Configuration — config.yaml & ignore files

Everything repowise knows about a repository lives in a .repowise/ directory at the repo root, created on the first repowise init. The main configuration file is .repowise/config.yaml — repowise writes it for you during init, and you can edit it by hand afterwards.

The .repowise/ directory

.repowise/
├── wiki.db          # SQLite — pages, symbols, graph, git metadata, decisions
├── lancedb/         # Vector search index
├── config.yaml      # Provider, model, embedder, exclude patterns
├── state.json       # Last sync commit, page counts, token usage
├── mcp.json         # MCP server configuration
└── .env             # API keys (gitignored automatically)

repowise adds .repowise/ to your .gitignore automatically. It's a local cache, not a source of truth — don't commit it.

config.yaml

Generated after the first init and updated when you pass flags like --commit-limit or --follow-renames. You can also edit it directly; changes take effect on the next init, update, serve, or mcp run.

provider: anthropic                  # LLM provider
model: claude-sonnet-4-6             # Model identifier
embedder: gemini                     # Embedding provider for semantic search
reasoning: auto                      # auto | off | minimal
exclude_patterns:                    # Gitignore-style patterns
  - vendor/
  - "*.generated.*"
  - proto/
commit_limit: 500                    # Max commits per file for git analysis
follow_renames: false                # Track file renames in git history

Controlling what gets indexed

repowise decides which files to document using, in order:

1. .gitignore — respected automatically, using the same gitwildmatch format git uses. repowise reads the repo-root .gitignore and nested .gitignore files in subdirectories, just like git: a .gitignore in any directory applies to that directory's contents.
2. .repowiseIgnore — same syntax as .gitignore, for repowise-only exclusions you don't want in git. Honoured at the repo root and in any subdirectory.
3. exclude_patterns / --exclude — extra patterns from the CLI, persisted to config.yaml and reapplied on every update.
4. Built-in exclusions (always applied): .git/, .repowise/, node_modules/, .venv/, dist/, build/, __pycache__/, binary files, lockfiles, and minified assets (*.min.js, *.min.css).

Add extra patterns on the command line — they're saved to config.yaml and reused by later update runs:

repowise init -x vendor/ -x "*.generated.ts" -x proto/ -x "**/*.pb.go"

Or drop a .repowiseIgnore file at the repo root or in any subdirectory for granular control without touching .gitignore:

# packages/web/.repowiseIgnore
generated/
*.stories.tsx

You can also skip categories of files with flags: --skip-tests excludes test files, and --skip-infra excludes Dockerfiles, Makefiles, and shell scripts.

Submodules

Git submodule directories are excluded by default (repowise reads .gitmodules to detect them). Include them with:

repowise init --include-submodules