notarius/docs/config.md

Configuration

This is the canonical reference for implemented Notarius configuration.

Notarius reads YAML config files with version: 3. File configuration is applied over built-in defaults, then environment overrides are applied. Explicit CLI overrides are applied last where the command supports them.

Discovery

Commands that load configuration use this order:

1. an explicit path supplied through the CLI, when provided;
2. NOTARIUS_CONFIG, when set to a non-empty path;
3. /usr/local/etc/notarius/config.yml.

If none is available, the command fails with a config file not found error. The explicit-path option is defined in the CLI reference.

Maintained Examples

• Minimal D&D spell configuration
• Production-oriented D&D spell configuration

Both are complete version 3 files. The fragments below illustrate individual fields and are not alternate complete configurations.

Top-Level Fields

• version: required. The only supported value is 3.
• scriptorium: optional Scriptorium profile source settings.
• pipelines: optional map of pipeline IDs to pipeline definitions.
• concurrency: optional global concurrency settings.
• output: optional durable output placement.
• cache: optional chunk-plan and checkpoint cache placement.
• debug: optional debug-bundle placement. It does not enable debug capture.

Unknown YAML fields are rejected. The removed top-level llm_profiles field is rejected; execution profiles now come from Scriptorium.

Defaults

Built-in defaults:

• concurrency.total_llm: 1
• concurrency.stage_workers.extract: effective concurrency.total_llm
• output.directory: ./notarius-output
• cache.chunk_plans.mode: auto
• cache.chunk_plans.directory: unset, selecting <os.UserCacheDir>/notarius/chunk-plans
• cache.checkpoints.enabled: false
• cache.checkpoints.directory: unset, selecting <os.UserCacheDir>/notarius/checkpoints
• debug.directory: ./notarius-debug

No pipelines are built in. A run requires a configured pipeline.

If scriptorium is omitted, Notarius uses Scriptorium's built-in profile catalog. Prompt definitions may also name default profile IDs. The current D&D scene and spell prompts default to the built-in mistral-small-3 profile when a module binding does not set llm_profile. That built-in profile reads its credential from OPENROUTER_API_KEY.

Scriptorium Profiles

scriptorium fields:

• profile_dir: optional directory containing Scriptorium profile YAML files.
• profile_file: optional Scriptorium profile YAML file.

profile_dir and profile_file are mutually exclusive. Custom profiles overlay Scriptorium built-in profiles by profile ID.

Scriptorium profile files use Scriptorium's profile schema. A minimal profile looks like:

id: local-fast
endpoint: http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1
model: your-model
api_key_env: SCRIPTORIUM_API_KEY
timeout_seconds: 180

Notarius does not accept raw API keys in Notarius config. For file-backed Scriptorium profiles, store the environment variable name in api_key_env and set that variable in the run environment. Scriptorium rejects raw api_key fields in profile YAML.

Environment Overrides

These environment variables are applied after the config file:

• NOTARIUS_CONFIG: config discovery path.
• NOTARIUS_TOTAL_LLM_CONCURRENCY: integer global LLM concurrency.
• NOTARIUS_STAGE_WORKERS_EXTRACT: integer extract worker limit.
• NOTARIUS_OUTPUT_DIR: durable output root.
• NOTARIUS_CACHE_CHUNK_PLANS_MODE: chunk-plan cache mode.
• NOTARIUS_CACHE_CHUNK_PLANS_DIR: chunk-plan cache root.
• NOTARIUS_CACHE_CHECKPOINTS_DIR: checkpoint cache root.
• NOTARIUS_DEBUG_DIR: debug-bundle root.

Integer environment values must parse as base-10 integers. Directory overrides must be non-empty after trimming. Cache-directory fields in a file may be empty, which deliberately selects the corresponding per-user default.

The removed NOTARIUS_LLM_DEFAULT_* variables are not read. Configure provider endpoint, model, and credential environment variable names through Scriptorium profiles.

Concurrency

concurrency fields:

• total_llm: positive integer ceiling on concurrent provider calls.
• stage_workers: optional map of framework worker limits. The only supported key is extract.

stage_workers.extract defaults to the effective total_llm value after file and environment precedence. It must be between 1 and total_llm, inclusive. Unknown or empty stage-worker keys are rejected. The environment override NOTARIUS_STAGE_WORKERS_EXTRACT takes precedence over the file value, as does NOTARIUS_TOTAL_LLM_CONCURRENCY for the global ceiling.

The worker value is present in effective and redacted configuration. It bounds the fixed run-wide extract pool and its bounded dispatch queue. Extract jobs are submitted by source chunk and then resolved lane; total_llm independently bounds actual provider calls made by extracts, retries, and validators.

Pipelines

A pipeline selects implementations for the fixed workflow defined by Architecture.

Pipeline fields:

• input: required module binding.
• chunk: optional module binding. Default module is generic.
• artifacts: required for pipeline resolution. It maps artifact lane IDs to lane definitions.
• output: optional module binding. Default module is json.
• references: optional map of reference slot names to reference paths. These bindings are defaults for eligible pipeline targets that declare the matching slot.

Artifact lane fields:

• extract: required module binding.
• merge: optional module binding. Default module is appendorder.
• normalize: optional module binding. Default module is noop.
• validators: deprecated lane-level validator list. Non-empty lists are rejected; use extract.validators, merge.validators, or normalize.validators.
• references: optional compatibility alias for extractor reference bindings. Lane bindings override pipeline-level bindings for the same slot.

Commands that resolve a pipeline fail for unknown or incompatible module keys. See CLI Reference for command syntax.

Reference bindings are validated against reference slots declared by eligible chunk, extract, merge, and normalize targets during pipeline resolution. Required slots must be bound after config defaults, target-local references, lane-level compatibility bindings, and command-line reference overrides are applied. Config-relative paths are resolved relative to the config file; command-line reference paths are resolved relative to the current working directory. Bound files must be UTF-8 text. Reference media types are inferred from file extensions and checked when a module restricts accepted types; unknown extensions use application/octet-stream. See CLI Reference for command-line selectors and Operations for recorded provenance and sensitive-data handling.

Pipeline-level references are defaults. They are valid when at least one eligible target in the full configured pipeline declares the slot, including chunk, extractor, merger, and normalizer targets. During a run, they apply only to the selected targets that declare the slot:

pipelines:
  dnd-session:
    input: seriatim
    references:
      players: ./campaign/players.txt
      party: ./campaign/party-roster.txt
      glossary: ./campaign/glossary.txt
    artifacts:
      spells:
        extract: dnd/spells

Extractor binding references are the canonical lane-local location. The legacy lane-level references field remains supported as an alias; when both bind the same slot, extract.references wins:

pipelines:
  dnd-session:
    input: seriatim
    references:
      glossary: ./campaign/glossary.txt
    artifacts:
      spells:
        references:
          roster: ./campaign/legacy-roster.txt
        extract:
          module: dnd/spells
          references:
            party: ./campaign/session-party.txt

chunk.references, merge.references, and normalize.references are accepted in object-form bindings. They override pipeline-level defaults for slots declared by that target module. Extractor-local references apply only to the extractor, merger-local references apply only to the merger, and normalizer-local references apply only to the normalizer.

Target-local reference fields use the same map shape at:

• pipelines.<id>.chunk.references
• pipelines.<id>.artifacts.<lane>.extract.references
• pipelines.<id>.artifacts.<lane>.merge.references
• pipelines.<id>.artifacts.<lane>.normalize.references

Each binding is valid only when that target module declares the slot.

Module Bindings

Every module binding may use shorthand:

input: seriatim

or object form:

chunk:
  module: dnd/scenes
  llm_profile: local-fast

Binding fields:

• module: module key.
• llm_profile: optional Scriptorium profile ID. Empty or omitted lets the Scriptorium prompt default select the profile.
• retries: non-negative retry count for extra runtime attempts after the first attempt. Default: 0. Supported on chunk, extract, merge, and normalize bindings.
• options: optional module-specific settings.
• references: optional reference bindings. Supported only for chunk, extract, merge, and normalize bindings. input and output bindings reject this field during validation.
• validators: optional stage-local validator chain override. Supported only for chunk, extract, merge, and normalize bindings. Omit the field to use the production default chain; set validators: [] to force an empty chain; set a non-empty list to use exactly those validators in configured order.

During resolution, each selected module's registered option validator runs. Production input, chunk, and output bindings reject unknown or invalid options with the affected binding context.

Validator bindings use the same shorthand or object module-binding form, but only these fields are supported:

• module: validator key.
• llm_profile: optional Scriptorium profile ID for LLM-backed validators.
• options: optional validator-specific settings.

Validator bindings reject references, retries, and nested validators. During resolution, deterministic validators reject explicit llm_profile values.

Configured LLM-backed validators with explicit llm_profile values are validated against the configured Scriptorium profile source. Deterministic production validators do not call the LLM and must not set llm_profile.

Implemented Production Modules

Slot	Key	Notes
input	seriatim	Reads Seriatim transcript JSON.
chunk	generic	Splits source units into ordered chunks.
chunk	dnd/scenes	Uses an LLM to split transcript source units into D&D scenes.
extract	dnd/spells	Extracts typed D&D spell-list artifacts.
merge	appendorder	Combines typed artifacts in chunk order.
normalize	noop	Passes merged typed artifacts through unchanged.
output	json	Produces JSON output files for normalized application/json lanes.

Implemented Production Validators

Key	Execution	Notes
generic/always_accept	deterministic	Accepts returned module output.
generic/always_reject	deterministic	Rejects returned module output with reason always_reject.
generic/valid_json	deterministic	Rejects payloads that are not syntactically valid JSON.
generic/valid_json_schema	deterministic	Rejects invalid JSON or JSON that does not conform to the module response schema.
extract/dnd/spells/shape	deterministic	Rejects malformed D&D spell-list artifacts.
extract/dnd/spells/catalog	deterministic	Rejects spell-list artifacts containing names outside the effective SRD and overlay catalog.
extract/dnd/spells/source_refs	deterministic	Rejects missing or invalid D&D spell source references.
extract/dnd/spells/source_relatedness	deterministic	Emits warnings when a spell name is not found near its cited source text.

The production default chain for the dnd/spells extractor is:

validators:
  - generic/valid_json
  - generic/valid_json_schema
  - extract/dnd/spells/shape
  - extract/dnd/spells/catalog
  - extract/dnd/spells/source_refs
  - extract/dnd/spells/source_relatedness

No other production module currently has a default validator chain. Empty chains approve output by default.

The generic chunker accepts:

• max_units: positive integer, default 50;
• overlap_units: non-negative integer, default 0, and must be less than max_units.

The dnd/scenes chunker requires transcript source capabilities, calls the configured structured LLM runtime, and does not accept module options. It declares optional players, party, and glossary references for scene disambiguation, and accepts roster as a deprecated compatibility alias for party.

The dnd/spells extractor declares optional campaign reference slots:

• players
• party
• glossary
• roster as a deprecated compatibility alias for party

These campaign slots accept UTF-8 plain text, Markdown, YAML, or JSON reference files. The extractor also declares an optional spell_catalog slot that accepts one UTF-8 application/json overlay bundle no larger than 1 MiB. The slot does not allow multiple files. Its format is defined in the spell-catalog overlay contract. The extractor uses campaign references only as supporting disambiguation material; spell casts still must be present in the source transcript.

State Surfaces

The output, cache, and debug top-level fields select independent physical roots. Their layout, permissions, lifecycle, and sensitive-data handling are defined in Operations.

output:
  directory: ./notarius-output
cache:
  chunk_plans:
    directory: ""
    mode: auto
  checkpoints:
    enabled: false
    directory: ""
debug:
  directory: ./notarius-debug

output.directory is the durable output root. Its precedence is --output-dir, NOTARIUS_OUTPUT_DIR, the file value, then the default.

cache.chunk_plans.mode accepts auto, bypass, or refresh. Its precedence is --chunk_cache, NOTARIUS_CACHE_CHUNK_PLANS_MODE, the file value, then auto. auto reuses a valid source-addressed plan and regenerates missing or invalid records; bypass performs no plan-cache I/O; refresh regenerates and publishes a plan after chunk validation.

cache.chunk_plans.directory and cache.checkpoints.directory each name an exact cache-family root. Their precedence is the corresponding environment variable, the file value, then the family-specific per-user default. There is no CLI cache-root override. The defaults are <os.UserCacheDir>/notarius/chunk-plans and <os.UserCacheDir>/notarius/checkpoints; on Unix, os.UserCacheDir ordinarily uses an absolute $XDG_CACHE_HOME or falls back to $HOME/.cache. A relative XDG_CACHE_HOME is an error.

cache.checkpoints.enabled defaults to false. When true, every run records checkpoint transitions and reusable approved results. When false, Notarius does not resolve or create the checkpoint root, and --resume is rejected. The --resume flag authorizes loading compatible checkpoints; it does not control recording.

debug.directory chooses a root but never enables debug capture. Its precedence is --debug-dir, NOTARIUS_DEBUG_DIR, the file value, then the default. Only --debug requests a bundle; --debug-dir is valid only with --debug.

Every supplied file, environment, and CLI value is validated even when a higher-precedence value wins.

Version 2 To Version 3 Migration

Version 2 files are rejected. Move each setting to the surface it controls and remove obsolete enablement and retention controls. This complete before/after example preserves an existing chunk-plan cache and checkpoint directory while choosing an output and debug root explicitly.

# Version 2 (no longer accepted)
version: 2
workspace:
  directory: /srv/notarius/state
  resume:
    enabled: true
  debug:
    enabled: true
  chunk_cache:
    directory: /srv/notarius/chunk-plans
    mode: auto
  diagnostics:
    retention: always
diagnostics:
  work_dir: /srv/notarius/inspection

# Version 3
version: 3
output:
  directory: /srv/notarius/output
cache:
  chunk_plans:
    directory: /srv/notarius/chunk-plans
    mode: auto
  checkpoints:
    enabled: true
    directory: /srv/notarius/state/checkpoints
debug:
  directory: /srv/notarius/debug

Run the migrated configuration with --resume when checkpoint reuse is wanted, and with --debug when a debug bundle is wanted. Enabled checkpoint recording occurs with or without --resume.

The removed fields are workspace.directory, workspace.resume.enabled, workspace.debug.enabled, workspace.chunk_cache.mode, workspace.chunk_cache.directory, workspace.diagnostics.enabled, workspace.diagnostics.retention, diagnostics.work_dir, and diagnostics.retention. The removed environment variables are NOTARIUS_WORKSPACE_DIR, NOTARIUS_WORKSPACE_DIAGNOSTICS_ENABLED, NOTARIUS_WORKSPACE_DIAGNOSTICS_RETENTION, NOTARIUS_WORKSPACE_RESUME_ENABLED, NOTARIUS_WORKSPACE_DEBUG_ENABLED, NOTARIUS_WORKSPACE_CHUNK_CACHE_MODE, NOTARIUS_WORKSPACE_CHUNK_CACHE_DIR, NOTARIUS_WORK_DIR, and NOTARIUS_DIAGNOSTICS_RETENTION. The chunk-cache variables are replaced by NOTARIUS_CACHE_CHUNK_PLANS_MODE and NOTARIUS_CACHE_CHUNK_PLANS_DIR; the former shared directory has no direct replacement.

Validation

Configuration validation checks:

• supported config version and known YAML fields;
• mutually exclusive scriptorium.profile_dir and scriptorium.profile_file;
• non-empty, non-duplicated IDs after trimming;
• positive global LLM concurrency;
• supported stage-worker keys and an effective extract worker count in the inclusive range 1..concurrency.total_llm;
• non-empty output and debug directories;
• a supported chunk-cache mode, Boolean checkpoint enablement, and state-surface directories without NUL bytes;
• stale removed fields such as llm_profiles.

Pipeline resolution additionally checks:

• the pipeline ID exists;
• at least one artifact lane is declared and selected;
• lanes selected through the CLI exist in the resolved pipeline;
• required module keys are present;
• module keys are registered for the expected slot;
• module capability requirements are satisfied;
• non-empty validator overrides reference registered validator keys;
• deterministic validators do not set llm_profile;
• LLM-backed validators with explicit llm_profile values reference configured Scriptorium profile IDs;
• bound reference slots are declared by selected chunk, extractor, merger, or normalizer targets;
• required reference slots are bound for selected targets.