Configuration

kx reads ~/.kx/config.toml. Every key has an environment variable that overrides it, so a shell can differ from the file without editing anything.

theme = "dracula"
engine = "trivy"
max_history = 25
shells = ["zsh", "bash", "sh"]
debug_image = "alpine"

kx --version prints the path it resolved, which is the quickest way to find out whether the file you are editing is the file it reads.

Keys

Key	Environment	Default	What it does
`theme`	`KX_THEME`	`github-dark`	Colour palette for all output; see themes.
`engine`	`KX_ENGINE`	`scout`	Default scanner for `kx scan` — `scout`, `trivy` or `grype`.
`max_history`	`KX_MAX_HISTORY`	`10`	How many `kx get` results the history stack keeps.
`shells`	`KX_SHELLS`	`bash, sh`	Shell candidates `kx exec` tries, in order.
`debug_image`	`KX_DEBUG_IMAGE`	`busybox`	Image `kx debug` attaches to a pod; `--image` overrides it per run.
`theme_disable`	`KX_THEME_DISABLE`	`false`	Turn off styling entirely — the same as `--no-color`.

shells is a list in the file and a comma-separated string in the environment: KX_SHELLS=zsh,bash,sh.

Two commands write to the file rather than making you edit it:

kx theme dracula     # persists theme
kx engine trivy      # persists engine

When output is styled

Styled output is emitted only when stdout is a terminal. Piped or redirected output is plain text, so this stays clean:

kx get pods | grep worker
kx get pods > pods.txt

The NO_COLOR convention is honoured too. It is a terminal-wide convention rather than a kx setting, which is why it isn’t in the table above — theme_disable and --no-color are the kx ways to say the same thing.

The files kx owns

Path	Environment	Contents
`~/.kx/config.toml`	`KX_CONFIG`	The settings above.
`~/.kx/state.json`	`KX_STATE`	Saved listings and the cursor; see state.

KX_CONFIG and KX_STATE point kx at a different file entirely, for a terminal or CI job that wants its own config or history rather than sharing the one in ~/.kx — unlike the settings table above, neither can be set from inside the file it names.

Both paths are printed by kx --version and on the root kx --help screen. Neither is required to exist — kx runs on defaults without them.

State and history Themes