Configure Clojure CLI tools
Clojure CLI tools are configured using a deps.edn file, written using extensible data notation (edn), the language that is used to define the structure of Clojure itself.
Skip this section until you need to write your own aliases
If using practicalli/clojure-deps-edn this section can be skipped as it provides a collection of aliases that provide a wide range of community tools. Take a look at the Terminal REPL or creating projects.
Levels of configuration
User level configuration location
Clojure CLI tools creates a configuration directory called .clojure, which by default is placed in the root of the operating system user account directory, e.g. $HOME/.clojure.
XDG_CONFIG_HOME may be set by your operating system and over-rides the default location, e.g. $HOME/.config/.clojure
CLJ_CONFIG can be used to over-ride all other location settings
Run clojure -Sdescribe in a terminal and checking the :user-config value to see the location of your Clojure configuration directory
The installation of Clojure CLI tools has a built-in configuration that contains a dependency for the Clojure standard library, effectively setting the default version of Clojure so the Clojure CLI tools can run.
.clojure/deps.edn is a user level configuration that will apply to all projects used by the operating system user account. practicalli/clojure-deps-edn is an example configuration that contains a set of unique aliases to ensure that common tools are available in every Clojure project.
Clojure CLI Tools built-in deps aliases
The :deps alias is used as the root of all built-in commands in the Clojure CLI tools.
Configuration sections
Configuration is defined using a hash-map with the following top-level keys:
:deps- library dependencies:paths- directories to search for code and resources (Java classpath):aliases- to define optional paths, deps and namespaces:mvn/repos- library dependency sources (e.g. Clojars, Maven, Artifactory, etc).
practicalli/clojure-deps-edn adds common aliases and tools
practicalli/clojure-deps-edn provides aliases for a wide range of tools to support Clojure software development.
Scope of configuration files
~/.clojure/deps.edn is user scope and is available with all the projects a specific developer works with.
project-directory/deps.edn is for project specific configuration, shared by anyone using the project.
The project deps.edn is merged into the ~/.clojure/deps.edn, replacing any keys that are the same with project specific values. The exception is the :paths key, where only the last one found is used (they are not combined).
You can use the -Sverbose option to see all of the actual directory locations.
clojure -Sverbose
Example of a deps.edn configuration.
{
:paths
["src"]
:deps {
org.clojure/clojure {:mvn/version "1.10.1"}
}
:aliases {
:test {:extra-paths ["test"]}
:new
{:extra-deps {seancorfield/clj-new {:mvn/version "1.0.199"}}
:main-opts ["-m" "clj-new.create"]}
}
:mvn/repos {
"central" {:url "https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/"}
"clojars" {:url "https://repo.clojars.org/"}
}
}