Trusted Folders

Trusted Folders controls which project directories can load project-specific settings, environment files, and extensions. Untrusted folders run in a restricted “safe mode.”

Enable the feature

Trusted Folders is disabled by default. Enable it in ~/.proto/settings.json:


{
  "security": {
    "folderTrust": {
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Trust a folder

The first time proto opens a new directory (with Trusted Folders enabled), a dialog appears:

Trust folder — grants trust to the current directory (e.g. my-project)
Trust parent folder — grants trust to the parent directory and all subdirectories (e.g. trust ~/dev/ to trust all projects inside)
Don’t trust — restricted safe mode

Your choice is saved to ~/.proto/trustedFolders.json — you are only asked once per folder.

Change the trust level for the current folder at any time:


/permissions

What “untrusted” means

When a folder is untrusted, the following are disabled:

.proto/settings.json from the project is not loaded
.env files from the project are not loaded
Extension install/update/uninstall is blocked
Tool auto-acceptance is disabled (you are always prompted)
Automatic memory loading from local settings is disabled

Full proto functionality is restored when you grant trust.

Trust check order

IDE trust signal — if using an IDE integration, the IDE’s trust decision takes highest priority
Local trust file — ~/.proto/trustedFolders.json

Review trust rules

Inspect or edit your trust rules directly:


cat ~/.proto/trustedFolders.json