Configuration Reference

Default config file location:

• Linux/macOS: ~/.config/alchemist/config.toml
• Linux/macOS with XDG: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/alchemist/config.toml
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Alchemist\config.toml
• Override: ALCHEMIST_CONFIG_PATH

[appearance]

Field	Type	Default	Description
active_theme_id	string	optional	Saved web UI color theme/profile identifier

[updates]

Field	Type	Default	Description
channel	string	"stable"	Release channel checked by the About dialog and background update task. Valid values: stable, rc, nightly
auto_check	bool	true	Check the configured channel in the background while the server is running
check_interval_hours	int	24	Update-check cache interval. Must be between 1 and 168 hours

Only direct Linux/macOS binary installs are eligible for in-app replacement. Docker, Homebrew, AUR, Windows, and source builds return package-manager or manual update guidance instead.

[transcode]

Field	Type	Default	Description
size_reduction_threshold	float	0.3	Minimum predicted size reduction required before a transcode is worth doing
min_bpp_threshold	float	0.1	Minimum bits-per-pixel threshold used by the planner to decide whether a file is already efficiently compressed
min_file_size_mb	int	50	Skip files smaller than this size
concurrent_jobs	int	1	Max jobs Alchemist may run at once before engine-mode overrides
threads	int	0	CPU thread count per job; 0 means automatic
quality_profile	string	"balanced"	Quality/speed tradeoff preset
output_codec	string	"av1"	Target codec: av1, hevc, or h264
allow_fallback	bool	true	Allow codec fallback when the requested codec is unavailable
hdr_mode	string	"preserve"	Preserve HDR metadata or tonemap to SDR
tonemap_algorithm	string	"hable"	HDR tonemapping algorithm
tonemap_peak	float	1000.0	Tonemap peak luminance target
tonemap_desat	float	0.2	Tonemap desaturation factor
subtitle_mode	string	"copy"	Subtitle handling: copy, burn, extract, or none

[transcode.stream_rules]

Field	Type	Default	Description
strip_audio_by_title	list	[]	Remove audio tracks whose title contains any configured case-insensitive substring
keep_audio_languages	list	[]	Keep only audio tracks with matching ISO 639-2 language tags; untagged tracks are kept
keep_only_default_audio	bool	false	Keep only the default audio track after other filters run

[hardware]

Field	Type	Default	Description
preferred_vendor	string	auto	Pin hardware selection to nvidia, intel, amd, apple, or cpu
device_path	string	optional	Explicit render node such as /dev/dri/renderD128 on Linux
allow_cpu_fallback	bool	true	Allow fallback to CPU when no supported GPU path succeeds
cpu_preset	string	"medium"	CPU encoder speed/quality preset
allow_cpu_encoding	bool	true	Allow software encoding at all

[scanner]

Field	Type	Default	Description
directories	list	[]	Library directories to scan
watch_enabled	bool	false	Enable realtime watch behavior for configured directories
extra_watch_dirs	list	[]	Extra watch objects with path and is_recursive

[notifications]

Field	Type	Default	Description
enabled	bool	false	Master switch for notifications
allow_local_notifications	bool	false	Allow notification targets to point at local/private network addresses. Off by default for SSRF safety
daily_summary_time_local	string	"09:00"	Global local-time send window for daily summary notifications
quiet_hours_enabled	bool	false	Suppress non-critical notifications inside the configured local-time quiet-hours window
quiet_hours_start_local	string	"22:00"	Quiet-hours start time in HH:MM local time
quiet_hours_end_local	string	"08:00"	Quiet-hours end time in HH:MM local time
targets	list	[]	Notification target objects with name, target_type, config_json, events, and enabled

Supported target_type values and required config_json keys:

Target	Required config_json
discord_webhook	webhook_url
discord_bot	bot_token, channel_id
gotify	server_url, app_token
ntfy	server_url, topic; optional access_token
webhook	url; optional auth_token
telegram	bot_token, chat_id
email	smtp_host, from_address, to_addresses

Supported target events: encode.queued, encode.started, encode.completed, encode.failed, scan.completed, engine.idle, disk.space_low, and daily.summary. disk.space_low fires when the disk-space guardrail holds jobs (see min_free_space_gb).

[files]

Field	Type	Default	Description
delete_source	bool	false	Delete the original file after a verified successful transcode
output_extension	string	"mkv"	Output file extension
output_suffix	string	"-alchemist"	Suffix added to the output filename
replace_strategy	string	"keep"	Replace behavior for output collisions
output_root	string	optional	If set, Alchemist mirrors the source library directory structure under this root path instead of writing outputs alongside the source files

[schedule]

Field	Type	Default	Description
windows	list	[]	Time window objects; each window has start_time, end_time, and days_of_week

days_of_week uses integers 0-6. The config validator requires at least one day in every window.

[quality]

Field	Type	Default	Description
enable_vmaf	bool	false	Run VMAF scoring after encode
min_vmaf_score	float	90.0	Minimum acceptable VMAF score
revert_on_low_quality	bool	true	Revert the transcode if quality falls below the threshold

[system]

Field	Type	Default	Description
monitoring_poll_interval	float	2.0	Poll interval for system monitoring and dashboard resource refresh
conversion_upload_limit_gb	int	8	Maximum allowed upload size for the Convert workflow, in GiB. Must be >= 1. Uploads above this size are rejected before the file is written to disk
conversion_download_retention_hours	int	1	Hours to retain a completed Convert output after the user downloads it, before the cleanup pass removes the upload and output. Must be between 1 and 24
min_free_space_gb	int	10	Disk-space guardrail. Before starting a job, the engine checks free space on that job's output filesystem; if it is below this many GiB, the engine holds queued jobs (they stay queued and retry) instead of starting an encode that could fill the disk mid-run. The hold and reason are shown in System Status. Set to 0 to disable. Fails open: if free space cannot be determined for a path, the job proceeds
enable_telemetry	bool	false	Opt-in anonymous telemetry switch
log_retention_days	int	30	Log retention period in days
metrics_enabled	bool	false	Enable the Prometheus /metrics endpoint
engine_mode	string	"balanced"	Runtime engine mode: background, balanced, or throughput
https_only	bool	false	Add HSTS when Alchemist is served behind HTTPS. Do not enable for plain HTTP
trusted_proxies	list	[]	Explicit reverse proxy IPs whose forwarded headers are trusted. Empty preserves private-range proxy compatibility
arr_path_translations	list	[]	Optional path prefix mappings for ARR webhook ingestion, each entry { from, to }; longest matching from prefix wins

Example

[transcode]
size_reduction_threshold = 0.3
min_bpp_threshold = 0.1
min_file_size_mb = 50
concurrent_jobs = 1
threads = 0
quality_profile = "balanced"
output_codec = "av1"
allow_fallback = true
hdr_mode = "preserve"
tonemap_algorithm = "hable"
tonemap_peak = 1000.0
tonemap_desat = 0.2
subtitle_mode = "copy"

[transcode.stream_rules]
strip_audio_by_title = ["commentary", "description"]
keep_audio_languages = ["eng"]
keep_only_default_audio = false

[hardware]
preferred_vendor = "intel"
allow_cpu_fallback = true
cpu_preset = "medium"
allow_cpu_encoding = true

[scanner]
directories = ["/media/movies", "/media/tv"]
watch_enabled = true

[files]
delete_source = false
output_extension = "mkv"
output_suffix = "-alchemist"
replace_strategy = "keep"

[quality]
enable_vmaf = false
min_vmaf_score = 90.0
revert_on_low_quality = true

[notifications]
enabled = false
daily_summary_time_local = "09:00"
quiet_hours_enabled = false
quiet_hours_start_local = "22:00"
quiet_hours_end_local = "08:00"

[updates]
channel = "stable"
auto_check = true
check_interval_hours = 24

[system]
monitoring_poll_interval = 2.0
conversion_upload_limit_gb = 8
min_free_space_gb = 10
conversion_download_retention_hours = 1
enable_telemetry = false
log_retention_days = 30
metrics_enabled = false
engine_mode = "balanced"
arr_path_translations = [
  { from = "/container/media", to = "/mnt/media" }
]