Configuration

Two places, and only two

	where	what
Local	`~/.bee/config.json` (`0600`)	one Mongo connection string. Nothing else.
Shared	your MongoDB store	provider keys, endpoints, rules, memories, souls

The shipped binary contains zero credentials. Rotation happens in one place, and a new machine needs one string to become fully configured.

bee config path      # where the local file is
bee config show      # local + remote, secrets masked
bee config get <key> # raw value to stdout, pipeable
bee config set <key> <value> [--secret]

Keys

Model provider — for `bee ask`

bee config set ask.provider deepseek        # deepseek | openai | anthropic
bee config set deepseek.apiKey sk-... --secret
bee config set deepseek.model deepseek-chat

Embeddings — for `remember search --semantic`

bee config set embedding.provider local     # local (default) | gemini
bee config set embedding.model <model-id>
bee config set gemini.apiKey ... --secret   # only for the gemini backend

One backend per store — switching changes the vector width and old facts stop matching new ones.

Skill bridge — for `bee skill`

bee config set skill.endpoint https://skill-bridge.example.com/mcp

Environment variables

variable	effect
`BEE_HOME`	Replaces your home directory for bee. bee still appends `.bee`, so `BEE_HOME=/x` gives `/x/.bee/config.json`.
`BEE_SESSION`	Names the current session, for `handover --session`, when the harness is one bee does not know.
`BEE_EMBEDDING_MODEL`	Overrides the local embedding model id.

bee also reads session ids the harness already exports — CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID, CODEX_SESSION_ID — so no extra setup is needed for Claude Code or Codex.

Project identity

Rules and memories are scoped to a project, resolved from the git remote. The same checkout on another machine is the same project; two unrelated directories are not. --global (rules) and --all-projects (search) cross the boundary deliberately.

Linked git worktrees are handled: .git there is a file pointing at the main repository, and identity is read from where git actually keeps it.