How can I change Atom settings from the command line or a text editor?

Question

I had an issue where when I opened Atom, it appeared with a blank screen, making it impossible to use - and impossible to change the settings from within Atom itself. I found another solution to the problem, but it made me wonder: Is it possible to change Atom's settings from outside Atom itself?

Is there a way to either:

• Change my Atom configuration from the command line? Or,
• Open a file I can edit to change Atom's configuration?

Either way, can you please direct me to documentation describing Atom's configuration command line tools or file so I can find how to properly change the setting I want?

Answer 1

Your Atom configuration is stored in either config.json or config.cson, which are stored in your .atom folder:

# Windows
$ cd %USERPROFILE%\.atom\

# Linux & macOS
$ cd ~/.atom/

There are cases in which launching Atom in safe mode (atom --safe) solves problem with frozen application windows.

See the Atom Flight Manual for details on global configuration settings.