Configuration
Ignore rules, environment variables, CLI, MCP, and extension settings.
There is very little to configure, which is deliberate. Everything below has a default that works.
Ignore rules
The one setting worth attention — it is behind most surprises about speed and file counts.
Prism combines three sources:
- A builtin list of directories nobody wants indexed
- Your
.gitignore .prismignoreat the repository root, if present
.prismignore uses gitignore syntax and applies on top of the others. Use it
for things that belong in the repository but not in the analysis — generated
clients, vendored code, large fixtures:
src/generated/**
fixtures/large/**Defaults already cover node_modules, dist, build, .next, out,
coverage, .git, .turbo, .cache, minified JavaScript and source maps, plus
ecosystem-specific additions once Prism detects the ecosystem.
Environment variables
| Variable | Effect |
|---|---|
PRISM_WORKSPACE | The repository to analyse, when not passed explicitly |
NO_COLOR | Disables ANSI colour in CLI output |
COLUMNS | Terminal width used for wrapping, when it cannot be detected |
CLI
Everything is a flag; there is no configuration file. See using the CLI for global options and the command reference for per-command options.
Workspace resolution, most explicit first: --workspace, then
PRISM_WORKSPACE, then the nearest ancestor with a .git, then the current
directory. prism doctor prints which rule won.
MCP server
Configured by your MCP client, not by Prism. Happy path — no path flags:
{
"mcpServers": {
"prism": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@repo-prism/mcp-server"]
}
}
}Resolution matches the CLI. Only set --workspace / PRISM_WORKSPACE when the
client starts the server from the wrong directory. See MCP install.
Extension settings
See IDE settings. One VS Code setting lives in the editor:
| Setting | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
prism.codeLens.enabled | false | Blast Radius, Ownership and Map lenses above the first line |
Consent and privacy toggles are documented under consent and privacy.
What is stored, and where
Settings that belong to a repository — consent, bookmarks — live in .prism/
alongside the index. Presentation settings belong to the client.