Configuration Reference

minizen reads its configuration from a TOML file (default ~/.config/minizen/config.toml) and secrets from environment variables.

Config file

[ai]
model = "anthropic:claude-haiku-4-5"
top_n = 5

[miniflux]
url = "https://reader.miniflux.app"

[email]
smtp_host = "smtp.gmail.com"
smtp_port = 587
from_addr = "you@example.com"
to_addr = "you@example.com"

`[ai]` section

Key	Type	Default	Description
`model`	string	`"anthropic:claude-haiku-4-5"`	pydantic-ai model identifier
`top_n`	integer	`5`	Number of articles selected for full AI summaries; remaining recent articles appear as a "More to read" link list
`max_words_per_article`	integer	`500`	Maximum words of article content sent to the LLM per article. Increase for longer summaries, decrease to reduce token usage.

Supported models

minizen uses pydantic-ai for LLM integration. Any provider it supports works:

Provider	Example `model` value	Required env var
Anthropic	`anthropic:claude-haiku-4-5`	`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`
OpenAI	`openai:gpt-4o-mini`	`OPENAI_API_KEY`

`[miniflux]` section

Key	Type	Default	Description
`url`	string	`"https://reader.miniflux.app"`	Base URL of your Miniflux instance (no `/v1/` suffix)

`[email]` section

Key	Type	Default	Description
`smtp_host`	string	—	SMTP server hostname
`smtp_port`	integer	—	SMTP port (typically `587` for STARTTLS)
`from_addr`	string	—	Sender email address
`to_addr`	string	—	Recipient email address

Environment variables

Secrets are never stored in the config file. Set them in your shell or in ~/.config/minizen/.env (created by minizen setup when run interactively).

Variable	Purpose
`MINIFLUX_API_KEY`	Miniflux API key for authentication
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	Anthropic API key (if using an Anthropic model)
`OPENAI_API_KEY`	OpenAI API key (if using an OpenAI model)
`MINIZEN_EMAIL_USERNAME`	SMTP login username
`MINIZEN_EMAIL_PASSWORD`	SMTP login password or app password

Custom config path

The default config path is ~/.config/minizen/config.toml. Pass a custom path with --config:

minizen run --config /path/to/config.toml

Manual setup (without `minizen setup`)

You can configure minizen entirely by hand — no wizard required.

1. Create the config file

Copy this template to ~/.config/minizen/config.toml and fill in your values:

[miniflux]
url = "https://reader.miniflux.app"  # or your self-hosted URL

[email]
smtp_host = "smtp.gmail.com"
smtp_port = 587
from_addr = "you@example.com"
to_addr = "you@example.com"

[ai]
model = "anthropic:claude-haiku-4-5"
top_n = 5
# max_words_per_article = 500    # default: 500

Use minizen config set to update individual values later:

minizen config set ai.top_n 10
minizen config set ai.model "openai:gpt-4o-mini"

2. Set secrets via `.env` file

Create ~/.config/minizen/.env (same directory as config.toml):

MINIFLUX_API_KEY=your-miniflux-api-key
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-anthropic-key   # or OPENAI_API_KEY
MINIZEN_EMAIL_USERNAME=your-smtp-username
MINIZEN_EMAIL_PASSWORD=your-smtp-app-password

Restrict permissions so only your user can read it:

chmod 600 ~/.config/minizen/.env

3. Set secrets via shell rc file

As an alternative to .env, export the variables in your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or equivalent):

export MINIFLUX_API_KEY="your-miniflux-api-key"
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-anthropic-key"   # or OPENAI_API_KEY
export MINIZEN_EMAIL_USERNAME="your-smtp-username"
export MINIZEN_EMAIL_PASSWORD="your-smtp-app-password"

Reload your shell after editing: source ~/.zshrc (or source ~/.bashrc).

4. Verify the setup

minizen config validate

A clean output confirms minizen can read all required values.