Configuration

Complete reference for the semtest config file.

Config file

Semtest looks for a config file by walking up the directory tree from the current working directory. The first file found is used.

Searched in order:

semtest.config.ts
semtest.config.js
semtest.config.mjs

`defineConfig`

Use the defineConfig helper for type-safe configuration:

TSsemtest.config.ts

import { defineConfig } from "@westopp/semtest";

export default defineConfig({
output: "semtest-results/",
llm: "claude-code-sonnet-4-6",
});

Properties

Property	Type	Default	Description
`testMatch`	`string[]`	`["*/.spec.md", "*/.test.md"]`	Glob patterns for discovering test files
`testPathIgnorePatterns`	`string[]`	`["node_modules", "dist", ".git", "vendor"]`	Patterns to exclude from test discovery
`output`	`string`	`"semtest-results/"`	Path to the report output directory
`llm`	`string`	`"claude-code-sonnet-4-6"`	Model key specifying the tool and model. Run `semtest list` for all options.
`timeout`	`number`	`0`	Per-test timeout in milliseconds. `0` means no timeout.
`repeat`	`number`	`1`	Run each test N times
`bail`	`boolean \| number`	`false`	`true` to stop after the first failure, or a number to stop after N failures
`verbose`	`boolean`	`false`	Show detailed per-test output
`strict`	`boolean`	`false`	Exit code 2 on validation issues
`skipValidation`	`boolean`	`false`	Skip post-run validation entirely
`debug`	`boolean`	`false`	Log raw LLM output to a debug directory
`timestamp`	`boolean`	`false`	Generate timestamped copies of the Markdown report
`includePassing`	`boolean`	`false`	Include passing tests in the Markdown report
`junit`	`boolean`	`false`	Generate a JUnit XML report
`skipPermissionsIfPossible`	`boolean`	`false`	Skip tool permission prompts where supported

CLI precedence

CLI flags override config file values. The config file provides defaults; flags are overrides for individual runs.

bash

# Config says strict: false, but this run uses strict mode
semtest run --strict

Full example

TSsemtest.config.ts

import { defineConfig } from "@westopp/semtest";

export default defineConfig({
testMatch: ["**/*.spec.md"],
testPathIgnorePatterns: ["node_modules", "dist", ".git", "vendor"],
output: "semtest-results/",
llm: "claude-code-opus-4-6",
timeout: 120000,
repeat: 1,
bail: false,
verbose: false,
strict: true,
skipValidation: false,
debug: false,
timestamp: true,
includePassing: false,
junit: true,
skipPermissionsIfPossible: true,
});

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