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0 pointsjohndough1mo ago0 comments

I think it is hilarious that there are four different ways to set settings (settings.json config file, environment variable, slash commands and magical chat keywords).

That kind of consistency has also been my own experience with LLMs.

0 comments

windexh8er1mo ago

I just had this conversation today. It's hilarious that things like Skills and Soul and all of these anthropomorphized files could just be a better laid out set of configuration files. Yet here we are treating machines like pets or worse.

hansmayer1mo ago

Well they need you to think there is some kind of soul behind it - that is their entire pitch!

darkwater1mo ago

Yep. Especially for Anthropic. Goddamnit, they have it in their company's name!

SAI_Peregrinus1mo ago

It's not unique to LLMs. Take BASH: you've got `/etc/profile`, `~/.bash_profile,` `~/.bash_login`, `~/.bashrc`, `~/.profile`, environment variables, and shell options.

hansmayer1mo ago

I would laugh so hard at this, if your attempt at comparison was not so tragic. Bash and other shells are deterministic. Want to set it just for one user ? - use ~/.bashrc . Set it for all users on the system? use /etc/profile.d/ . Want it just temporary for this session? You got it, environment variables. And it is going to work like that every single time. It is deterministic you see.

SAI_Peregrinus1mo ago

The non-determinisim in the LLM systems isn't because of the different config uses, that works much like shell configs. The non-determinism is inherent in LLM operations.

hansmayer1mo ago

Exactly my point here...

subscribed1mo ago

Yeah, but for ash/shells these files have wildly different purposes. I don't think it's so distinct with cc.

hackerbrother1mo ago

I don't think they're wildly different purposes. They're the same purpose (to set shell settings) with different scopes (all users, one user, interactive shells only, etc.).

monatron1mo ago

To be fair, I can think of reasons why you would want to be able to set them in various ways.

- settings.json - set for machine, project

- env var - set for an environment/shell/sandbox

- slash command - set for a session

- magical keyword - set for a turn

tracker11mo ago

I tend to make a concerted effort to often make sure anything settable via cli is settable via environment variable... though, I often have a search-upward option for a .env file as well. Mostly so that it's easier to containerize/deploy an application in a predictable/reusable way.

larpingscholar1mo ago

You are yet to discover the joys of the managed settings scope. They can be set three ways. The claude.ai admin console; by one of two registry keys e.g. HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\ClaudeCode; and by an alphabetically merged directory of json files.

bmitc1mo ago

There's also settings available in some offerings and not in others. For example, the Anthropic Claude API supports setting model temperature, but the Claude Agent SDK doesn't.

ggdxwz1mo ago

Especially some settings are in setting.json, and others in .claude.json So sometimes I have to go through both to find the one I want to tweak

brookst1mo ago

way more than that. settings.json and settings.local.json in the project directory's .claude/, and both of files can also be in ~/.claude

MCP servers can be set in at least 5 of those places plus .mcp.json

OliverGuy1mo ago

settings.json -> global config Env vars -> settings different to your global for a specific project Slash commands / chat keywords -> need to change a setting mid chat

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

windexh8er1mo ago

hansmayer1mo ago

Well they need you to think there is some kind of soul behind it - that is their entire pitch!

darkwater1mo ago

Yep. Especially for Anthropic. Goddamnit, they have it in their company's name!

SAI_Peregrinus1mo ago

It's not unique to LLMs. Take BASH: you've got `/etc/profile`, `~/.bash_profile,` `~/.bash_login`, `~/.bashrc`, `~/.profile`, environment variables, and shell options.

hansmayer1mo ago

SAI_Peregrinus1mo ago

The non-determinisim in the LLM systems isn't because of the different config uses, that works much like shell configs. The non-determinism is inherent in LLM operations.

hansmayer1mo ago

Exactly my point here...

subscribed1mo ago

Yeah, but for ash/shells these files have wildly different purposes. I don't think it's so distinct with cc.

hackerbrother1mo ago

I don't think they're wildly different purposes. They're the same purpose (to set shell settings) with different scopes (all users, one user, interactive shells only, etc.).

monatron1mo ago

To be fair, I can think of reasons why you would want to be able to set them in various ways.

- settings.json - set for machine, project

- env var - set for an environment/shell/sandbox

- slash command - set for a session

- magical keyword - set for a turn

tracker11mo ago

larpingscholar1mo ago

bmitc1mo ago

There's also settings available in some offerings and not in others. For example, the Anthropic Claude API supports setting model temperature, but the Claude Agent SDK doesn't.

ggdxwz1mo ago

Especially some settings are in setting.json, and others in .claude.json So sometimes I have to go through both to find the one I want to tweak

brookst1mo ago

way more than that. settings.json and settings.local.json in the project directory's .claude/, and both of files can also be in ~/.claude

MCP servers can be set in at least 5 of those places plus .mcp.json

OliverGuy1mo ago

settings.json -> global config Env vars -> settings different to your global for a specific project Slash commands / chat keywords -> need to change a setting mid chat

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse