Configure Amazon Q settings

Amazon Q provides various ways to customize its behavior through settings. You can access these settings through both a graphical interface and command-line options.

Access settings

You can access Amazon Q settings in two ways:

• Settings GUI: Run q settings to open the graphical settings interface

• Command line: Use various commands to view and modify settings directly

Manage settings from the command line

You can manage Amazon Q settings directly from the command line using the following commands:

Basic settings commands

Command	Description
q settings open	Opens the settings file in your default editor
q settings list	Lists all configured settings
q settings list --all	Lists all available settings with descriptions
q settings list --format json-pretty	Lists settings in formatted JSON
q settings [KEY]	Views the value of a specific setting
q settings [KEY] [VALUE]	Sets a specific setting to the given value
q settings --delete [KEY]	Deletes a specific setting

When using q settings commands, you can specify the output format:

q settings --format [FORMAT]

Available formats:

• plain: Outputs results as plain text (default)

• json: Outputs results as JSON

• json-pretty: Outputs results as formatted JSON

Available settings reference

The following sections describe all available Amazon Q CLI settings, organized by category. Each setting includes its key name, description, expected value type, and examples.

Telemetry and privacy settings

Telemetry and privacy settings

Setting Key	Description	Type	Example
telemetry.enabled	Enable/disable telemetry collection	boolean	q settings telemetry.enabled true
telemetryClientId	Legacy client identifier for telemetry	string	q settings telemetryClientId "client-123"
codeWhisperer.shareCodeWhispererContentWithAWS	Share content with CodeWhisperer service	boolean	q settings codeWhisperer.shareCodeWhispererContentWithAWS false

Chat interface settings

Chat interface settings

Setting Key	Description	Type	Example
chat.enableThinking	Enable thinking tool for complex reasoning	boolean	q settings chat.enableThinking true
chat.greeting.enabled	Show greeting message on chat start	boolean	q settings chat.greeting.enabled false
chat.editMode	Enable edit mode for chat interface	boolean	q settings chat.editMode true
chat.enableNotifications	Enable desktop notifications	boolean	q settings chat.enableNotifications true
chat.defaultModel	Default AI model for conversations	string	q settings chat.defaultModel "claude-3-sonnet"
chat.disableMarkdownRendering	Disable markdown formatting in chat	boolean	q settings chat.disableMarkdownRendering false
chat.defaultAgent	Default agent configuration	string	q settings chat.defaultAgent "my-agent"
chat.disableAutoCompaction	Disable automatic conversation summarization	boolean	q settings chat.disableAutoCompaction true
chat.enableHistoryHints	Show conversation history hints	boolean	q settings chat.enableHistoryHints true
chat.uiMode	Specify UI variant to use	string	q settings chat.uiMode "compact"
chat.enableContextUsageIndicator	Show context usage percentage in prompt	boolean	q settings chat.enableContextUsageIndicator true

Knowledge base settings

Knowledge base settings

Setting Key	Description	Type	Example
chat.enableKnowledge	Enable knowledge base functionality	boolean	q settings chat.enableKnowledge true
knowledge.defaultIncludePatterns	Default file patterns to include in knowledge base	array	q settings knowledge.defaultIncludePatterns '["*.py", "*.js"]'
knowledge.defaultExcludePatterns	Default file patterns to exclude from knowledge base	array	q settings knowledge.defaultExcludePatterns '["*.log", "node_modules"]'
knowledge.maxFiles	Maximum number of files for knowledge indexing	number	q settings knowledge.maxFiles 1000
knowledge.chunkSize	Text chunk size for knowledge processing	number	q settings knowledge.chunkSize 512
knowledge.chunkOverlap	Overlap between text chunks	number	q settings knowledge.chunkOverlap 50
knowledge.indexType	Type of knowledge index to use	string	q settings knowledge.indexType "fast"

Key bindings

Key binding settings

Setting Key	Description	Type	Example
chat.skimCommandKey	Key binding for fuzzy search command	char	q settings chat.skimCommandKey "f"
chat.autocompletionKey	Key binding for autocompletion hint acceptance	char	q settings chat.autocompletionKey "Tab"
chat.tangentModeKey	Key binding for tangent mode toggle	char	q settings chat.tangentModeKey "t"
chat.delegateModeKey	Key binding for delegate command	char	q settings chat.delegateModeKey "d"

Feature toggles

Feature toggle settings

Setting Key	Description	Type	Example
chat.enableTangentMode	Enable tangent mode feature	boolean	q settings chat.enableTangentMode true
introspect.tangentMode	Auto-enter tangent mode for introspect questions	boolean	q settings introspect.tangentMode true
chat.enableTodoList	Enable the todo list feature	boolean	q settings chat.enableTodoList true
chat.enableCheckpoint	Enable the checkpoint feature	boolean	q settings chat.enableCheckpoint true
chat.enableDelegate	Enable the delegate tool for subagent management	boolean	q settings chat.enableDelegate true

API and service settings

API and service settings

Setting Key	Description	Type	Example
api.timeout	API request timeout in seconds	number	q settings api.timeout 30
api.codewhisperer.service	CodeWhisperer service endpoint URL	string	q settings api.codewhisperer.service "https://codewhisperer.us-east-1.amazonaws.com"
api.q.service	Q service endpoint URL	string	q settings api.q.service "https://q.us-east-1.amazonaws.com"

Model Context Protocol settings

MCP settings

Setting Key	Description	Type	Example
mcp.initTimeout	MCP server initialization timeout	number	q settings mcp.initTimeout 10
mcp.noInteractiveTimeout	Non-interactive MCP timeout	number	q settings mcp.noInteractiveTimeout 5
mcp.loadedBefore	Track previously loaded MCP servers	boolean	q settings mcp.loadedBefore true

Common settings examples

Here are some common configuration scenarios:

Basic configuration

# Enable telemetry
q settings telemetry.enabled true

# Set default chat model
q settings chat.defaultModel "claude-3-sonnet"

# Disable greeting message
q settings chat.greeting.enabled false

Knowledge base configuration

# Enable knowledge base
q settings chat.enableKnowledge true

# Set file patterns to include
q settings knowledge.defaultIncludePatterns '["*.py", "*.js", "*.md", "*.txt"]'

# Set file patterns to exclude
q settings knowledge.defaultExcludePatterns '["*.log", "node_modules", ".git", "*.pyc"]'

# Set maximum files to index
q settings knowledge.maxFiles 2000

Feature configuration

# Enable experimental features
q settings chat.enableThinking true
q settings chat.enableTangentMode true
q settings chat.enableTodoList true
q settings chat.enableCheckpoint true

# Configure key bindings
q settings chat.tangentModeKey "t"
q settings chat.delegateModeKey "d"

Viewing and managing settings

# View all configured settings
q settings list

# View all available settings with descriptions
q settings list --all

# View specific setting
q settings chat.defaultModel

# Export settings as JSON
q settings list --format json-pretty > my-settings.json

# Delete a setting
q settings --delete chat.defaultModel

Troubleshooting settings

Common issues and solutions when working with settings:

Invalid setting values

If you encounter errors when setting values:

• Boolean values: Use true or false (lowercase)

• Array values: Use JSON format with single quotes: '["item1", "item2"]'

• String values: Use quotes for strings with spaces: "my value"

Resetting settings

To reset settings to defaults:

# Delete individual settings
q settings --delete setting.name

# Open settings file for manual editing
q settings open

# View current settings to identify issues
q settings list --all

Settings file issues

If the settings file becomes corrupted:

1. Back up current settings: q settings list --format json > backup.json

2. Open the settings file: q settings open

3. Verify JSON syntax or restore from backup

Other Amazon Q CLI commands

Amazon Q offers many other command-line features beyond settings management. For a comprehensive reference of all available commands and their arguments, see Amazon Q CLI Command Reference.

For help with any command, use the --help flag:

q [COMMAND] --help