Pinky Brain Configuration

Pinky is configured with flags (CLI) and environment variables (all three pieces: CLI, MCP and hooks). There is no central config file: the defaults are sane and everything relevant can be set via env or flag.

Precedence in the CLI: flag > env var > default. E.g.: --db x.db wins over PINKY_DB, which wins over the default brain.db.

Environment variables

Variable	Used by	Default	What it does
`PINKY_DB`	CLI · MCP · hooks	`brain.db`	Path of the SQLite index (derived and disposable). Set it the same in all three pieces so that CLI and agent see the same base. `pinky init` registers the MCP with `PINKY_DB=brain.db`, the same default as the CLI, so `pinky reindex` and the agent share the index.
`PINKY_HASH_EMBED`	CLI · MCP	(not set)	If present, uses the deterministic embedder (without downloading the ONNX model). Useful offline/CI. In the CLI it is equivalent to `--hash-embed`.
`PINKY_SAVE_DIR`	MCP	`documentation`	Folder where `brain_save` writes the source-of-truth `.md` files.
`PINKY_PROJECT`	MCP	(global)	If set, the entries the MCP saves stay in the `project:<value>` scope (filterable by project).
`PINKY_DIARY_DIR`	hooks	(stdout)	Folder where the `stop` hook writes the diary (`YYYY-MM-DD.md`). Without it, the line goes to stdout.
`PINKY_LOG` / `RUST_LOG`	all	`warn`	Logging level (`error`/`warn`/`info`/`debug`/`trace`). Always goes to stderr (it does not pollute the MCP's stdout nor the CLI's data output).

Global CLI flags

Flag	What it does
`--db <path>`	Index to use (equiv. `PINKY_DB`).
`--hash-embed`	Deterministic embedder without model (equiv. `PINKY_HASH_EMBED`).
`--json`	Output in JSON, for scripting. Available in all commands with output to stdout. In `search`, it also disables telemetry logging (programmatic use).
`--version`	Binary version (`pinky`, `pinky-mcp` and `pinky-hooks` report it).

Diagnostics

pinky doctor prints the effective config of the index: schema version, count of entries/chunks, model it was indexed with vs. the active embedder (it warns if they do not match) and the binary version. With --json it is suitable for monitoring.

pinky --db brain.db doctor
pinky --db brain.db --json doctor

Autocompletion

pinky completions zsh  > ~/.zfunc/_pinky        # zsh
pinky completions bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/pinky
pinky completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/pinky.fish