Table of Contents

Configuration

JD.AI works out of the box with sensible defaults. This page covers the main ways to customize it — project instruction files, default commands, config files, and environment variables. For the full configuration reference, see Configuration Reference.

Project instructions (JDAI.md)

JDAI.md is a special file that JD.AI reads at the start of every session. Place it in your repository root to declare build commands, code style rules, and project-specific conventions. JD.AI injects its contents into the system prompt so every response respects your project's standards.

File search order

JD.AI looks for instruction files in this priority order:

  1. JDAI.md — JD.AI native format
  2. CLAUDE.md — recognized instruction filename
  3. AGENTS.md — recognized instruction filename
  4. .github/copilot-instructions.md — recognized instruction filename
  5. .jdai/instructions.md — dot-directory variant

All discovered files are merged, with JDAI.md taking highest priority when directives overlap.

Example JDAI.md

# Build & Test
- Build: `dotnet build MyProject.slnx`
- Test: `dotnet test --filter "Category!=Integration"`
- Format: `dotnet format MyProject.slnx`
- Lint: build must pass with zero warnings

# Code Style
- File-scoped namespaces
- XML doc comments on all public APIs
- Async/await throughout (no .Result or .Wait())
- ILogger<T> for logging, never Console.WriteLine

# Git Conventions
- Conventional commits (feat:, fix:, chore:, etc.)
- PR branches: feature/, fix/, chore/

# Project Notes
- Authentication module is in src/Auth/ — uses JWT
- Database migrations: `dotnet ef database update`

What to include vs. exclude

✅ Include ❌ Exclude
Build/test commands Obvious language conventions
Code style rules that differ from defaults Standard patterns the AI already knows
Project-specific conventions Detailed API documentation
Architecture decisions File-by-file descriptions

View loaded instructions

/instructions    # Show all loaded instruction content

Setting defaults with /default

Persist your preferred provider and model so they're used for all future sessions:

/default provider openai     # Set global default provider
/default model gpt-4o        # Set global default model
/default                     # Show current defaults

Per-project defaults

Override global defaults for a specific project:

/default project provider ollama
/default project model llama3.2:latest

Per-project defaults are stored in .jdai/defaults.json in the project root.

Resolution priority

When determining which provider and model to use:

  1. CLI flags — --provider and --model passed at launch
  2. Session state — set during the session via /model set or /provider
  3. Per-project defaults — .jdai/defaults.json
  4. Global defaults — ~/.jdai/config.json
  5. First available — first provider with a valid connection

Global config file

~/.jdai/config.json stores global defaults:

{
  "defaultProvider": "openai",
  "defaultModel": "gpt-4o"
}

Edit this file directly or use the /default commands.

Directory structure

JD.AI stores local state in ~/.jdai/:

~/.jdai/
├── config.json          # Global default provider/model
├── credentials.enc      # Encrypted credential store
├── sessions.db          # SQLite session database
├── update-check.json    # NuGet update cache
├── exports/             # Exported session JSON files
└── models/              # Local GGUF models and registry
    └── registry.json    # Model manifest

Environment variables

Variable Description Default
OLLAMA_ENDPOINT Ollama API URL http://localhost:11434
OLLAMA_CHAT_MODEL Default Ollama chat model llama3.2:latest
OLLAMA_EMBEDDING_MODEL Default embedding model all-minilm:latest
OPENAI_API_KEY OpenAI / Codex API key —
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY Anthropic API key —
JDAI_MODELS_DIR Local model storage directory ~/.jdai/models/
HF_HOME HuggingFace cache directory ~/.cache/huggingface/
HF_TOKEN HuggingFace API token —

See Provider Setup for the full list of provider-specific environment variables.

Governance and workflow store

Variable Description Default
JDAI_ORG_CONFIG Path to organization policy YAML directory —
JDAI_WORKFLOW_STORE_URL Git remote URL for shared workflow store — (local file store)

See Governance & Policies for the full governance configuration reference, and Environment Variables for the complete list.

Runtime commands

Command Description
/autorun Toggle auto-approve for tool execution
/permissions Toggle all permission checks
/compact Force context compaction
/clear Clear conversation history
/spinner [style] Change the loading animation
/config list Show persisted runtime settings
/config get prompt_cache Show prompt caching enablement
/config set prompt_cache on|off Enable or disable automatic prompt caching
/config set prompt_cache_ttl 5m|1h Set prompt cache TTL for supported providers
/config set welcome_cwd on|off Toggle working-directory line in the welcome panel
/config set welcome_motd on + /config set welcome_motd_url <url> Enable and source welcome MoTD text

Prompt caching defaults:

  • prompt_cache=on
  • prompt_cache_ttl=5m

See Prompt Caching Reference for thresholds and provider behavior.

See also

Edit this page