# The Settings File

Emprica is configured with **settings** stored as `json` data.

You will need to create a **settings file** to set up your app. This will be a `.json` file, which is often named`settings.json` (or `local.json` or `deploy.json`).

**The settings file contains information that you do not want to share with the public**, such as your admin password and database security credentials. Hence you should keep it private. If you put your code on an online version-control repository (e.g., GitHub), we suggest you ***add the name of your settings file to the\*\*\*\* ****`.gitignore`**** \*\*\*\*file of your project.***

The settings file contains a JSON object `{}` in which there are other objects separated by `,`

```javascript
{
    "galaxy.meteor.com": {
        
    },
    "admins": [
        {
            "username": "myusername",
            "password": "mypassword"
        }
    ],
    "public": {  
    }
}
```

To run your app locally with your settings as set in the settings file, use:

```
meteor --settings settings.json
```

## Uses

The settings file is useful for:

{% content-ref url="the-settings-file/specifying-login-details" %}
[specifying-login-details](https://docsv1.empirica.ly/guides/the-settings-file/specifying-login-details)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="the-settings-file/id-url-queries" %}
[id-url-queries](https://docsv1.empirica.ly/guides/the-settings-file/id-url-queries)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="the-settings-file/connecting-locally-to-mongodb" %}
[connecting-locally-to-mongodb](https://docsv1.empirica.ly/guides/the-settings-file/connecting-locally-to-mongodb)
{% endcontent-ref %}