# Configuration

To override global configuration parameters, create a `config.toml` file located in your config directory:

* Linux and Mac: `~/.config/helix/config.toml`
* Windows: `%AppData%\helix\config.toml`

> Hint: You can easily open the config file by typing `:config-open` within Helix normal mode.

Example config:

```toml
theme = "onedark"

[editor]
line-number = "relative"
mouse = false

[editor.cursor-shape]
insert = "bar"
normal = "block"
select = "underline"

[editor.file-picker]
hidden = false
```

## Editor

### `[editor]` Section

| Key | Description | Default |
|--|--|---------|
| `scrolloff` | Number of lines of padding around the edge of the screen when scrolling. | `3` |
| `mouse` | Enable mouse mode. | `true` |
| `middle-click-paste` | Middle click paste support. | `true` |
| `scroll-lines` | Number of lines to scroll per scroll wheel step. | `3` |
| `shell` | Shell to use when running external commands. | Unix: `["sh", "-c"]`<br/>Windows: `["cmd", "/C"]` |
| `line-number` | Line number display: `absolute` simply shows each line's number, while `relative` shows the distance from the current line. When unfocused or in insert mode, `relative` will still show absolute line numbers. | `absolute` |
| `auto-completion` | Enable automatic pop up of auto-completion. | `true` |
| `idle-timeout` | Time in milliseconds since last keypress before idle timers trigger. Used for autocompletion, set to 0 for instant. | `400` |
| `completion-trigger-len` | The min-length of word under cursor to trigger autocompletion | `2` |
| `auto-info` | Whether to display infoboxes | `true` |
| `true-color` | Set to `true` to override automatic detection of terminal truecolor support in the event of a false negative. | `false` |

### `[editor.lsp]` Section

| Key                | Description                                 | Default |
| ---                | -----------                                 | ------- |
| `display-messages` | Display LSP progress messages below statusline[^1] | `false` |

[^1]: A progress spinner is always shown in the statusline beside the file path.

### `[editor.cursor-shape]` Section

Defines the shape of cursor in each mode. Note that due to limitations
of the terminal environment, only the primary cursor can change shape.

| Key      | Description                                | Default |
| ---      | -----------                                | ------- |
| `normal` | Cursor shape in [normal mode][normal mode] | `block` |
| `insert` | Cursor shape in [insert mode][insert mode] | `block` |
| `select` | Cursor shape in [select mode][select mode] | `block` |

[normal mode]: ./keymap.md#normal-mode
[insert mode]: ./keymap.md#insert-mode
[select mode]: ./keymap.md#select--extend-mode

### `[editor.file-picker]` Section

Sets options for file picker and global search. All but the last key listed in
the default file-picker configuration below are IgnoreOptions: whether hidden
files and files listed within ignore files are ignored by (not visible in) the
helix file picker and global search. There is also one other key, `max-depth`
available, which is not defined by default.

| Key | Description | Default |
|--|--|---------|
|`hidden` | Enables ignoring hidden files. | true
|`parents` | Enables reading ignore files from parent directories. | true
|`ignore` | Enables reading `.ignore` files. | true
|`git-ignore` | Enables reading `.gitignore` files. | true
|`git-global` | Enables reading global .gitignore, whose path is specified in git's config: `core.excludefile` option. | true
|`git-exclude` | Enables reading `.git/info/exclude` files. | true
|`max-depth` | Set with an integer value for maximum depth to recurse. | Defaults to `None`.

### `[editor.auto-pairs]` Section

Enable automatic insertion of pairs to parentheses, brackets, etc. Can be
a simple boolean value, or a specific mapping of pairs of single characters.

| Key | Description |
| --- | ----------- |
| `false` | Completely disable auto pairing, regardless of language-specific settings
| `true` | Use the default pairs: <code>(){}[]''""``</code>
| Mapping of pairs | e.g. `{ "(" =  ")", "{" = "}", ... }`

Example

```toml
[editor.auto-pairs]
'(' = ')'
'{' = '}'
'[' = ']'
'"' = '"'
'`' = '`'
'<' = '>'
```

Additionally, this setting can be used in a language config. Unless
the editor setting is `false`, this will override the editor config in
documents with this language.

Example `languages.toml` that adds <> and removes ''

```toml
[[language]]
name = "rust"

[language.auto-pairs]
'(' = ')'
'{' = '}'
'[' = ']'
'"' = '"'
'`' = '`'
'<' = '>'
```

### `[editor.search]` Section

Search specific options.

| Key | Description | Default |
|--|--|---------|
| `smart-case` | Enable smart case regex searching (case insensitive unless pattern contains upper case characters) | `true` |
| `wrap-around`| Whether the search should wrap after depleting the matches | `true` |