> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.release.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.release.com/cli/configuration.md).

# Configuration

Configuration options for the Release CLI

By default, the Release CLI configuration file is stored at `$HOME/.release.yaml`.

You can override the default configuration in two ways:

1. Set the `RELEASE_CONFIG` environment variable to the file path containing your configuration.
2. Provide the path to your configuration file with the `--config` flag as part of a command.

## Settings

The configuration file contains the following settings fields, which will be used globally unless overridden:

* `account` (optional): The name or ID of the default Release account.
* `app` (optional): The name or ID of the default Release app.

If you would like to avoid specifying the `--account` flag on each `release` command, update your `$HOME/.release.yaml` with the following:

```jsx
account: YOUR_ACCOUNT_NAME
```

## Environment variables

You can optionally override any setting using environment variables following the `RELEASE_<KEY>` naming convention. For example, to override `account`, set `RELEASE_ACCOUNT=MyAccount`.

## Authentication

To authenticate the Release CLI from a non-interactive environment such as a CI system or for programmatic use:

1. Install and authenticate the Release CLI interactively from your local machine using `release auth login`.
2. Copy the values for `login` and `token` from the Release config file at `~/.release.yaml`
3. Set the environment variables `RELEASE_LOGIN` and `RELEASE_TOKEN` to the corresponding values from the config file.

Note it is not necessary to invoke `release auth login` if those environment variables are set.


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