yaml-config

Use this skill when reading or writing YAML configuration files, loading vehicle parameters, or handling config file parsing with proper error handling.

YAML Configuration Files

Reading YAML

Always use safe_load to prevent code execution vulnerabilities:

python

import yaml

with open('config.yaml', 'r') as f:
    config = yaml.safe_load(f)

# Access nested values
value = config['section']['key']

Writing YAML

python

import yaml

data = {
    'settings': {
        'param1': 1.5,
        'param2': 0.1
    }
}

with open('output.yaml', 'w') as f:
    yaml.dump(data, f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False)

Options

• default_flow_style=False: Use block style (readable)
• sort_keys=False: Preserve insertion order
• allow_unicode=True: Support unicode characters

Error Handling

python

import yaml

try:
    with open('config.yaml', 'r') as f:
        config = yaml.safe_load(f)
except FileNotFoundError:
    config = {}  # Use defaults
except yaml.YAMLError as e:
    print(f"YAML parse error: {e}")
    config = {}

Optional Config Loading

python

import os
import yaml

def load_config(filepath, defaults=None):
    """Load config file, return defaults if missing."""
    if defaults is None:
        defaults = {}

    if not os.path.exists(filepath):
        return defaults

    with open(filepath, 'r') as f:
        loaded = yaml.safe_load(f) or {}

    # Merge loaded values over defaults
    result = defaults.copy()
    result.update(loaded)
    return result