---
title: "Plugin configuration"
description: "Every past.dev plugin on a machine reads one connection file, ~/.past/config.json."
canonical: https://past.dev/docs/plugins/configuration
last-updated: 2026-10-12
---
# Plugin configuration

> Every past.dev plugin on a machine reads one connection file, ~/.past/config.json.

Product: past.dev Plugins. Source: https://past.dev/docs/plugins/configuration

The connect command of each plugin writes `~/.past/config.json`. Only you can open the folder: it is mode `700`, and every file in it is mode `600`. You can also edit the file by hand.

```~/.past/config.json
{
  "apiKey": "past_sk_...",
  "identity": "you@example.com",
  "audience": "developers",
  "recall": true,
  "ingest": true,
  "idleMinutes": 720,
  "sittingMinutes": 30,
  "deny": ["/Users/you/clients/acme"]
}
```

### Settings

| Setting | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| `apiKey` | The project API key, `past_sk_...`. |
| `identity` | The email or id that memories are attributed to, and that recall answers as. Recall stays off without it. |
| `audience` | An audience slug from the console. Without it, the whole project sees what you send. |
| `recall` | `false` stops recall and keeps sending. |
| `ingest` | `false` stops sending and keeps recall. |
| `idleMinutes` | How long a session stays quiet before it is sent. The default is 720, twelve hours. In Cursor, how long a turn that never ended holds its chat back. |
| `sittingMinutes` | How long a session stays quiet before a new sitting starts. The default is 30 and the minimum is 5. A session keeps the value it was first sent with. |
| `deny` | Path fragments. A session whose working directory matches one is ignored: nothing is read and nothing is sent. |

`PAST_API_KEY`, `PAST_IDENTITY` and `PAST_API_URL` in the environment override the file.

### Stop a plugin

1. Set `ingest` to `false` to stop sending, or `recall` to `false` to stop recall.
2. Revoke the project key on the API keys screen of the console to stop every plugin that uses it, at once.
3. Delete data that was already sent from the console, or with `DELETE /api/v1/data-points/{sourceId}`.