configuration

Project and local config share the same schema. Local config is gitignored and holds machine-specific values like trust level.

# ace.toml example
school = "ace-rs/school"
backend = "claude"
trust = "auto"
session_prompt = "Always run tests before committing."

[env]
RUSTFLAGS = "-D warnings"

skills selection

Three fields control which of the school's skills are loaded by the backend at session start. Each has one consistent rule across all scopes; the field name signals intent, the scope is mechanical.

Resolution: effective = (skills_base − exclude_skills) ∪ include_skills. Exclude is applied before include, so include_skills is authoritative when an item appears in both.

# user ace.toml — global "always-add" preferences
include_skills = ["issue-*"]

# project ace.toml — this repo only needs rust-coding
skills = ["rust-coding"]

# ace.local.toml — opt out of a global include just for this repo
exclude_skills = ["issue-*"]

Glob patterns use * as a wildcard (no ** or character classes). An invalid pattern is warned and skipped rather than failing the run. Foreign entries in <backend>/skills/ (real files or symlinks pointing outside the school clone) are left alone unless their name collides with a desired skill, in which case the link is skipped with a warning.

CLI

ace skills [--all] [--names]              # list resolved skills
ace skills include <pattern>...           # append to include_skills
ace skills exclude <pattern>...           # append to exclude_skills
ace skills reset [--include] [--exclude]  # set list(s) back to empty
ace explain <name>                        # provenance + trace for one skill

Mutating verbs default to project scope; pass --user or --local to target another layer. There is no ace skills set verb — the skills whitelist is config-only; edit ace.toml directly. The CLI exposes the union-merge fields because those are what users typically tweak per session.

Same schema as project ace.toml. Holds your personal defaults across every ACE-managed repo — typically trust, resume, or a fallback school and backend. Project config overrides it; local config overrides project.

# ~/.config/ace/ace.toml
school = "ace-rs/school"
trust = "auto"
resume = true

Lives at the root of a school repository. Defines the school name, backend preference, MCP servers, projects, and skill imports.

# school.toml example
name = "acme-school"
backend = "claude"
session_prompt = "Follow ACME conventions."

[env]
EDITOR = "nvim"

[[mcp]]
name = "github"
url = "https://mcp.example.com/github"
instructions = "Use for all GitHub operations."

[mcp.headers]
Authorization = "Bearer {{ github_token }}"

[[projects]]
name = "ace"
repo = "ace-rs/ace"
description = "ACE CLI and backend integration code."

[[imports]]
skill = "docker"
source = "ace-rs/school"

[[imports]]
skill = "*"
source = "company/school"
include_experimental = true

top-level keys

[[mcp]]

MCP (Model Context Protocol) server declarations. Each entry registers an MCP server for the backend to use.

[[projects]]

Optional project catalog entries that give the AI context about available repositories.

[[imports]]

Import skills from other school repositories. Skill discovery scans four tiers under skills/: the default skills/<name> and skills/.curated/<name> (both Curated), plus skills/.experimental/ and skills/.system/. Explicit names resolve from any tier. Glob patterns match only Curated by default.

Several string fields support {{ placeholder }} substitution. Two placeholder families share the same syntax but resolve at different times.

# MCP header — prompts user for "github_token" on first run
Authorization = "Bearer {{ github_token }}"

# Backend cmd — resolves school_dir at bind time
[[backends]]
name = "codex-ace"
kind = "codex"
cmd  = ["{{ school_dir }}/skills/ace-connect/scripts/codex.sh"]

# Whitespace is flexible
"{{name}}"  "{{ name }}"  "{{  name  }}"  # all equivalent

# Names must be alphanumeric + underscore
"{{ my_api_key_2 }}"  # valid