# local prodigy.json breaks recipe

**URL:** <https://support.prodi.gy/t/local-prodigy-json-breaks-recipe/435>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [March 23, 2018, 9:45pm UTC](https://support.prodi.gy/t/local-prodigy-json-breaks-recipe/435 "2018-03-23T21:45:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![koaning](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/support.prodi.gy/koaning/32/230_2.png) [@koaning](https://support.prodi.gy/u/koaning)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 9:45pm UTC](https://support.prodi.gy/t/local-prodigy-json-breaks-recipe/435/1 "2018-03-23T21:45:24Z")

</div>

I misread the documentation and did not realise that I should place the `prodigy.json` file in `PRODIGY_HOME`. Instead I placed it in the folder where I was running the command. Interestingly enough though, this cause the server to break.

```python
(venv) ec2-user:~/environment/prodigy (master) $ 
prodigy classify_imgs fluctimg /home/ec2-user/environment/prodigy/generated-imgs "pretty" -F recipies.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.6/runpy.py", line 193, in _run_module_as_main
    " __main__", mod_spec)
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.6/runpy.py", line 85, in _run_code
    exec(code, run_globals)
  File "/home/ec2-user/environment/prodigy/venv/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/prodigy/ __main__.py", line 254, in <module>
    controller = recipe(*args, use_plac=True)
  File "cython_src/prodigy/core.pyx", line 161, in prodigy.core.recipe.recipe_decorator.recipe_proxy
  File "cython_src/prodigy/util.pyx", line 52, in prodigy.util.get_config
  File "cython_src/prodigy/util.pyx", line 375, in prodigy.util.read_json
  File "cython_src/prodigy/util.pyx", line 376, in prodigy.util.read_json
ValueError: Expected object or value

```

Not breaking or anything at the moment, but it feels like a bug that deserves mentioning.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ines](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/support.prodi.gy/ines/32/3_2.png) [@ines](https://support.prodi.gy/u/ines)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 9:50pm UTC](https://support.prodi.gy/t/local-prodigy-json-breaks-recipe/435/2 "2018-03-23T21:50:40Z")

</div>

This is strange – placing a `prodigy.json` in the current working directory should definitely work. In fact, it’s supposed to overwrite the global config, to allow project-specific settings (that can then easily be synced via GitHub etc.).

Looking at the error, it seems like loading the JSON fails here. Did you verify that both `prodigy.json` files were identical, and that the one you loaded from your current working directory didn’t contain a JSON error by mistake?