Execution contexts

A CargoShip context determines which commands are available and how the tool operates. Most users stay in local and never think about it. The current context is cached in ~/.cargoship-context and persists between sessions.

The two contexts

Context	Purpose
local	Local filesystem operations and archive creation (the default).
repl	Interactive shell mode with command discovery.

The agent context was removed along with the agent/controller runtime in v0.20.0 (#340); it filtered to commands that no longer exist. The controller context was removed at the same time. If either is still cached in your ~/.cargoship-context, run cargoship context reset.

Managing the context

cargoship context                    # show current context
cargoship context list               # list available contexts
cargoship context switch repl        # switch and cache a new context
cargoship context show               # show current context with details
cargoship context reset              # back to the default (local)

context switch writes the choice to ~/.cargoship-context, so it sticks across sessions until you switch again or reset.

Overriding for a single command

Use the global --context flag to override the cached context for one invocation without changing the stored default:

cargoship --context repl <command>

Automatic detection

When no context is cached, CargoShip infers one from environment variables:

Variable	Resulting context
CARGOSHIP_REPL_MODE set	repl
(none set)	local

See Environment variables for the full list.

See also

• Reference: Configuration & context commands.
• Reference: Environment variables.