Configuration

Configuration

Snack Stash supports multiple named stashes. The active stash is used by all snippet commands (list, search, unpack, pack).

Priority Order

1. SNACK_STASH environment variable (overrides everything)
2. Active stash in ~/.snackstashrc
3. Error — nothing is configured

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Method 1: Named stashes (recommended)

Use snack stash create to register stashes. This is the standard workflow and requires no manual config editing.

# Create your first stash (auto-activated)
snack stash create default ~/snack-stash

# Add a second stash without switching to it
snack stash create work ~/work-stash --no-activate

# See what's configured
snack stash list
#   default  /Users/you/snack-stash  ← active
#   work     /Users/you/work-stash

This writes ~/.snackstashrc in INI format:

[config]
active = default

[stash.default]
path = /Users/you/snack-stash

[stash.work]
path = /Users/you/work-stash

You can edit this file by hand if needed.

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Method 2: Environment variable

Set SNACK_STASH to override the config file entirely. Useful for scripts, CI, or quickly switching context.

export SNACK_STASH=~/snack-stash

Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc to make it permanent:

echo 'export SNACK_STASH=~/snack-stash' >> ~/.zshrc

When SNACK_STASH is set, named stashes in the config file are ignored for all snippet commands. snack stash list will still display configured stashes but will note the override.

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Stash directory structure

A stash is a plain directory of .py files, organized into subdirectories by category. No special files or metadata are required.

~/snack-stash/
├── auth/
│   ├── google_oauth_fastapi.py
│   ├── google_oauth_flask.py
│   └── jwt_helpers.py
├── forms/
│   ├── contact_form.py
│   └── newsletter_signup.py
└── email/
    └── smtp_sender.py

The directory can be managed with Git, Dropbox, or any other sync mechanism independently of this tool. Syncing is outside the scope of snack — it only copies files in and out.

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Switching the active stash

To change which named stash is active, create a new one with --activate or edit ~/.snackstashrc directly and update the active key under [config].

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Verifying your configuration

snack stash list    # see all stashes and which is active
snack list          # confirm the active stash has snippets

See Error-Reference for help with configuration errors.