Configuration
Nightingale stores app settings in ~/.nightingale/config.json.
Data Storage
During setup, you can choose a custom data folder. Most runtime data lives in that selected folder. config.json and nightingale.log remain in the default ~/.nightingale path.
Typical selected data folder layout:
<selected-data-folder>/
├── cache/ # Stems, transcripts, lyrics, shifted variants, covers, playable videos
├── songs.db # Song library and analysis metadata (SQLite)
├── profiles.json # Player profiles and scores
├── videos/ # Cached Pixabay video backgrounds
├── sounds/ # Sound effects
├── vendor/
│ ├── ffmpeg # Downloaded ffmpeg binary
│ ├── uv # Downloaded uv binary
│ ├── python/ # Python 3.10 installed via uv
│ ├── venv/ # Virtual environment with ML packages
│ ├── analyzer/ # Extracted analyzer Python scripts
│ └── .ready # Marker indicating setup is complete
└── models/
├── torch/ # Demucs model cache
├── huggingface/ # WhisperX model cache
└── audio_separator/ # UVR Karaoke model cache
Video Backgrounds
Pixabay video backgrounds use the Pixabay API. In development, create a .env file at the project root with:
PIXABAY_API_KEY=your_key_here
Theme
Toggle between dark and light themes from the sidebar. The theme preference is saved in the config.
Notable Settings
config.json is written by the app — you’ll usually change these from Settings rather than by editing the file directly. A few keys worth knowing:
| Key | Purpose |
|---|---|
asr_engine | Selects the transcription engine. whisper (default) or parakeet. See Lyrics & Transcription. |
separator | Stem separation model: karaoke (UVR, default) or demucs. |
whisper_model | Whisper model size: large-v3 (default), large-v3-turbo, medium, small, base, tiny. Ignored when asr_engine is parakeet. |
beam_size / batch_size | Decoder beam width and batch size for Whisper. Higher values are more accurate but slower and use more VRAM. |
mic_mirror_gain | Live monitor gain when mic mirroring is on. Range 0.0–2.0 (slider shown as 0–200%). |
mic_active / mic_mirroring / preferred_mic | Microphone state and the device chosen for scoring + mirroring. |
last_video_flavor | Index of the last-used Pixabay video flavor (Nature, Underwater, Space, City, Countryside). |
last_theme | Index of the last-used playback background (shaders → video → source). |
language_overrides | Per-song forced ASR language, keyed by song hash. Set this from the song-list controls. |
data_path | Selected data folder root. Set during first-run setup. |