Configuration

Configuration Reference

Full reference for ~/.parallel-research/config.toml. All sections are optional — missing fields use defaults. Old configs without newer sections load without errors.

Full Example

~/.parallel-research/config.toml

# ─────────────────────────────────────────
# LLM Provider
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
[llm]
provider    = "deepseek"
base_url    = "https://api.deepseek.com"
api_key     = "sk-your-key"
model       = "deepseek-v4-flash"
max_tokens  = 8192
temperature = 0.7

# ─────────────────────────────────────────
# Agents
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
[agent]
max_depth         = 2
max_agents        = 20
max_iterations    = 50
timeout_seconds   = 600
use_multiprocess  = false

# ─────────────────────────────────────────
# Search
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
[search]
backend = "hybrid"

[search.linkup]
api_key = "..."
[search.exa]
api_key = "..."
[search.tavily]
api_key = "..."
[search.serper]
api_key = "..."
[search.brave]
api_key = "..."
[search.parallel]
api_key = "..."

# ─────────────────────────────────────────
# Context Management
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
[context]
context_window        = 128000
compact_threshold     = 0.50
tool_output_max_bytes = 50000
tool_output_max_lines = 2000
turn_budget_bytes     = 200000

# ─────────────────────────────────────────
# Output
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
[output]
dir = "./research-output"

# ─────────────────────────────────────────
# Export
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
[export]
format = "html"

# ─────────────────────────────────────────
# Notifications
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
[notifications]
webhook_url          = ""
email_to             = ""
email_from           = ""
smtp_host            = ""
smtp_port            = 587
smtp_username        = ""
smtp_password        = ""
telegram_bot_token   = ""
telegram_chat_id     = ""

# ─────────────────────────────────────────
# Contacts
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
[contacts]
db_path = "./contacts.db"
pg_url  = ""

# ─────────────────────────────────────────
# CRM Sync
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
[crm]
provider = ""
domain   = ""
api_key  = ""

# ─────────────────────────────────────────
# MCP Servers
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
[[mcp.servers]]
name      = "web-search"
transport = "stdio"
command   = "npx"
args      = ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-web-search"]

[[mcp.servers]]
name      = "remote-tools"
transport = "http"
url       = "https://mcp.example.com"

[llm]

LLM provider settings. The api_key field is required for operation.

Field	Type	Default	Description
`provider`	string	`"deepseek"`	Provider name
`base_url`	string	`"https://api.deepseek.com"`	API endpoint
`api_key`	string	`""`	Required for operation
`model`	string	`"deepseek-chat"`	Model identifier
`max_tokens`	u32	`8192`	Max response tokens
`temperature`	f32	`0.7`	Generation temperature

[agent]

Agent orchestration settings: depth limits, concurrency, and timeouts.

Field	Type	Default	Description
`max_depth`	u32	`2`	Max sub-agent nesting depth
`max_agents`	u32	`20`	Max agents per session
`max_iterations`	u32	`50`	Max LLM iterations per agent
`timeout_seconds`	u64	`600`	Session timeout (seconds)
`use_multiprocess`	bool	`false`	Isolate agents in separate processes

[search]

Search backend configuration. Sub-sections [search.*] contain API keys per provider. DuckDuckGo requires no key.

Field	Type	Default	Description
`backend`	string	`"hybrid"`	Search backend to use

Backend Values

Value	Description
`linkup`	Linkup search API
`exa`	Exa neural search
`tavily`	Tavily search API
`serper`	Serper (Google) API
`brave`	Brave Search API
`parallel`	Parallel search API
`duckduckgo`	DuckDuckGo (no key needed)
`hybrid`	First configured backend with results (order: linkup → exa → tavily → serper → brave → parallel → duckduckgo)
`smart`	All configured backends in parallel, dedup by URL, reciprocal rank fusion ranking

[context]

Context management and token budget settings.

Field	Type	Default	Description
`context_window`	u32	`128000`	Context window size (tokens)
`compact_threshold`	f32	`0.50`	Compression trigger (fraction of window)
`tool_output_max_bytes`	u32	`50000`	Tool output limit (bytes)
`tool_output_max_lines`	u32	`2000`	Tool output limit (lines)
`turn_budget_bytes`	u32	`200000`	Aggregate budget per turn (bytes)

[output]

Field	Type	Default	Description
`dir`	string	`"./research-output"`	Output directory for results

[export]

Field	Type	Default	Description
`format`	string	`"html"`	`pdf` \| `html` \| `json` \| `docx`. Unknown format falls back to HTML. PDF/DOCX require pandoc.

[notifications]

Notifications are sent only when the corresponding field is non-empty.

Field	Type	Default	Description
`webhook_url`	string	`""`	URL for JSON POST on completion
`email_to`	string	`""`	Email recipient
`email_from`	string	`""`	Email sender (default: parallel-research@localhost)
`smtp_host`	string	`""`	SMTP server (default: localhost)
`smtp_port`	u16	`587`	SMTP port
`smtp_username`	string	`""`	SMTP login
`smtp_password`	string	`""`	SMTP password
`telegram_bot_token`	string	`""`	Telegram bot token
`telegram_chat_id`	string	`""`	Telegram chat ID for notifications

[contacts]

Field	Type	Default	Description
`db_path`	string	`"./contacts.db"`	SQLite database path
`pg_url`	string	`""`	PostgreSQL URL (non-empty → use PG instead of SQLite)

[crm]

CRM synchronization. Leave provider empty to disable.

Field	Type	Default	Description
`provider`	string	`""`	`amocrm` \| `bitrix24` \| `hubspot` \| empty
`domain`	string	`""`	Domain/subdomain (amoCRM, Bitrix24)
`api_key`	string	`""`	API key/token

[[mcp.servers]]

Array of MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers for extending tool capabilities.

Field	Type	Description
`name`	string	Server name
`transport`	string	`stdio` \| `http`
`command`	string?	Command (for stdio transport)
`args`	string[]	Arguments (for stdio transport)
`url`	string?	URL (for http transport)

Environment Variables

Environment variables override config file values. Prefix: PARALLEL_.

Priority Order

1
Environment variablesHighest priority
PARALLEL_* prefixed variables
2
Config file
~/.parallel-research/config.toml
3
DefaultsLowest priority
Built-in default values

Environment Variable	Config Equivalent	Description
`PARALLEL_LLM_API_KEY`	`llm.api_key`	LLM API key
`PARALLEL_LLM_PROVIDER`	`llm.provider`	LLM provider name
`PARALLEL_LLM_MODEL`	`llm.model`	Model identifier
`PARALLEL_LLM_BASE_URL`	`llm.base_url`	API endpoint
`PARALLEL_SEARCH_BACKEND`	`search.backend`	Search backend
`PARALLEL_VISION_API_BASE`	—	Vision model API base URL
`PARALLEL_VISION_API_KEY`	—	Vision model API key
`PARALLEL_VISION_MODEL`	—	Vision model name

CLI Config Commands

Manage configuration from the command line.

Show Current Config

bash

parallel config show

Set a Value

bash

parallel config set llm.api_key "sk-..."

Uses dot notation for nested keys: section.field.

Backwards Compatibility

All new sections use #[serde(default)]. Configs from older versions (with only [llm], [agent], [search]) load correctly — new fields receive default values automatically.