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The JavaScript CLI supports loading configuration from the filesystem automatically, so you do not need to pass flags on every invocation. There are three ways to supply configuration, listed from highest to lowest priority:
  1. jsbeautify_-prefixed environment variables
  2. A JSON file specified with --config <path>
  3. A .jsbeautifyrc file found at any directory level from $PWD upward
Configuration sources higher in this list override lower ones. CLI flags override all of them.
This automatic config loading is JavaScript-only. The Python jsbeautifier package reads options passed directly to the API and does not look for a .jsbeautifyrc file.

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.jsbeautifyrc file

Create a .jsbeautifyrc file in your project root (or any ancestor directory). The beautifier searches from the current working directory upward until it finds one. The file must contain valid JSON. Option names use underscores, matching the library API. 
{
    "indent_size": 2,
    "indent_char": " ",
    "indent_level": 0,
    "end_with_newline": true,
    "indent_with_tabs": false,
    "preserve_newlines": true,
    "max_preserve_newlines": 10,
    "jslint_happy": false,
    "space_after_anon_function": false,
    "brace_style": "collapse,preserve-inline",
    "keep_array_indentation": false,
    "space_before_conditional": true,
    "break_chained_methods": false,
    "eval_code": false,
    "unescape_strings": false,
    "wrap_line_length": 0,
    "css": {
        "selector_separator_newline": false
    }
}
You can include language-specific overrides as nested objects. The example above sets selector_separator_newline only when beautifying CSS. See Language-specific overrides for the full inheritance model.

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—config flag

Point to any JSON file using the --config flag: 
js-beautify --config path/to/my-config.json foo.js
The config file format is identical to .jsbeautifyrc.

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Environment variables

Prefix any option name with jsbeautify_ to set it as an environment variable: 
export jsbeautify_indent_size=2
export jsbeautify_end_with_newline=true
js-beautify foo.js
Environment variable values are strings, so numeric options like indent_size are parsed to integers automatically. Boolean values accept true or false.

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Priority order

When multiple configuration sources define the same option, the following precedence applies (highest first):
SourcePriority
CLI flags (e.g. --indent-size 4)Highest
jsbeautify_-prefixed environment variablesHigh
--config fileMedium
.jsbeautifyrc (nearest ancestor)Low
Built-in defaultsLowest

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Minimal example

A typical .jsbeautifyrc for a project using 2-space indentation and a trailing newline: 
{
    "indent_size": 2,
    "end_with_newline": true,
    "brace_style": "collapse,preserve-inline"
}
Drop this file in your repository root and run js-beautify without any additional flags: 
js-beautify src/index.js