---
title: "Contexts"
description: "The contexts.toml file, backend options, and validation rules."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://ver-vcs.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Contexts

All contexts live in `~/.ver/contexts.toml`. ver reads and validates this file on every command.

## File layout

```toml title="~/.ver/contexts.toml"
current = "laptop"

[fs.laptop]
base_directory = "/home/me/project"

[kv.laptop]
redb_path = "/home/me/project/.ver/kv.redb"

[fs.offsite]
access_key_id = "AKIA..."
secret_access_key = "..."
region = "eu-west-1"
endpoint = "https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com"
bucket = "my-ver-backups"

[kv.offsite]
uri = "redis://:password@my-redis-host:6379"
```

The `fs` and `kv` tables must contain the **same set of context names**. `current` names the context commands use by default.

## Filesystem backends

### Local

```toml
[fs.<name>]
base_directory = "/absolute/path"   # must be absolute
```

Blobs and history live under `<base_directory>/.ver/`.

### Amazon S3

```toml
[fs.<name>]
access_key_id = "..."
secret_access_key = "..."
region = "..."
endpoint = "..."                    # also works for S3-compatible storage
bucket = "..."
```

### Google Cloud Storage

```toml
[fs.<name>]
service_account_credentials_path = "/path/to/credentials.json"
bucket = "..."
```

### Azure Blob Storage

```toml
[fs.<name>]
account_name = "..."
account_key = "..."
endpoint = "..."
container_name = "..."
```

## KV backends

### Embedded (redb)

```toml
[kv.<name>]
redb_path = "/absolute/path/to/file.redb"   # must be absolute
```

A single-file embedded database. Only valid together with a **local** filesystem backend.

### Redis

```toml
[kv.<name>]
uri = "redis://[:password@]host[:port]"
```

Required for object-storage filesystems. TLS is supported via `rediss://`.

## Validation rules

ver rejects the file when:

- `fs` and `kv` have different context names;
- a context pairs an object-storage filesystem with an embedded KV;
- a local `base_directory` or `redb_path` is not absolute.

## Managing contexts from the CLI

```sh
ver ctx scaffold offsite --fs s3 --kv redis   # add an empty entry to fill in
ver ctx switch offsite                        # make it current
ver ctx show --json                           # inspect the current context
ver ctx list                                  # all context names
ver ctx delete offsite                        # remove (refuses if current)
```

`ver ctx scaffold` writes empty strings for every field. Edit the file to fill them in, then run `ver ctx init` to create the project's storage layout.

Source: https://ver-vcs.net/reference/contexts/index.mdx