Project Settings - Chapi Assistant

Chapi Assistant provides flexible configuration through multiple settings files that control different aspects of the application.

Configuration Files

Chapi uses two main configuration files:

appsettings.json

Application-wide settings including OAuth and app configuration

user.api.settings.json

User-specific API keys and preferences stored in AppData

Application Settings

Location: ~/workspace/source/Chapi/appsettings.json This file contains application-wide configuration that applies to all users.

App Configuration

AppConfig.UrlGit

string

Default Git repository URL for base templates or resources.Example: https://gitlab.com/net-core2/api-base.git

AppConfig.UpdateUrl

string

GitHub repository URL for checking application updates.Example: https://github.com/JPChanel/chapi-assistant

Git Authentication Settings

See Git Authentication for detailed OAuth configuration.

GitAuth.GitHub

object

GitHub OAuth application credentials and settings

GitAuth.GitLab

object

GitLab OAuth application credentials and settings

Example appsettings.json

appsettings.json

{
  "AppConfig": {
    "UrlGit": "https://gitlab.com/net-core2/api-base.git",
    "UpdateUrl": "https://github.com/JPChanel/chapi-assistant"
  },
  "GitAuth": {
    "GitHub": {
      "ClientId": "Ov23li5zo1SneHUKeXf7",
      "ClientSecret": "your-github-secret",
      "RedirectUri": "http://localhost:8888/callback",
      "Scope": "repo user"
    },
    "GitLab": {
      "ClientId": "your-gitlab-client-id",
      "ClientSecret": "gloas-your-gitlab-secret",
      "RedirectUri": "http://localhost:8891/callback",
      "Scope": "api read_user read_repository write_repository",
      "BaseUrl": "https://gitlab.com"
    }
  }
}

Never commit production OAuth credentials to version control. Use environment variables or user secrets for sensitive data.

User Settings

Location: %AppData%/Chapi/user.api.settings.json This file stores user-specific settings including API keys and preferences.

AI Provider Settings

See AI Providers for detailed AI configuration.

GeminiApiKey

string

Google AI API key for Gemini models

OpenAiApiKey

string

OpenAI API key for GPT models

ClaudeApiKey

string

Anthropic API key for Claude models

PreferredAiProvider

string

default:"Gemini"

Your preferred AI provider. Options: Gemini, OpenAI, Claude

Proxy Settings

ProxyEnabled

boolean

default:false

Enable proxy for network connections

ProxyUrl

string

Proxy server URL (e.g., http://proxy.company.com:8080)

ProxyUser

string

Proxy authentication username

ProxyPass

string

Proxy authentication password

GitHub Integration

GitHubToken

string

Stored GitHub OAuth access token (managed by the application)

GitHub username (cached from authentication)

GitHubUserName

string

GitHub display name (cached from authentication)

GitHubUserAvatar

string

GitHub avatar URL (cached from authentication)

Example user.api.settings.json

user.api.settings.json

{
  "GeminiApiKey": "AIzaSyD...",
  "OpenAiApiKey": "sk-proj-...",
  "ClaudeApiKey": "sk-ant-...",
  "PreferredAiProvider": "Gemini",
  "ProxyEnabled": false,
  "ProxyUrl": "",
  "ProxyUser": "",
  "ProxyPass": "",
  "GitHubToken": "",
  "GitHubUserLogin": "",
  "GitHubUserName": "",
  "GitHubUserAvatar": ""
}

Settings Management

The UserSettingsService class handles loading and saving user settings:

UserSettingsService.cs

public static class UserSettingsService
{
    private static readonly string AppDataPath = 
        Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData), "Chapi");
    
    private static readonly string SettingsFilePath = 
        Path.Combine(AppDataPath, "user.api.settings.json");

    public static UserApiSettings LoadSettings()
    {
        if (!File.Exists(SettingsFilePath))
        {
            return new UserApiSettings();
        }

        try
        {
            var json = File.ReadAllText(SettingsFilePath);
            return JsonSerializer.Deserialize<UserApiSettings>(json) ?? new UserApiSettings();
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            return new UserApiSettings();
        }
    }

    public static void SaveSettings(UserApiSettings settings)
    {
        var json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(settings, new JsonSerializerOptions { WriteIndented = true });
        File.WriteAllText(SettingsFilePath, json);
    }
}

Features

Auto-Creation

Automatically creates %AppData%/Chapi directory on first run

Graceful Fallback

Returns default settings if file doesn’t exist or is corrupted

JSON Formatting

Saves settings with indentation for readability

Type Safety

Strongly-typed settings model with defaults

Configuration Priority

Chapi uses the following priority for settings:

User Settings (Highest)

User-specific settings in user.api.settings.json override all others

Application Settings

Application-wide settings in appsettings.json

Default Values (Lowest)

Hard-coded defaults in the settings models

Environment-Specific Configuration

For development vs. production environments, you can use:

Development

appsettings.Development.json

{
  "GitAuth": {
    "GitHub": {
      "ClientId": "dev-client-id",
      "ClientSecret": "dev-secret",
      "RedirectUri": "http://localhost:8888/callback"
    }
  }
}

Production

appsettings.Production.json

{
  "GitAuth": {
    "GitHub": {
      "ClientId": "prod-client-id",
      "ClientSecret": "prod-secret",
      "RedirectUri": "https://yourapp.com/callback"
    }
  }
}

.NET automatically merges environment-specific configuration files based on the ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT or DOTNET_ENVIRONMENT variable.

Accessing Settings in Code

Dependency Injection

public class GitHubOAuthProvider : IGitAuthProvider
{
    private readonly GitHubConfig _config;

    public GitHubOAuthProvider(
        ICredentialStorageService credentialStorage,
        HttpClient httpClient,
        IOptions<GitAuthConfig> config)
    {
        _config = config.Value.GitHub;
    }
}

Direct Access

var settings = UserSettingsService.LoadSettings();
var geminiKey = settings.GeminiApiKey;
var preferredProvider = settings.PreferredAiProvider;

Best Practices

Security

Never commit API keys or secrets to version control

Validation

Validate settings on load and provide meaningful error messages

Defaults

Always provide sensible default values

Documentation

Document all configuration options with examples

Security Recommendations

Use User Secrets for development:

dotnet user-secrets set "GitAuth:GitHub:ClientSecret" "your-secret"

Use Environment Variables for production:

export GitAuth__GitHub__ClientSecret="your-secret"

Encrypt Sensitive Data at rest using Windows DPAPI or similar
Restrict File Permissions on configuration files

Troubleshooting

Settings not persisting

Possible causes:

Insufficient permissions to write to %AppData%/Chapi
File is locked by another process
Disk space issues

Solution:

Check folder permissions
Close other instances of the application
Verify available disk space

Settings reset to defaults

Possible causes:

Corrupted JSON in settings file
File encoding issues

Solution:

Validate JSON syntax using a JSON validator
Ensure file is UTF-8 encoded
Restore from backup or recreate manually

Configuration not loading

Possible causes:

Incorrect file path
Missing configuration section
Deserialization errors

Solution:

Verify file locations match expected paths
Check console/logs for deserialization errors
Compare with example configurations

Git Authentication

Configure GitHub and GitLab OAuth

AI Providers

Configure Gemini, OpenAI, and Claude

Source Code Reference

Settings Service: ~/workspace/source/Chapi/Infrastructure/Persistence/Settings/UserSettings.cs
App Configuration: ~/workspace/source/Chapi/appsettings.json
Git Auth Config: ~/workspace/source/Chapi/Infrastructure/Configuration/GitAuthConfig.cs

Get Started

Core Features

Guides

Configuration

​Configuration Files

appsettings.json

user.api.settings.json

​Application Settings

​App Configuration

​Git Authentication Settings

​Example appsettings.json

​User Settings

​AI Provider Settings

​Proxy Settings

​GitHub Integration

​Example user.api.settings.json

​Settings Management

​Features

Auto-Creation

Graceful Fallback

JSON Formatting

Type Safety

​Configuration Priority

​Environment-Specific Configuration

​Development

​Production

​Accessing Settings in Code

​Dependency Injection

​Direct Access

​Best Practices

Security

Validation

Defaults

Documentation

​Security Recommendations

​Troubleshooting

​Related Configuration

Git Authentication

AI Providers

​Source Code Reference

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Configuration Files

Application Settings

App Configuration

Git Authentication Settings

Example appsettings.json

User Settings

AI Provider Settings

Proxy Settings

GitHub Integration

Example user.api.settings.json

Settings Management

Features

Configuration Priority

Environment-Specific Configuration

Development

Production

Accessing Settings in Code

Dependency Injection

Direct Access

Best Practices

Security Recommendations

Troubleshooting

Related Configuration

Source Code Reference