Configuration

Rate limits

devcoach has two rate-limit settings to prevent lesson overload:

Setting	Default	Range	Description
max_per_day	2	1–20	Maximum lessons in a rolling 24-hour window
min_gap_minutes	240	0–1440	Minimum minutes between consecutive lessons

Examples:

# Aggressive learning: up to 5 lessons/day, no minimum gap
devcoach set max_per_day 5
devcoach set min_gap_minutes 0

# Conservative: 1 lesson/day, must be at least 8 hours apart
devcoach set max_per_day 1
devcoach set min_gap_minutes 480

# Disable rate limiting entirely (not recommended)
devcoach set max_per_day 20
devcoach set min_gap_minutes 0

Via MCP tool:

{ "key": "max_per_day", "value": "3" }
{ "key": "min_gap_minutes", "value": "120" }

Via web UI: devcoach ui → Settings page.

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Data location

~/.devcoach/coaching.db   — SQLite database

The database is created automatically on first run. All data is local — nothing is sent to any server.

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Database schema (reference)

-- Delivered lessons
lessons (
  id                  TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
  timestamp           TEXT NOT NULL,   -- ISO 8601 UTC
  topic_id            TEXT NOT NULL,
  categories          TEXT NOT NULL,   -- JSON array
  title               TEXT NOT NULL,
  level               TEXT NOT NULL,   -- junior | mid | senior
  summary             TEXT NOT NULL,
  task_context        TEXT,
  project             TEXT,
  repository          TEXT,
  branch              TEXT,
  commit_hash         TEXT,
  folder              TEXT,
  feedback            TEXT,            -- know | dont_know | NULL
  repository_platform TEXT,            -- github | gitlab | bitbucket | local
  starred             INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0
)

-- Knowledge map
knowledge (
  topic       TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
  confidence  INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 5,   -- 0-10
  updated_at  TEXT NOT NULL
)

-- Named groups
knowledge_group_names (group_name TEXT PRIMARY KEY)
knowledge_groups (group_name TEXT, topic TEXT, PRIMARY KEY (group_name, topic))

-- Settings
settings (key TEXT PRIMARY KEY, value TEXT NOT NULL)

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Backup strategy

devcoach stores everything in a single SQLite file. Recommended backup approach:

# Daily cron / scheduled task
devcoach backup ~/Dropbox/devcoach-$(date +%Y%m%d).zip

# Before a major change
devcoach backup devcoach-before-reset.zip

The backup zip contains four files:

• settings.json — rate-limit settings
• knowledge.json — topics, confidence scores, and group assignments
• lessons.json — full lesson history
• learning-state.md — the coaching notebook (when present)

All of them are restored by devcoach restore <zip>.

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Reset

To start fresh while keeping your lesson history:

# Save current knowledge before clearing
devcoach backup devcoach-before-reset.zip

# Re-run the onboarding flow
devcoach setup

To reset everything including lessons, delete the database:

rm ~/.devcoach/coaching.db
devcoach setup   # re-creates it