> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://zenml.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Global Configuration

> What is the global ZenML config

The information about the global settings of ZenML on a machine is kept in a folder commonly referred to as the *ZenML Global Config Directory* or the *ZenML Config Path*. The location of this folder depends on the operating system type and the current system user, but is usually located in the following locations:

* Linux: `~/.config/zenml`
* Mac: `~/Library/Application Support/ZenML`
* Windows: `C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\ZenML`

The default location may be overridden by setting the `ZENML_CONFIG_PATH` environment variable to a custom value. The current location of the *Global Config Directory* used on a system can be retrieved by running the following command:

```sh
python -c 'from zenml.utils.io_utils import get_global_config_directory; print(get_global_config_directory())'
```

<Warning>
  Manually altering or deleting the files and folders stored under the *ZenML Global Config Directory* is not recommended, as this can break the internal consistency of the ZenML configuration. As an alternative, ZenML provides CLI commands that can be used to manage the information stored there:

  * `zenml analytics` - manage the analytics settings
  * `zenml config` - manage the global configuration
  * `zenml clean` - to be used only in case of emergency, to bring the ZenML configuration back to its default factory state
</Warning>

The first time that ZenML is run on a machine, it creates the *Global Config Directory* and initializes the default configuration in it, along with a default Stack:

```
Initializing the ZenML global configuration version to 0.13.2
Creating default project 'default' ...
Creating default user 'default' ...
Creating default stack for user 'default' in project default...
Active project not set. Setting it to the default.
The active stack is not set. Setting the active stack to the default project stack.
Using the default store for the global config.
Unable to find ZenML repository in your current working directory (/tmp/folder) or any parent directories. If you want to use an existing repository which is in a different location, set the environment variable 'ZENML_REPOSITORY_PATH'. If you want to create a new repository, run zenml init.
Running without an active repository root.
Using the default local database.
Running with active project: 'default' (global)
┏━━━━━━━━┯━━━━━━━━━━━━┯━━━━━━━━┯━━━━━━━━━┯━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┯━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
┃ ACTIVE │ STACK NAME │ SHARED │ OWNER   │ ARTIFACT_STORE │ ORCHESTRATOR ┃
┠────────┼────────────┼────────┼─────────┼────────────────┼──────────────┨
┃   👉   │ default    │ ❌     │ default │ default        │ default      ┃
┗━━━━━━━━┷━━━━━━━━━━━━┷━━━━━━━━┷━━━━━━━━━┷━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┷━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
```

The following is an example of the layout of the *Global Config Directory* immediately after initialization:

```
/home/stefan/.config/zenml   <- Global Config Directory
├── config.yaml              <- Global Configuration Settings
└── local_stores             <- Every Stack component that stores information
    |                           locally will have its own subdirectory here.
    ├── a1a0d3d0-d552-4a80-be09-67e5e29be8ee   <- e.g. Local Store path for the
    |                                             `default` local Artifact Store
    └── zenml.db             <- SQLite database where ZenML data (stacks,
                               components, etc) are stored by default.
```

As shown above, the *Global Config Directory* stores the following information:

1. The `global.yaml` file stores the global configuration settings: the unique ZenML user ID, the active database configuration, the analytics related options the active Stack and active Project. This is an example of the `global.yaml` file contents immediately after initialization:

   ```
   active_project_name: default
   active_stack_id: ...
   analytics_opt_in: true
   store:
     database: ...
     url: ...
     username: ...
     ...
   user_id: d980f13e-05d1-4765-92d2-1dc7eb7addb7
   user_metadata: null
   version: 0.13.2
   ```

2. The `local_stores` directory is where some "local" flavors of Stack Components, such as the `local` Artifact Store, or the `local` Secrets Manager persist data locally. Every local Stack Component will have its own subdirectory here named after the Stack Component's unique UUID. One notable example is the `local` Artifact Store flavor that, when part of the active Stack, stores all the artifacts generated by Pipeline runs in the designated local directory.

3. The `zenml.db` file is the default SQLite database where ZenML stores all information about the Stacks, Stack Components, custom Stack Component flavors etc.

In addition to the above, you may also find the following files and folders under the *Global Config Directory*, depending on what you do with ZenML:

* `zenml_examples` - used as a local cache by the `zenml example` command, where the pulled ZenML examples are stored.
* `kubeflow` - this is where the Kubeflow orchestrators that are part of a Stack store some of their configuration and logs.

## Accessing the global configuration in Python

You can access the global ZenML configuration from within Python using the `zenml.config.global_config.GlobalConfiguration` class:

```py
from zenml.config.global_config import GlobalConfiguration
config = GlobalConfiguration()
```

This can be used to manage your global settings from within Python.

To explore all possible operations that can be performed via the `GlobalConfiguration`, please consult the API docs sections on [GlobalConfiguration](https://apidocs.zenml.io/latest/core%5Fcode%5Fdocs/core-config/#zenml.config.global%5Fconfig.GlobalConfiguration).