Configuration¶

AMC reads all of its configuration from environment variables, conventionally loaded from a single .env file. There is no YAML or command-line flag layer: if a setting exists, it is an AMC_* environment variable. This page is the canonical catalog of every variable the adapter, the MCP wrapper, and the webhook receiver understand, plus the format of the sender allowlist.

Configuration files¶

Two files drive a running adapter, both under ~/.config/messaging-agent/:

File	Purpose	Override
`~/.config/messaging-agent/.env`	Environment variables (secrets + tunables). Loaded once at startup with python-dotenv.	(the path is fixed)
`~/.config/messaging-agent/allowlist.toml`	The sender allowlist — which iMessage handles and Discord user IDs are trusted.	`$AMC_ALLOWLIST_PATH`

Both files hold secrets and personal names, so both should be owned by you and mode 0600:

mkdir -p ~/.config/messaging-agent
chmod 0700 ~/.config/messaging-agent
touch ~/.config/messaging-agent/.env ~/.config/messaging-agent/allowlist.toml
chmod 0600 ~/.config/messaging-agent/.env ~/.config/messaging-agent/allowlist.toml

.env is not watched — restart after editing

The adapter loads .env exactly once, at process start. It does not watch the file for changes. After editing .env, restart the adapter:

amc service restart adapter

The allowlist is the exception: it can be hot-reloaded without a restart by sending SIGHUP to the adapter (see The allowlist file below). Changes to .env always require a restart.

Adapter environment variables¶

These are read by the adapter process (amc serve adapter). Variables marked required cause the adapter to refuse to start when unset.

Variable	Required?	Default	Purpose
`AMC_BEARER_TOKEN`	Yes	—	Shared secret presented as `Authorization: Bearer <token>` on every REST call. The adapter refuses to start without it.
`AMC_DB_PATH`	No	`~/Library/Application Support/messaging-agent/state.db`	SQLite database path. See the state.db vs amc.db note below.
`AMC_ALLOWLIST_PATH`	No	`~/.config/messaging-agent/allowlist.toml`	Path to the sender allowlist TOML.
`AMC_ATTACHMENT_DIR`	No	`~/Library/Application Support/messaging-agent/attachments`	Directory where re-hosted attachment bytes are stored.
`AMC_ATTACHMENT_RETENTION_DAYS`	No	`90`	The attachment sweeper deletes re-hosted bytes older than this many days. Must be a positive integer.
`AMC_LOG_DIR`	No	`~/Library/Logs/messaging-agent`	Directory for daily-rotated structured (JSON) log files.
`AMC_RATE_LIMIT_PER_CHANNEL_RPS`	No	`1.0`	Per-channel outbound token-bucket refill rate (messages per second). Must be `> 0`.
`AMC_RATE_LIMIT_PER_CHANNEL_BURST`	No	`5`	Per-channel token-bucket capacity (max burst). Must be a positive integer.
`AMC_WEBHOOK_URL`	No	(empty)	Outbound webhook URL for new-message push. Empty/unset disables the webhook entirely.
`AMC_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Conditional	—	HMAC-SHA256 shared secret for signing webhook payloads. Required if `AMC_WEBHOOK_URL` is set — the adapter fails to start when the URL is present but the secret is missing.
`AMC_DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN`	No	(empty)	Discord bot token. When set, the Discord connector starts; when unset, Discord is reported as `disabled`.
`AMC_BIND_HOST`	No	`127.0.0.1`	Host the adapter binds to. Also used to build attachment re-hosting URLs.
`AMC_BIND_PORT`	No	`8080`	Port the adapter binds to. Also used to build attachment re-hosting URLs.

Keep your secrets out of version control

AMC_BEARER_TOKEN, AMC_DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN, and AMC_WEBHOOK_SECRET are credentials. Keep them in the mode-0600 .env file, never in a committed file, a shell history line, or a process you launch with the value on the command line.

Generating a bearer token

Generate a strong, URL-safe token with:

python3 -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(32))"

Use the same value for AMC_BEARER_TOKEN in the adapter .env and in the MCP wrapper / receiver environment so both sides agree.

A minimal adapter .env:

# ~/.config/messaging-agent/.env  (chmod 0600)
AMC_BEARER_TOKEN=replace-with-a-generated-token

# Optional — enable Discord by supplying a bot token
AMC_DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=replace-with-a-discord-bot-token

# Optional — enable outbound webhook push (secret becomes required)
# AMC_WEBHOOK_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8090/webhook
# AMC_WEBHOOK_SECRET=replace-with-a-second-generated-token

state.db vs amc.db¶

Tracked spec ↔ code divergence: trust state.db

The code default for AMC_DB_PATH is state.db (~/Library/Application Support/messaging-agent/state.db). However, some operator docs and the spec (§11.2) refer to the database as amc.db. This is a known, tracked spec-versus-code divergence.

Trust state.db as the actual default unless you explicitly set AMC_DB_PATH to something else. If you have followed older instructions and created an amc.db, either point AMC_DB_PATH at it or rename the file to match the code default.

For the table layout the database holds, see the Storage Schema.

MCP wrapper environment variables¶

The MCP wrapper (mcp/) is a thin layer that translates MCP tool calls into adapter HTTP calls. It reads exactly three variables:

Variable	Required?	Default	Purpose
`AMC_BEARER_TOKEN`	Yes	—	The same token value the adapter uses, presented as `Authorization: Bearer <token>`.
`AMC_AGENT_ID`	Yes	—	Identifies this wrapper instance. Sent as the `X-Agent-ID` header, which scopes per-agent unread cursors. Pick a stable name like `claude-code-laptop`.
`AMC_BASE_URL`	No	`http://127.0.0.1:8080`	Base URL of the adapter the wrapper talks to. Must be a valid URL.

Because AMC_AGENT_ID scopes the unread cursor, two wrappers with different agent IDs maintain independent "what have I already seen" positions; two wrappers sharing an agent ID share one cursor. Keep the value stable across restarts so the cursor survives.

For how the wrapper is wired into an agent (MCP client config, environment passing), see the Setup Guide.

Webhook receiver environment variables¶

The webhook receiver is a separate service that bridges the adapter's outbound webhook to one-shot claude -p invocations. The variables below configure it; full operational detail lives on its page.

Variable	Required?	Default	Purpose
`AMC_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Yes	—	HMAC-SHA256 secret. Must match the adapter's `AMC_WEBHOOK_SECRET` so signatures verify.
`AMC_BEARER_TOKEN`	Yes	—	Adapter bearer token; passed through to the MCP wrapper subprocess the receiver spawns.
`AMC_RECEIVER_BIND_HOST`	No	`127.0.0.1`	Host the receiver binds to.
`AMC_RECEIVER_BIND_PORT`	No	`8090`	Port the receiver binds to.
`AMC_AGENT_ID`	No	`amc-receiver`	Agent ID handed to the spawned MCP wrapper (sets `X-Agent-ID`).
`AMC_RECEIVER_AGENT_PROMPT_FILE`	No	`~/.config/messaging-agent/agent_prompt.md`	System/agent prompt file prepended to each `claude -p` invocation.
`AMC_RECEIVER_DANGEROUS`	No	`0`	Set to `1` to pass `--dangerously-skip-permissions` to `claude`. Leave at `0` unless you understand the implications.
`AMC_RECEIVER_CLAUDE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS`	No	`300`	Per-invocation timeout (seconds) for the `claude` subprocess.
`AMC_RECEIVER_LOG_DIR`	No	`~/Library/Logs/messaging-agent`	Directory for receiver log files.
`AMC_RECEIVER_IDLE_WORKER_TTL_SECONDS`	No	`300`	How long an idle per-channel worker lives before it is reaped.
`AMC_RECEIVER_DEDUPE_CACHE_SIZE`	No	`4096`	Size of the in-memory cache used to drop duplicate webhook deliveries.
`AMC_RECEIVER_CLAUDE_BIN`	No	`claude`	Name or path of the `claude` binary to invoke.
`AMC_BASE_URL`	No	`http://127.0.0.1:8080`	Adapter base URL handed to the spawned MCP wrapper.

AMC_RECEIVER_DANGEROUS=1 skips permission prompts

Setting AMC_RECEIVER_DANGEROUS=1 passes --dangerously-skip-permissions to every claude invocation the receiver makes. That removes the per-action confirmation gate. Only enable it when you fully trust the prompt, the allowlist, and the tools the agent can reach.

The allowlist file¶

The allowlist is the trust boundary for inbound messages. The adapter resolves every incoming message against allowlist.toml:

A message from a sender on the allowlist is stored allowlist_status='allowed' and appears in /messages/unread.
A message from a sender not on the allowlist is stored allowlist_status='unknown' and never appears in /messages/unread. Such messages are only visible via /messages/quarantine.

The file is a TOML document containing an array of [[entry]] tables — one entry per (source, id) pair:

Field	Required?	Notes
`source`	Yes	`"imessage"` or `"discord"`. Any other value is rejected.
`id`	Yes	Platform-native identifier. iMessage: an E.164 phone number or an email address. Discord: the numeric user ID as a string.
`display_name`	No	Overrides the platform-supplied display name.
`person_id`	No	Cross-platform identity tag. Entries sharing the same `person_id` are linked as one human in the `identity_links` table.

A working example linking one iMessage handle and one Discord account to the same person:

# ~/.config/messaging-agent/allowlist.toml  (chmod 0600)

[[entry]]
source = "imessage"
id = "+15555550123"
display_name = "Ada Lovelace"
person_id = "ada"

[[entry]]
source = "discord"
id = "284731905603862528"
display_name = "Ada Lovelace"
person_id = "ada"

Because both entries above carry person_id = "ada", the adapter materializes one identity_links row per entry under that person, so the agent treats the iMessage handle and the Discord account as the same human.

A missing or malformed allowlist is fatal

The adapter refuses to start if allowlist.toml is absent, is not valid TOML, contains an unknown source, is missing a required field, or has a duplicate (source, id) pair. Fix the file (and re-check the path / $AMC_ALLOWLIST_PATH) before starting.

Hot-reload with SIGHUP

Unlike .env, the allowlist can be reloaded without restarting the adapter. After editing the file, send SIGHUP to the adapter process:

kill -HUP "$(pgrep -f 'amc serve adapter')"

If the edited file fails validation, the adapter keeps the previously-loaded allowlist and logs the error rather than crashing.

For the end-to-end walkthrough of populating the allowlist and wiring up an agent, see the Setup Guide.