get a list of all options available, you can run:
chainctl config -hYou’ll receive output like the following:
Local config file commands for chainctl. Usage: chainctl config [command] Available Commands: edit Edit the current chainctl config file. reset Remove local chainctl config files and restore defaults. save Save the current chainctl config to a config file. set Set an individual configuration value property. unset Unset a configuration property and return it to default. validate Run diagnostics on local config. view View the current chainctl config. Flags: -h, --help help for config Global Flags: --api string The url of the Chainguard platform API. (default "https://console-api.enforce.dev") --audience string The Chainguard token audience to request. (default "https://console-api.enforce.dev") --config string A specific chainctl config file. Uses CHAINCTL_CONFIG environment variable if a file is not passed explicitly. --console string The url of the Chainguard platform Console. (default "https://console.chainguard.dev") --issuer string The url of the Chainguard STS endpoint. (default "https://issuer.enforce.dev") -o, --output string Output format. One of: ["", "json", "id", "table", "terse", "tree", "wide"] -v, --v int Set the log verbosity level. Use "chainctl config [command] --help" for more information about a command.To view your current chainctl config, run:
chainctl config viewYou’ll receive output similar to this:
# Base Config file: /home/erika/.config/chainctl/config.yaml auth: mode: browser device-flow: "" default: active-within: 24h0m0s autoclose: true autoclose-timeout: "10" group: "" identity-provider: "" org-name: "" skip-auto-login: false skip-version-check: false social-login: google-oauth2 use-refresh-token: true output: color: fail: '#ff0000' pass: '#00ff00' warn: '#ffa500' silent: false platform: api: https://console-api.enforce.dev audience: https://console-api.enforce.dev console: https://console.enforce.dev issuer: https://issuer.enforce.dev registry: https://cgr.devThe full documentation for the chainctl config command is available on the relevant reference page.
Edit the chainctl Configuration You can edit the chainctl config directly with an editor. The following command will open your default command line text editor (typically nano) where you can edit the local chainctl config.
chainctl config editAlternatively, you can update one attribute at a time with the set option, as demonstrated in the next command:
chainctl config set platform.api=https://console-api.enforce.devYou can review the chainctl config set options on the relevant docs page.
Reset the Configuration If you run into issues with your chainctl configuration, you can use the following command to reset it to the default state:
chainctl config resetYou can review all the available chainctl commands in our chainctl reference documentation.