Configuration

Prism reads connection settings and feature flags from three sources, in this order (highest precedence wins):

1. Environment variables — IRIS_BASE_URL=... prism info or set in the shell session.
2. .env file — loaded via python-dotenv from the current working directory.
3. config.json — the persistent user settings written by prism config.

If none of the three provide a value, Prism falls back to the default shown in the tables below.

The settings file

prism config writes a JSON file under your OS's user data directory:

OS	Path
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\prism\config.json (e.g. C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\prism\config.json)
Linux	~/.local/share/prism/config.json (honours XDG_DATA_HOME)

On POSIX the file is chmod 600. On Windows it inherits the ACLs of %LOCALAPPDATA%, which is already user-scoped.

Structure

JSON keys match the lowercase environment-variable names. Example:

{
  "iris_base_url": "http://192.168.1.100:52773",
  "iris_username": "_SYSTEM",
  "iris_password": "SYS",
  "iris_namespace": "USER",
  "iris_superserver_port": 1972
}

Any environment variable from the tables below can also live here — unknown keys are ignored.

Writing with prism config

prism config -u _SYSTEM -p SYS -U http://192.168.1.100:52773 -n USER -P 1972

Run prism config (no arguments) to see every setting and its current effective value, or prism config -i for an interactive walkthrough. See prism config for all flags.

Connection

Variable	Default	Description
IRIS_BASE_URL	http://localhost:52773	IRIS web server URL
IRIS_USERNAME	_SYSTEM	Authentication username
IRIS_PASSWORD	SYS	Authentication password
IRIS_NAMESPACE	USER	Default namespace for all operations
IRIS_SUPERSERVER_PORT	1972	Port used by prism terminal (native driver)

Terminal method

Variable	Default	Description
IRIS_TERMINAL_METHOD	native	Which backend the MCP execute_terminal tool uses: native (irisnative via SuperServer, parallel-capable) or ws (Atelier WebSocket, useful when only the HTTP port is reachable)
IRIS_TERMINAL_MAX_OUTPUT_CHARS	100000	Maximum characters of terminal output before truncation. When exceeded, the response includes output_truncated: true and output_omitted_chars: <count>

The CLI bypasses this switch: prism terminal always uses the native driver, prism ws always uses the WebSocket.

Output

Variable	Default	Description
PRISM_OUTPUT_FORMAT	json	Default output format for CLI commands: json or toon

API

Variable	Default	Description
IRIS_API_PREFIX	api/atelier/v8	Atelier REST API path prefix
IRIS_COMPILE_FLAGS	cuk	Compiler flags: c = compile, u = skip up-to-date, k = keep generated source

Workspace (MCP server only)

Variable	Default	Description
IRIS_WORKSPACE	(empty)	Local directory for the MCP put_document and put_and_compile tools. When empty, those tools are not registered

Note

The CLI prism put-doc <name> <file> does not need IRIS_WORKSPACE — it reads the file path you pass directly. The variable only affects the MCP server's workspace-based tools.

Testing

Variable	Default	Description
IRIS_TEST_RUNNER_CLASS	MCP.TestRunner	ObjectScript class that wraps %UnitTest.Manager
IRIS_TEST_RUNNER_METHOD	RunTests	SqlProc method name on the runner class
IRIS_TEST_MANAGER_CLASS	%UnitTest.Manager	Underlying IRIS unit test manager class
IRIS_TEST_AUTO_DEPLOY	true	Auto-deploy the test runner helper class to IRIS on first prism test run

Debugging (MCP server only)

The interactive debugger is only reachable through the MCP server. Debug tools are hidden until IRIS_DEBUG_ENABLED=true.

Variable	Default	Description
IRIS_DEBUG_ENABLED	false	Must be true to register the debug_* MCP tools
IRIS_DEBUG_STEP_GRANULARITY	line	Step granularity for the debugger
IRIS_DEBUG_MAX_DATA	8192	Maximum bytes returned when inspecting a variable
IRIS_DEBUG_MAX_CHILDREN	32	Maximum child elements returned for collections and objects
IRIS_DEBUG_MAX_DEPTH	2	Maximum recursion depth for nested data structures
IRIS_DEBUG_IDLE_TIMEOUT	300	Seconds of inactivity before a debug session is automatically closed

Warning

Debugging requires a WebSocket connection to the IRIS XDebug endpoint. Ensure your IRIS instance has XDebug enabled and that port is reachable.

Chatbot agent

The prism chatbot command starts an AI agent that orchestrates Prism's MCP tools via an OpenAI-compatible LLM API. See prism chatbot for full usage.

Variable	Default	Description
CHATBOT_API_URL	(empty)	OpenAI-compatible API base URL (e.g. https://api.openai.com/v1)
CHATBOT_API_KEY	(empty)	API key for the LLM provider
CHATBOT_MODEL	gpt-4o	Model name to use
CHATBOT_SKILLS_PATH	(empty)	Path to a folder of markdown skill files injected into the agent's system prompt

GUI SQL editor

The prism gui command launches a tkinter SQL editor with multi-tab support and automatic query persistence.

Variable	Default	Description
GUI_QUERY_AUTOSAVE	true	When enabled, query text is automatically saved to config.json after the configured delay
GUI_AUTOSAVE_DELAY_MS	3000	Milliseconds of typing inactivity before queries are auto-saved (default 3 seconds)
GUI_SAVED_QUERIES	[]	JSON array of {"name": "Script-1", "content": "SELECT 1"} entries — restored as tabs on GUI startup