# CLI Reference

## Initializing Working Directories

### Initializing Fides Configuration Files

Fides can be configured in two different ways: either via a `toml` file or via environment variables. Both methods can be used simultaneously, with environment variables taking precedence over the `toml` file values.

### Fides Directory

The Fides working directory is typically a hidden `.fides` directory, which will contain the `fides.toml` configuration file.

### Initialization

Running the fides `init` command will initialize a working directory that contains a Fides configuration `toml` file. After that initialization, you will be able to perform other commands, like `fides push` and `fides evaluate`.

If you try to run a command that relies on initialization without either first initializing or having environment variables in place, the command will fail with an error, alerting you that you do not have environment variables configured.

Initialization performs just the basic tasks of creating the `.fides` directory and a `.toml` configuration for your Fides project.

For details, see:

- [The `fides init` command](/content/docs/cli-reference/init/cmd-init/index.html)
- [Basic CLI Features](/content/docs/cli-reference/cli-basics "Basic CLI Features"/index.html)
- [init](/content/docs/cli-reference/init/cmd-init "init"/index.html)