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PRIVATEBIN.CONF(5) Privatebin Manual PRIVATEBIN.CONF(5)

NAME

privatebin.conf – privatebin CLI configuration file.

DESCRIPTION

The privatebin(1) command line interface create paste to an PrivateBin instance configured in the config.json.

FORMAT

Top level object keys:

The default value of open discussion for a paste.
The default value of burn after reading for a paste.
The default formatter for a paste.
The default time to live for a paste.
Enable GZip the paste data.
Skip TLS certificate verification when connecting to the privatebin instance.
Proxy URL to use for all requests. Supports HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 schemes (e.g. “socks5://127.0.0.1:9050” for TOR). When set, overrides the HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, and ALL_PROXY environment variables. Can be overridden per-bin or by the --proxy CLI flag.
The extra HTTP header fields to include in the request sent.
The list of bin instances.

The bin object format:

The name of the bin instance.
The url of the bin instance.
The basic auth configuration of the bin instance.
The default time to live for a paste.
The default value of open discussion for a paste.
The default value of burn after reading for a paste.
The formatter for the paste.
GZip the paste data.
Skip TLS certificate verification when connecting to the privatebin instance.
Proxy URL to use for requests to this bin instance. Supports HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 schemes. Overrides the top-level proxy value and the proxy environment variables. Can be overridden by the --proxy CLI flag.
The extra HTTP header fields to include in the request sent.

The auth object format:

The basic auth username.
The basic auth password.

EXAMPLES

Minimal privatebin configuration file:

{


    "bin": [


        {


            "name": "", // default


            "host": "https://privatebin.net"


        }


    ]
}

A bit more complete configuration file:

{


    "bin": [


        {


            "name": "example",


            "host": "bin.example.com",


            "auth": {


                "username": "john.doe",


                "password": "s$cr$t"


            },


            "formatter": "markdown",


            "burn-after-reading": false


        },


        {


            "name": "",


            "host": "https://privatebin.net"


            "extra-header-fields": {


                "Foo": "Bar",


            },


        },


    ],


    "burn-after-reading": true
}

Configuration using a SOCKS5 proxy (e.g. TOR):

{


    "proxy": "socks5://127.0.0.1:9050",


    "bin": [


        {


            "name": "",


            "host": "https://privatebin.net"


        }


    ]
}

FILES

The CLI searches for the configuration file in the following locations, in order, and uses the first one found:

1.
$HOME/.config/privatebin/config.json
2.
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/privatebin/config.json (if XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set)
3.
The platform-native user configuration directory (as returned by Go’s os.UserConfigDir): HOME/.config * onLinux, *HOME/Library/Application Support on macOS, %AppData% on Windows
4.
Each directory in $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS (defaults to /etc/xdg)

Duplicate paths are skipped. When no --config flag is provided and no file is found, the CLI falls back to sensible defaults (expire: 1day, formatter: plaintext, gzip: enabled). The privatebin init command writes to the first candidate path by default.

AUTHORS

Bryan Frimin.

February 15, 2026 2.2.1