Configuration

NEMAR CLI configuration and settings.

Config File Location

OS	Path
macOS	~/.config/nemar/config.json
Linux	~/.config/nemar/config.json
Windows	~/.config/nemar/config.json

The CLI standardizes on ~/.config/nemar/config.json for every platform. On first run it performs a one-time migration: if a legacy nemar-nodejs/config.json exists at the old OS-native location (~/Library/Preferences/nemar-nodejs/ on macOS, %APPDATA%\nemar-nodejs\ on Windows, or ~/.config/nemar-nodejs/ on Linux), it is copied to the standardized path. Set NEMAR_CONFIG_DIR to override the directory; see Environment Variables.

The file holds a live API key, so it is written owner-read-write only (0600), never group- or world-readable. On non-Windows platforms, an older file a previous CLI version left at a looser default mode is migrated to 0600 the next time this CLI writes it.

Config Structure

The config is multi-account: a top-level activeAccount names the account in use, and the accounts map holds the per-account settings.

Each entry is keyed by NEMAR username, or, for a brand-new ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) account that hasn’t been assigned one yet, by email address; the CLI renames the entry to the username the moment the server reports one, on the next sign-in or --refresh.

{
  "activeAccount": "johndoe",
  "accounts": {
    "johndoe": {
      "apiKey": "nemar_...",
      "apiUrl": "https://api.nemar.org",
      "username": "johndoe",
      "email": "[email protected]",
      "githubUsername": "johndoe",
      "sandboxCompleted": true,
      "sandboxDatasetId": "nm099999",
      "role": "member",
      "keySource": "device",
      "keyId": 42,
      "keyName": "johndoes-laptop",
      "keyCreatedAt": "2026-09-01T12:00:00.000Z"
    }
  }
}

A brand-new account signed in on the CLI but not yet assigned a username is keyed by email instead:

{
  "accounts": {
    "[email protected]": {
      "apiKey": "nemar_...",
      "email": "[email protected]",
      "keySource": "device",
      "keyId": 7,
      "keyName": "ada-laptop",
      "keyCreatedAt": "2026-09-05T08:00:00.000Z"
    }
  }
}

Key fields

Every account entry says how its current key was obtained:

Field	Present when	Meaning
keySource: "device"	A browser-based nemar auth login minted this machine’s key	Carries keyId, keyName (nullable), and keyCreatedAt too
keySource: "paste"	The key was supplied with --key or NEMAR_API_KEY	No keyId/keyName/keyCreatedAt; nothing was minted for this machine
(absent)	A password-era account, predating both paths	nemar auth status reports it as a password-era key

nemar auth status reads these fields for its Key: line; see Authentication.

Use nemar auth switch [username] to change the active account. The apiUrl field defaults to https://api.nemar.org; the CLI rewrites any stored URL pointing at a retired backend to this default on startup.

Precedence

1. Command-line flags
2. Environment variables
3. Config file
4. Defaults

Managing Config

View Config Location

nemar auth status
# Shows config path

Clear Config

nemar auth logout

Manual Edit

You can edit the config file directly, but using CLI commands is recommended.