Settings and themes

Settings use JSONC: JSON with comments and trailing commas. Open the command palette with Cmd-Shift-P or Ctrl-Shift-P, choose settings.open, edit the project file, and save it. Canopus reloads saved settings while running.

settings.gui lists settings and lets you edit their values. settings.gui_changed shows values that differ from the defaults. These commands write project settings.

Choose where a setting belongs

For an opened file, later layers override earlier ones:

1. Built-in defaults.
2. User settings.
3. Applicable .editorconfig properties, when enabled.
4. Project settings.
5. The explicit --settings file and launch overrides such as --vim.
6. The file’s language override.

Nested objects merge; arrays are replaced. Invalid saved values retain the previous valid settings. Check the message/status area and the Problems panel if a change is ignored. A malformed settings file can also prevent startup; correct its JSONC before relaunching.

Set editing preferences

This project settings example uses two spaces for Ruby, leaves automatic saving off, and follows the operating system’s light/dark appearance:

{
  "theme": "auto",
  "font_size": 14,
  "tab_size": 4,
  "use_tabs": false,
  "soft_wrap": false,
  "render_whitespace": "boundary",
  "auto_save": "off",
  "languages": {
    "ruby": { "tab_size": 2, "auto_pairs": [] }
  }
}

auto_pairs: [] disables automatic bracket and quote pairing for that language. render_whitespace accepts none, boundary, selection, or all. font_size accepts values from 6 to 96 and tab_size accepts integers from 1 to

1. font_family selects an installed font by family name.

.editorconfig is enabled by default. It supports indentation, trimming trailing whitespace, inserting a final newline, and maximum line length. Project settings take precedence over these properties. Set editorconfig to false to ignore them.

Select a theme

Use "Canopus Dark", "Canopus Light", or "auto" as the theme value. view.theme temporarily switches between the built-in dark and light themes; save a theme setting to keep your choice on later launches.

You can also set theme to a theme file path relative to the project root. Canopus imports VS Code JSON/JSONC themes and TextMate .tmTheme files.

Choose save behavior

To save existing editable files after one second without edits:

{
  "auto_save": "after_delay",
  "auto_save_delay": 1000
}

The delay is in milliseconds. Other modes are off and on_focus_change. Untitled documents still need a path before they can be saved automatically.

Formatting on save requires a language server with formatting support:

{
  "format_on_save": true,
  "format_on_save_timeout": 2000,
  "code_actions_on_save": ["source.organizeImports"]
}

Only request code actions your server supports. See Language servers for server commands and save-action behavior. Automatic saving, recovery, persistent undo, and debug-adapter settings are global and cannot be placed inside a language override.

Recovery is enabled by default and periodically retains eligible unsaved drafts in .canopus/recovery. Persistent undo is also enabled by default. These features have storage limits and do not replace saving your files; see Getting started for recovery limits.

Customize key bindings

Choose keymap.gui to inspect commands and change bindings, or keymap.preset to select the vscode, sublime, jetbrains, or emacs preset.

To assign a shortcut directly, put a keymap array in the settings file:

{
  "keymap": [
    {
      "context": "Editor && !vim_mode",
      "bindings": {
        "ctrl-alt-f": "search.project",
        "ctrl-alt-d": "edit.duplicate_line"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Bindings use command IDs and normalized names such as ctrl, cmd, alt, and shift. A context restricts where a binding applies; an empty context applies globally. Set a binding’s value to null to disable it.

Configure a terminal profile

For a machine where Bash is installed:

{
  "terminal": {
    "profiles": {
      "bash": { "command": ["bash"], "env": { "PROJECT_ENV": "development" } }
    },
    "default_profile": "bash",
    "working_directory": "project",
    "shell_integration": true
  }
}

Use a command available on your platform. Profiles also accept path plus args. Canopus sets CANOPUS=1 and EDITOR="canopus --wait" after merging profile environment variables. Terminal restoration is off by default; terminal.restore_on_startup enables fresh shells from saved session records, not restoration of running processes.

Continue with Language servers, Vim mode, Git workflow, or Plugins for their specific settings.