The Robot's Settings File

The layout of ~/.almond/settings.json and what each section controls.

~/.almond/settings.json on the robot host is the robot’s one settings file. The control panel edits it and applies it to every operation it launches, the draccus CLI commands (axol teleop, gravity-comp, collect-data, …) read it by default, and the SDK constructors (Axol(), VRTeleop(), Jelly(), Mantis()) build their default configs from it. Export / Import in the panel move this exact file between robots.

Values set here sit between the built-in defaults and anything you pass explicitly: defaults → settings file → --config_path file → CLI flags, later wins. On the CLI, --no_settings skips the file and --settings_path PATH reads another one; in the SDK, passing a config or channel argument overrides the corresponding setting.

Layout

The file is a nested tree with one object per section. Only values you have changed are stored; anything absent keeps the code default.

{
  "version": 2,
  "axol": {
    "left_stiffness": 0.8,
    "has_gripper": true,
    "left": { "elbow": { "kp": 60 }, "gripper": { "torque_limit": 0.4 } }
  },
  "teleop": { "frequency": 240, "rest_pose_left": [-0.15, 0, 0, 0.31, 0, 0, -0.15] },
  "kinematics": { "pos_weight": 100 },
  "robot": { "left_channel": "can0", "right_channel": "null" },
  "gravity": { "kd": 0.5 },
  "recording": { "fps": 30, "root": "/data/lerobot" },
  "cameras": { "serials": { "overhead": "12345" } }
}

The subsystem sections have exactly the shape of the matching config dataclass, so they use the same vocabulary as a teleop --config_path file, the operation config pages, and the SDK: axol is the robot config, teleop the teleop session, kinematics the kinematics config, jelly the Jelly config, and vr_server the VR server. Any leaf of these sections may be set — the panel shows the common ones as controls and the rest under Advanced. The other operations embed the same subsystems at different paths (robot_config.axol_config.*, teleop_config.vr_teleop_config.*, …); the translation happens automatically, so one value applies everywhere.

Section	Contains	Applies to
axol	the robot config: left_stiffness / right_stiffness, has_gripper, gripper (parallel / parcel — the Robot tab’s Gripper; box mode’s settings show only with parcel), per-joint gains, masses and gripper limits (left.gripper.torque_limit, right.gripper.max_speed, …)	every operation
teleop	the teleop session: frequency (also sets teleop_hz on data collection), position_multiplier, rotation_multiplier, hold_to_engage, rest_pose_left / rest_pose_right (the Rest pose editor), reset_torque_threshold (also run policy and replay), teleop_torque_threshold (also replay), …	teleop, data collection, DAgger
kinematics	the IK config: pos_weight, ori_weight, elbow_weight, rest_weight, max_joint_delta, …	teleop, data collection, DAgger
jelly	the Jelly config: wheels, lift (the Robot tab’s Jelly wheels / Jelly lift switches), max_speed, …	teleop, data collection, DAgger
vr_server	the VR WebSocket server: port, …	teleop, data collection, DAgger
lerobot	the LeRobot robot_config.* fields: observe_torques, observe_cartesian, id, calibration_dir, …	data collection, DAgger, run policy, replay
lerobot_teleop	the LeRobot teleop_config.id / teleop_config.calibration_dir	data collection, DAgger
robot	left_channel / right_channel — the arms’ CAN interfaces ("null" disables an arm)	every operation, diagnostics dashboard
gravity	kd / rate_hz of the gravity-comp loop	gravity comp, waypoints
mantis	source (lighthouse / ultimate / quest), quest_tracker_key (Quest only), left_channel / right_channel of the Mantis grippers (default can_mantis_l / can_mantis_r)	data collection (Mantis), teleop (Mantis channels)
recording	fps (data collection, run policy), replay_fps (replay’s fps), vcodec, root (also replay), push_to_hub, rerun_ip, rerun_port	data collection, DAgger, run policy
inference	the run policy keys: device, server_host, server_port, episode_time_s, actions_per_chunk, chunk_size_threshold, aggregate_fn, temporal_ensemble_coeff, policy_torque_threshold	run policy
system	hardware_profile (axol or mantis, the panel’s device selection), log_level	teleop, data collection (log_level: every operation)
cameras	the panel’s camera assignment	data collection, DAgger, run policy, teleop

Older files

Version-1 files (a flat values map of panel keys such as robot.left_stiffness plus an advanced map) are migrated automatically when read and rewritten in the layout above on the next save. Importing such a file into the panel works the same way.