RobOS Preferences

Moving to a new machine or sharing your setup? See rowbose.com/config-management for Config Sync & Sharing: back up to Google Drive, load a second machine, and share with family, new teammates or coworkers.

RobOS Preferences is one form, grouped into sections, that writes ~/.config/robos/settings.json. Many RobOS apps read that file; this app does not apply settings to anything itself, except as noted for the knowledge graph.

Sections

Click Save All to write the values. Changes are merged into the existing file, so keys set by other apps are kept. When you save, the Caveman and DSPy settings are also written to the knowledge graph as prompt strategy nodes if robos-graph is available. For the tier model names, see Agent tiers.

API keys in the AI section are saved straight to pass (robos/ai/<provider>-key) with their own Save button and never go into settings.json. Keys that older versions saved as plain text are moved into pass and removed from the file when Preferences opens, as long as the password store is set up.

The GitHub personal token is shown in a password field but saved as plain text in settings.json. Prefer the GitHub CLI credential store (Use gh CLI for auth) or pass (see Pass Manager).

Config Sync & Sharing

Keeps ~/.config/robos and ~/.robos in a private cloud folder and lets you share parts of it. The engine is packages/robos-lib/config-sync.js; the same operations are available from the terminal with node packages/robos-lib/config-sync-cli.js.

• Back up to my Google Drive: the one-step way, used on every computer. If no Google account is signed in, it opens Google sign-in first (which also adds your Google Drive as a Data Source). The first computer creates a private RobOS Config Vault folder in that Drive and uploads; another computer signed in to the same Google account finds that folder by itself (no link to paste) and loads it. Automatic sync is on from then on. On Windows and macOS, Preferences syncs the vault in the background while it is open, and the Movie Player and Audio Player sync their own library and watch history whenever they run. App Manager installs Preferences on first launch and opens it here.
• Backup vault: Create a new vault (a Google Drive folder through a Cloud Suite Accounts sign-in, or a folder on this computer such as a Dropbox, OneDrive or Nextcloud folder), or Use an existing vault by pasting its folder link. The first sync asks whether to load the vault onto this machine, upload this machine, or choose file by file; nothing is deleted on a first sync. After that, Review changes and Sync now run a three-way compare (this machine, the vault, and the last sync), and a file changed on both sides is a conflict you resolve. Sync automatically (on by default; every 1, 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes, and optionally soon after a change) has Desktop Manager sync in the background at login and on that schedule; it applies only changes with no conflicts and otherwise posts a “Config Sync needs you” notification that opens this tab with the conflicts listed. The settings are stored in ~/.config/robos/config-sync/state.json (vault.auto). Choose which categories are backed up under What is backed up.
• Share: pick a template (Family & friends, New teammate onboarding, Coworker handoff, Custom), the categories, the people (Google accounts), and an optional passphrase. Preview lists what goes out and which credentials were removed; Publish share creates the folder and gives the people read access. Publish update sends a new version.
• Shared with me: paste a share link to preview it, then Join and apply. Your own items stay: lists merge by id. Check for updates, Apply update and Leave (which removes only what the share added).
• Restore points: saved before any of the above changes a file on this machine. Restore one file or all of them.

Credentials (tokens, passwords, API keys, the Private Network machine key) never leave the machine, and paths in your home directory are stored as ${HOME} (with / separators, so a path written on Windows works on Linux and macOS too). Watch and play history files (~/.config/robos/media-history/*.json) changed on two computers are merged entry by entry instead of shown as a conflict; the players’ library indexes stay on each computer. The full guide, with screenshots from the end-to-end tests, is at rowbose.com/config-management.

GitHub accounts

Open GitHub accounts to pick which saved GitHub CLI account is used for two purposes. Git client sets the active gh account, shared by Git Projects, GitHub task servers that use Git client authentication, and PR Review. Copilot AI agent sets the account for new Copilot sessions, and its credential is passed only in the Copilot process environment. Save accounts checks that the chosen Copilot account can reach Copilot and lists models, and fails with an error if not. Add GitHub account opens a terminal with the gh login flow. Only account names are kept, in ~/.config/robos/github-accounts.json; the selectors cover github.com accounts only.

Run it

Launch RobOS Preferences from the app launcher. Only one window runs at a time; opening it again focuses the window and shows the GitHub accounts section.