scitex-config

Configuration + path management with `direct → yaml → env → default` priority cascade.

Full Documentation · uv pip install scitex-config[all]

Problem and Solution

Quick Start

import scitex_config as cfg

config = cfg.get_config()
log_level = config.resolve("logging.level", default="INFO")

paths = cfg.get_paths()
print(paths.cache)            # ~/.scitex/cache

# SciTeX-ecosystem packages: use the per-package state resolver
from scitex_config._ecosystem import local_state
log_path = local_state.runtime_path("hpc", "dispatch.log")
print(log_path)               # ~/.scitex/hpc/runtime/dispatch.log

Demo

flowchart LR
    D[direct=cli_arg] -->|wins if not None| R[PriorityConfig.resolve]
    Y["yaml: config/app.yaml<br/>database.url"] -->|2nd| R
    E["env: DATABASE_URL"] -->|3rd| R
    F["default='postgresql://localhost/dev'"] -->|fallback| R
    R --> V["resolved value"]

_{Figure 1. Demo. Priority cascade: direct argument wins, then YAML, then env var, then default.}

Installation

uv pip install "scitex-config[all]"

Architecture

flowchart LR
    SRC[direct / yaml / env / default] --> PC[PriorityConfig.resolve]
    PC --> VAL[resolved value]
    PC --> LOG[resolution log]
    ENV[.env files] --> OSenv[os.environ]
    OSenv --> PC
    YAML[default.yaml] --> SC[ScitexConfig]

_{Figure 2. Architecture. Sources flow into PriorityConfig.resolve; ScitexConfig serves YAML-backed dotted-path reads.}

1 Interfaces

import scitex_config as cfg

# YAML-based (recommended)
config = cfg.get_config()
print(config.MY_KEY)
log_level = config.resolve("logging.level", default="INFO")

# Path resolution
paths = cfg.get_paths()
paths.function_cache       # ~/.scitex/cache/function/...

# Layered priority cascade (direct > yaml > env > default)
pc = cfg.PriorityConfig(yaml_path="config/app.yaml")
db_url = pc.resolve(
    direct=cli_arg,
    key="database.url",
    env_var="DATABASE_URL",
    default="postgresql://localhost/dev",
)

Status

Standalone fork of scitex.config. Core deps are PyYAML + scitex-logging. The umbrella package's scitex.config import path is preserved via a sys.modules-alias bridge.

Part of SciTeX

scitex-config is part of SciTeX. Install via the umbrella with pip install scitex[config] to use as scitex.config (Python) or scitex config ... (CLI).

Four Freedoms for Research

0. The freedom to run your research anywhere — your machine, your terms.
1. The freedom to study how every step works — from raw data to final manuscript.
2. The freedom to redistribute your workflows, not just your papers.
3. The freedom to modify any module and share improvements with the community.

AGPL-3.0 — because we believe research infrastructure deserves the same freedoms as the software it runs on.

License

AGPL-3.0-only (see LICENSE).