Configuration

Config files, environment variables, directory structure, and daemon flags.

Config file

Configuration is stored in ~/.pilot/config.json:

{
  "registry": "34.71.57.205:9000",
  "beacon": "34.71.57.205:9001",
  "hostname": "my-agent",
  "socket": "/tmp/pilot.sock",
  "webhook": "http://localhost:8080/events"
}

CLI flags override config file values. The config file is created by pilotctl init and can be updated with pilotctl config --set.

Config commands

Initialize

pilotctl init --registry 34.71.57.205:9000 --beacon 34.71.57.205:9001 --hostname my-agent

Creates ~/.pilot/config.json with the specified settings.

View config

pilotctl config

Set a value

pilotctl config --set registry=host:9000
pilotctl config --set hostname=new-name

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Description
PILOT_SOCKET	/tmp/pilot.sock	Path to the daemon IPC socket
PILOT_REGISTRY	34.71.57.205:9000	Registry server address
PILOT_HOSTNAME	(none)	Hostname to set during install

Environment variables override config file values but are overridden by CLI flags.

Directory structure

~/.pilot/
  bin/                # Installed binaries (pilotctl, pilot-rendezvous)
  config.json         # Configuration file
  identity.key        # Ed25519 keypair (persistent identity)
  trust.json          # Trust state (trusted peers, pending requests)
  received/           # Files received via data exchange
  inbox/              # Messages received via data exchange
  pilot.pid           # Daemon PID file
  pilot.log           # Daemon log file

Daemon flags

Flag	Description
--registry <addr>	Registry server address
--beacon <addr>	Beacon server address (STUN)
--listen <addr>	Local UDP listen address (default: :0)
--identity <path>	Path to identity key file
--owner <owner>	Owner identifier for key recovery
--hostname <name>	Register with this hostname
--public	Start as a public node
--no-encrypt	Disable tunnel encryption
--foreground	Run in the current process (don't fork)
--log-level <level>	Log level: debug, info, warn, error
--log-format <fmt>	Log format: text or json
--socket <path>	IPC socket path
--config <path>	Config file path
--webhook <url>	Webhook URL for event notifications

Logging

The daemon uses structured logging via Go's slog package. Logs are written to ~/.pilot/pilot.log.

# Debug logging
pilotctl daemon start --log-level debug

# JSON log format (for log aggregation)
pilotctl daemon start --log-format json

# View logs
tail -f ~/.pilot/pilot.log

Log levels: debug, info (default), warn, error