Read config.json in the /data folder, instead of reading from the root

README.md

@@ -484,9 +484,20 @@ hf sync ./data hf://buckets/millimanfrance/Example-App-Hackathon-Gustave-Eiffel-
 
 ## Configuration
 
-### Step 1 — Edit `config.json`
+The application loads model configuration with the following priority:
 
-Open [`config.json`](config.json) at the project root and replace the placeholders with your Azure OpenAI resource details:
+1. **`./data/config.json`** — the live runtime config (read at startup)
+2. **`./config.json`** (project root) — example/template file used as fallback when no runtime config exists; **never put real credentials here**
+
+### Step 1 — Create `data/config.json`
+
+Copy the root template to `./data/` and fill in your Azure OpenAI resource details:
+
+```bash
+cp config.json data/config.json
+```
+
+Then edit `data/config.json`:
 
 ```json
 {
@@ -527,6 +538,18 @@ $env:AZURE_API_KEY = "your_azure_api_key_here"
 
 When deploying to Hugging Face Spaces, add it as a **Space Secret** (Settings → Secrets → New secret → name it `AZURE_API_KEY`).
 
+### Step 3 — Push `data/config.json` to the HF Bucket
+
+`data/config.json` lives under `./data` so a normal bucket sync includes it automatically:
+
+```bash
+hf sync ./data hf://buckets/millimanfrance/Example-App-Hackathon-Gustave-Eiffel-2026-storage --delete
+```
+
+The Space container will then find it at `/data/config.json` on next restart.
+
+> **Do not commit `data/config.json` to Git** — it contains endpoint URLs tied to your Azure resource. Add `data/config.json` to `.gitignore`. The root `config.json` is safe to commit as it only contains placeholder values.
+
 ### Tunable Parameters
 
 The following constants in `app.py` can also be adjusted directly:

app.py

@@ -56,8 +56,15 @@ CHUNK_SIZE = 512
 CHUNK_OVERLAP = 50
 TOP_K_RESULTS = 3
 
-# Settings loaded from config.json
-_CONFIG_PATH = Path(__file__).parent / "config.json"
+# Settings loaded from data/config.json (runtime config).
+# Falls back to the root config.json which serves as the example/template.
+_CONFIG_PATH = DATA_DIR / "config.json"
+if not _CONFIG_PATH.exists():
+    _CONFIG_PATH = Path(__file__).parent / "config.json"
+    logger.warning(
+        f"No config.json found in {DATA_DIR} — falling back to root config.json (example file). "
+        "Copy config.json to the data directory and fill in your values for production use."
+    )
 with open(_CONFIG_PATH, encoding="utf-8") as _f:
     _config = json.load(_f)