GUIDE.md

Reasonix Guide

README  ·  简体中文  ·  Spec

Day-to-day configuration and usage. For the engineering contract and internals (data types, registries, package layout, roadmap), see the Spec.

Contents

• Configuration
• Billing and display currency
• CLI reference
• Environment variables
• Web frontend
• Configuration paths
• Reasoning language
• Task contracts and pause policy
• Custom OpenAI-compatible providers
• Hooks
• Desktop hooks
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Permissions & sandbox
• Capability diagnostics
• Plugins (MCP)
• Slash commands
• Embedded documentation retrieval
• @ references
• Two-model collaboration
• Letting the model change a setting
• Google Gemini, native (experimental)

Configuration

Resolution order: flag > ./reasonix.toml > the user config file > built-in defaults. Starting with Reasonix v1.8.1, the user config lives at ~/.reasonix/config.toml on macOS/Linux and %AppData%\reasonix\config.toml on Windows; see Configuration paths for migration and related data paths. Fields marked user/global only are not overridden by ./reasonix.toml. Provider entries name secrets with api_key_env, while the secret values live in Reasonix's global <Reasonix home>/.env, shared by CLI and desktop. Project .env, home .env, inherited shell environment variables, legacy credentials, and the OS keyring are not provider-key runtime fallbacks; legacy credentials are only migration sources. Project .env still feeds workspace-scoped, non-provider ${VAR} expansion for MCP/plugin settings without importing provider keys or Reasonix control variables. See Configuration paths for the full config.toml and .env structure.

For the desktop and CLI usage of visible reasoning language, see Reasoning language.

default_model = "deepseek-flash"   # executor; set [agent].planner_model to add a planner
# language    = "zh"               # ui language; empty = auto-detect from $LANG / $REASONIX_LANG

[ui]
# shortcut_layout = "desktop"      # classic|desktop; compatibility setting
# cursor_shape = "bar"             # block|underline|bar; CLI/TUI text cursor
show_turn_usage = false             # hide per-request token/cost receipts in the TUI; default true

[agent]
reasoning_language = "auto"      # visible reasoning text: auto|zh|en
# plan_mode_read_only_commands = ["gh issue view"]   # legacy compatibility only; Plan bash now uses Permissions
# planner_model = "deepseek-pro"      # optional low-frequency planner
# subagent_model = "deepseek-pro"     # optional default for runAs=subagent skills
# subagent_models = { review = "deepseek-pro", security_review = "deepseek-pro" }
# max_subagent_depth = 8              # nested delegation depth; a named stop against runaway recursion, 0 removes it; set 1 for the single-layer boundary (user config only)
# max_subagent_concurrency = 0        # session-wide sub-agent concurrency (task/fleet/skills); 0 = no limit (user config only)
# max_parallel_writers = 0            # concurrent writers with non-overlapping write_paths; 0 = no limit, write claims keep writers apart (user config only)
# max_side_sessions = 0              # side conversations open at once; 0 = no limit (user config only)
# max_provider_retries = 10          # retries of a failed provider connection before the turn stops; 0 = keep trying until cancelled (user config only)
# max_queued_inputs = 0              # prompts waiting in a session's queue; 0 = no limit, the queue's byte limits still apply (user config only)
# max_subagent_steer_bytes = 16384    # bytes in one message of guidance to a running sub-agent, which keeps one message from filling its context; 0 = no limit (user config only)
# max_subagent_steers_per_minute = 30  # messages of guidance per minute to one running sub-agent, a stop for a loop; 0 = no limit (user config only)
# write_lease = "strict"              # user file only; default optimistic: a writer that declares no path (bash, MCP) does not hold the whole workspace; strict makes it hold it
# write_lease_max_wait_minutes = 0    # minutes a write waits behind another session's claim before it fails with workspace.claim_timeout; 0 (default) = wait as long as the turn lasts, 120 is a sensible limit (user config only)
# subagent_claims = "strict"          # user file only; default optimistic: a sub-agent that declares no write_paths holds only the path it is writing; strict makes it hold the whole workspace
# plan_approval = "auto"             # user file only; a submitted plan starts executing without the approval click, and the transcript says so; default ask
# default_mode = "plan"              # user file only; a new conversation starts in plan mode (a resumed one keeps its own; Settings has a switch); default normal
# host_verification = "on"           # user file only; "on" holds a turn that changed files open until a check, a review and a sign-off exist; unset or "off" does not (unset still holds them under the delivery preset); the receipt always says what was checked
# compact_ratio = 0.85             # sole auto trigger; presets 0.70 / 0.80 / 0.85
# max_output_tokens = 0            # recommended: automatic (DeepSeek default high → ~64K; not unlimited)
# max_output_tokens = 32768        # ordinary coding / cost control
# max_output_tokens = 65536        # heavy reasoning / long tool loops
# max_output_tokens = 131072       # only after repeated finish_reason=length
# max_output_tokens never changes compact_ratio; only the final send-time clip does

[[providers]]
name        = "deepseek-flash"
kind        = "anthropic"
base_url    = "https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic"
model       = "deepseek-flash"
api_key_env = "DEEPSEEK_API_KEY"
web_search  = true
# also preset: deepseek-pro
# idle_timeout_seconds = 300   # per-provider stream idle watchdog; how long a call may send nothing before it is read as dropped (default 300s; a silent pre-header wait is retried once, so up to ~2×)

[tools]
enabled = []   # omit/empty = all built-ins
# disabled = ["web_fetch", "ask"]   # removed from every request by name, framework and MCP tools included; a call to one is refused with the reason; a tool the host itself reads (todo_write, complete_step, await_user, conclude_blocked, update_goal, use_capability) stays on and a warning says which; a project file can only add names, and Settings lists those as turned off by the project; Settings has a switch per tool; applies to conversations opened afterwards
bash_timeout_seconds = 120   # foreground safety cap; set 0 for no tool-local cap
protect_changed_files = true   # refuse a whole-file write over a change made since the agent last read or wrote the file
browser_tools = true   # built-in browser tools; the browser starts on first use
# mcp_resources = true  # user file only; a read_mcp_resource tool for resources a connected MCP server lists or builds from its declared templates (a {+x} template is wide: read the full address on the card before approving); asks first; default off
# web_search_backends = ["searxng"]  # user file only; ordered chain for web_search
# searxng_url = "http://localhost:8888"  # your own SearXNG instance
mcp_startup_timeout_seconds = 30   # background initialize + tools/list safety cap
mcp_call_timeout_seconds = 300   # default MCP call safety cap; per-plugin/tool overrides may raise it

[tools.system_one]
api_key_env = "TYPESAFE_API_KEY" # optional TypeSafe AI System One decision protocol
model = "jev-latest"
# base_url = "https://api.typesafe.ai"

[tools.system_one.laya]
local = false                      # true: run the official Python SDK locally (`pip install laya`)
python = "python"                  # interpreter containing the laya package
model = "auto"                     # auto|english|multilingual|typed-decisions
# http_base_url = "http://127.0.0.1:8080" # self-hosted POST /v1/systemone gateway
# http_api_key_env = "LAYA_API_KEY"       # optional gateway Bearer token

[environment]
enabled = true   # inject a stable startup summary of OS, shell, and common tools
offline = false  # set true when outbound network access is unavailable; prevents futile retries
# [environment.tools]
# go = "/opt/homebrew/bin/go"   # optional explicit trusted path; workspace-local paths are not auto-executed

[skills]
# paths = ["~/my-skills", "../shared/skills"]   # extra custom skill roots
# excluded_paths = ["~/.agents/skills"]         # hide convention roots without deleting folders
# disabled_skills = ["review"]                  # hide skills until /skill enable <name>
# suppress_warnings = true                      # quiet non-fatal skill loading warnings; doctor still reports issues

[permissions]
mode  = "ask"                                # writer fallback when no rule matches: ask|allow|deny
deny  = ["Bash(rm -rf*)", "Bash(git push*)"] # hard-blocked in every mode
allow = ["Bash(go test:*)"]                  # never prompted

[sandbox]
# workspace_root = ""          # file-writers confined here; empty = current dir
# allow_write    = ["/tmp"]    # extra dirs write_file/edit_file/multi_edit/move_file may touch
# forbid_read    = ["${HOME}/.ssh"]   # paths the agent must not read or list
# allow_devices  = ["/dev/nvidia*"]   # host device nodes bound into the Linux bash sandbox (user config only)
# egress_unlisted = "allow"    # unattended long tasks (user config only): hosts outside allowed_domains pass without asking, said once each; denied_domains still refuse

[peers]
# enabled = false              # your sessions on this machine can message each other; every message waits for that session's user to approve it; also a switch in Settings, applied at the next turn (user config only)
# dispatch = false             # the model may hand a task to a session in another of your projects, via dispatch_to_project (the session it opens sends its final answer back on its own), and ask you to open folders as projects with open_projects (one card lists every path; nothing is added or trusted until you approve it, and no mode answers it for you); needs enabled; turning it on is your consent for those sessions' tasks and replies, no card, and a project in your sidebar you have not decided about is trusted by being named; the opened session keeps the sender's model, preset, approval mode and planning, so a YOLO sender opens a YOLO session that answers the target project's ask rules too (deny rules still hold) (user config only)
# max_dispatch_depth = 1       # how many sessions deep a dispatch may chain; 0 removes the ceiling (user config only)
# max_dispatched_sessions = 8  # sessions one session may keep open from its dispatches; 0 removes the ceiling (user config only)
# release_projects = []        # projects that take messages from your other sessions without the card; their own approvals and sandbox still apply; they start over a pause the host set itself (session switch, unreadable @ reference, reopen) but never over one you pressed (user config only)

[mods]
# enabled = false              # run the hooks module of installed Claude Code mods; full trust, no sandbox (user config only)
# hook_budget_ms = 0           # one hook's own running time in milliseconds; 0 keeps 10000 (user config only)

[serve]
# auth_mode = "token"          # token (default)|password|none; none still requires the launch token for changes
# token = ""                   # optional fixed token; empty token mode generates one at startup
# password_hash = ""           # bcrypt hash generated with reasonix serve --hash-password --password '...'
# behind_proxy = false         # true only behind a trusted reverse proxy

[desktop]
# max_workspaces = 0           # most projects the sidebar remembers; 0 = no limit (user config only)
# session_ref_tokens = 8000     # most tokens one referenced past conversation (@session:<id>) adds to a message; 500..200000

[[plugins]]
name    = "example"
command = "reasonix-plugin-example"
startup_timeout_seconds = 60   # optional initialize + tools/list cap
call_timeout_seconds = 600   # optional per-server MCP call timeout
tool_timeout_seconds = { "generate_video" = 1800 }   # optional raw MCP tool names

For the full schema and every field's contract, see SPEC.md §5.

Installed and project-configured MCP servers need no per-tool trust list. The dedicated two-model Planner may use every non-destructive MCP tool, even when the server omits readOnlyHint; strict read-only sub-agents still require readOnlyHint: true and no destructiveHint.

[agent].plan_mode_read_only_commands is also retained for config round trips, but the main Plan workflow no longer has a separate bash allowlist or trust prompt. Bash classification and approval use the same Permissions rules in Plan and Standard mode; the Sandbox remains the filesystem, process, and network boundary. Dedicated planner and read-only subagent runners keep their own strict read-only tool registry and foreground-command classifier.

Environment variables

Most day-to-day settings belong in config.toml or the global Reasonix .env described above. The variables below are process-level advanced switches; set them before launching Reasonix. Project .env files are not a runtime source for Reasonix control variables.

To hand extra variables to every command the bash tool runs, set the user-global [tools.shell.env] table in config.toml (for example BASH_ENV). It is applied over the inherited environment; a project reasonix.toml cannot set it, so a cloned repository cannot inject variables into your commands.

A preset is not scoped to a command you asked for: BASH_ENV is sourced before every bash command, including the ones the host classifies as read-only and the ones it runs as verification.

So keep it side-effect free and outside the workspace's writable roots: anything it writes can invalidate what a verification just proved. The table reaches the local bash tool only — a remote workspace and reasonix review build their own sandbox and do not carry it.

CLI telemetry

The CLI can send a once-per-day anonymous active-install ping and bounded, content-free event counters to https://crash.reasonix.io. Configure the user-global policy with:

reasonix config telemetry          # print the effective mode
reasonix config telemetry auto     # default: local interactive TTY only
reasonix config telemetry on       # also allow local headless `reasonix run`
reasonix config telemetry off      # disable and delete pending counter files

On the first eligible release-build interactive session, Reasonix explains the exact data boundary and asks once before any telemetry request. The prompt is [Y/n]: pressing Enter, y, or yes stores auto; n or no stores off and deletes pending counters. After the choice is saved, enabled reporting is silent and the prompt is not shown again. If the preference cannot be saved, nothing is uploaded.

Reporting is always disabled in CI, development builds, and when DO_NOT_TRACK is set or REASONIX_TELEMETRY=0. Under auto, redirected/piped or otherwise non-interactive sessions do not report. When no choice has been saved yet, these ineligible sessions neither prompt nor report. Network failures after consent are silent and never change stdout, stderr, or the process exit code; unsent counters stay in a bounded local queue for a later invocation.

The ping contains a dedicated random 128-bit CLI install ID, CLI version, OS, architecture, and the cli surface marker. This ID is separate from the desktop install ID and is not an account, hardware, repository, or session identifier.

Counter batches use that same ID for daily active-install deduplication and contain only fixed buckets such as CLI mode/profile, permission/session mode, turn latency, finish reason, cache-hit range, generic Provider/tool error class, compaction, recovery counters, per-turn token-volume buckets, workspace-lease contention buckets, and normalized UI language.

Closing the prompt without answering (end of input, Ctrl+D) stores nothing and uploads nothing; it asks again the next time.

Reasonix never uploads prompts, answers, reasoning, tool names/arguments/output, paths, repositories/branches, session IDs, exact token or cost values, Provider/model names, base URLs, or environment variables.

Trace export (OpenTelemetry)

Reasonix can hand each turn to your own observability stack as OpenTelemetry GenAI traces. It is off, and nothing leaves the machine, until your user config switches it on and names a collector:

[observability.otlp]
enabled = true
endpoint = "http://localhost:4318"   # OTLP/HTTP; /v1/traces is appended
header_name = "Authorization"        # optional: the header carrying a credential
header_env = "OTEL_EXPORTER_AUTH"    # the variable holding its value, never the value
service_name = "reasonix"            # optional

• What is sent. One trace per turn: an invoke_agent span, a chat span per model attempt (provider, model, token counts, finish reason), and an execute_tool span per tool call (tool name, failure class), nested under the tool that delegated the work.
• What is never sent. Prompts, answers, tool arguments and results, file paths and error text. Spans are built from typed event fields through one fixed attribute set, and a name that does not look like a name is sent as unknown.
• Who decides. Only your user config. A repository's reasonix.toml cannot switch it on or move it; the ignored key is reported at load.
• Credentials. header_env must be an OTEL_* or REASONIX_OTEL_* variable, so no setting can read an unrelated secret. A credential is refused over plain http to any host but loopback, the endpoint may not contain user info, and redirects are not followed.
• Failure. Export never blocks a turn: a slow or dead collector drops spans from a bounded queue.
• Stability. The upstream conventions are marked Development (read 2026-10-18); every payload carries reasonix.semconv_experimental = true and attribute names can change. Not run against a real backend: built against the OTLP/HTTP JSON encoding and tested with a local collector.

Studio has the same switches under Settings, Network. A save reaches sessions opened afterwards.

CLI crash reports

An unhandled Go panic that reaches the CLI entrypoint is saved locally as a sanitized report under <Reasonix home>/cli-crash-reports. Reasonix keeps at most 10 files with owner-only permissions. The panic value is never serialized. Absolute source paths become <path>/<file>.go:<line>, function arguments are removed, and the same secret, token, email, and long-identifier scrubbers run both when saving and immediately before sending.

Crash reports are never uploaded automatically. Review and manage them with:

reasonix report                 # preview newest; prompt before sending on a TTY
reasonix report list            # list local reports
reasonix report show [ID]       # preview without sending
reasonix report send [ID]       # explicit send; delete locally only after success
reasonix report delete [ID]     # delete without sending

Piped or redirected reasonix report calls only preview and never prompt or send. The CLI telemetry setting does not auto-send or auto-delete these separately reviewed reports. Runtime fatal throws, operating-system kills, and panics in unwrapped background goroutines cannot be recovered by Go and do not produce this local report.

Web frontend

For local use, reasonix web starts the browser UI and opens it in your default browser. Inside an interactive CLI session, /web snapshots the current session, restores the terminal, and opens an explicit /sessions/<id>#token=... deep link. Even a never-used session keeps its reserved ID without forcing an empty transcript onto disk, so the first Web turn continues the same session identity.

Studio and the Web UI offer Side question beside the composer for read-only questions without adding them to the main conversation.

A submitted question appears immediately. Answer text streams as it arrives, with the current phase, tool name and elapsed time shown while it runs.

Collapsing the panel keeps the request running; closing it cancels the request and discards that side conversation. If a request fails, partial text is marked interrupted and the draft remains for retry.

cd your-project
reasonix web

Use reasonix web --no-open when you want to start the foreground Web server and print its URL without opening a browser tab. The lower-level reasonix serve command starts the same engine without opening a browser by default. It remains the right entry point for remote development boxes, supervisors, tunnels, reverse proxies, and shareable authenticated sessions.

reasonix web starts at 127.0.0.1:8787, automatically tries 8788, 8789, and so on when a port is busy (up to 100 retries), and defaults to a newly generated token even when [serve].auth_mode is none. Each live process registers a single-writer heartbeat file under <Reasonix home>/server/instances/; clean shutdown removes its own file, while later instances lazily remove records whose owner process is confirmed dead. Multiple Web instances can therefore share one Reasonix home without overwriting registry state. The process stays attached to the terminal; stop it with Ctrl-C.

reasonix serve also defaults to a freshly generated per-launch token unless [serve].auth_mode or --auth says otherwise.

• --auth none (or auth_mode = "none") is an explicit opt-out for a Serve fronted by its own authentication. Reads are open to whoever reaches a loopback or bound address; other Host names get 421 serve.host_rejected.
• Every state-changing request, approvals included, still needs the launch token: Authorization: Bearer <token>, or the cookie the printed approvals: link sets. Without it the answer is 403 auth.launch_token_required.
• Serve writes the token to a 0600 file under <Reasonix home>/remote/ and prints only its path; append #token=<file contents> to the printed link. A managed launch with --token-file names that file instead. The phone QR code a terminal shows in token mode still carries the token.
• Prefer --token-file over --token: argv is visible to other processes, sandboxed ones included. A plaintext [serve].token in the global config is readable from inside the sandbox; keep the secret in a file.
• On macOS and Linux the OS sandbox denies the remote state directory and every token file. Windows has no bash sandbox, so there only the read tools refuse.
• [serve] is read from the user config only; a project reasonix.toml cannot set it.

Choose the mode explicitly when binding outside loopback:

reasonix serve --auth token
reasonix serve --addr 0.0.0.0:8787 --auth token
reasonix serve --auth password --password 'temporary-password'

Token mode prints a share URL with #token=...; the Web page exchanges the fragment for an HttpOnly cookie before starting API or SSE requests, keeping the token out of request URLs, browser history, referrers, and access logs. Pass --token or set [serve].token to reuse a stable token. Password mode requires either --password at startup or a stored bcrypt hash:

reasonix serve --hash-password --password 'strong-password'

# <Reasonix home>/config.toml
[serve]
auth_mode = "password" # none|token|password
password_hash = "$2a$12$..."
behind_proxy = true    # only behind a trusted reverse proxy

The web UI exposes chat, tool approvals, session history, rewind/fork/summarize, model and reasoning-effort controls, Goal, a live todo panel fed by the todo_write tool, extension status/card/form/notification surfaces, and provider balance when configured. Extension-hosted providers appear in the model picker. Run /reload while idle to fail-atomically reload extension sidecars and the runtime generation without restarting Serve. Use --model, --max-steps, or --resume for one-off launches; otherwise serve uses the user-global default_model.

If the selected Provider has no saved API key, a loopback-bound Serve still starts and shows a Provider setup page instead of failing before the browser can connect. After authentication, enter the key there; Reasonix writes it to this host's global credential file with restricted permissions, rebuilds the active controller in the same process, and opens the normal UI. The credential-writing endpoint is disabled for non-loopback listeners. For a remote SSH window, "this host" means the remote host reached through the SSH tunnel; the key is not copied from the desktop machine.

Editor integrations over ACP

reasonix acp exposes Reasonix as an ACP v1 stdio agent for editors and other host clients. The dedicated ACP editor integration guide covers startup, capability negotiation, session lifecycle, independent model/work/ collaboration/approval controls, client filesystem and terminal capabilities, MCP servers, permission requests, and the Reasonix mid-turn steering extension.

Using Reasonix from DeepSeek Harness

DeepSeek Harness (dsh) can delegate a task to Reasonix as a subagent over ACP, with configuration only. Using Reasonix from DeepSeek Harness covers the install through DSH's plugin market or by hand, switching the plugin on, the permission policy and the limits.

Remote SSH

The remote module runs Reasonix on a remote host and reaches it over your own SSH connection — VS Code Remote-SSH style. It bootstraps a persistent headless reasonix serve on the remote host, forwards a local loopback port to it, and opens the existing serve web client through that tunnel. The agent, its tools, and its files all live on the remote host at full fidelity; nothing runs through a lossy file proxy.

Linux, macOS and Windows remote hosts are supported. A Windows host needs PowerShell and OpenSSH, whichever login shell (cmd, PowerShell or Git Bash) its DefaultShell names.

Hosts live in a user-global [remote] section of config.toml. Like [secrets], a project reasonix.toml cannot inject or override remote hosts — a cloned repo can never steer where Reasonix opens SSH connections. Credentials follow the provider idiom: the host names an env var (passphrase_env, password_env) whose value lives in Reasonix's global .env; key material itself is never stored — identity_file is a path.

Studio uses that host's explicit workspace as the default for host-level reads and opens that omit a workspace.

Only when it is unset does the first nonempty workspaces entry supply the default; with neither set, the attach receives an empty workspace. An explicit open path takes precedence.

Reordering other entries cannot override a declared workspace. These values come only from the user's host configuration, and disabled hosts are refused before any link reuse.

The active SSH project's secondary line shows its actual connection directory, including isolated worktrees. Its project menu shows the default connection directory used by Refresh; these can differ. Settings' default action explicitly chooses a new default.

A host-level read never borrows an unrelated pane's path.

[remote]
[[remote.hosts]]
name          = "gpu-box"
host          = "203.0.113.7"
user          = "dev"
identity_file = "~/.ssh/id_ed25519"
workspace     = "~/projects/app"
serve_install = "auto"            # Remote CLI: auto | npm | upload | never
provider      = "local"           # Model credentials: local (this machine, over the tunnel) | remote (that host's own)

[[remote.hosts.forwards]]
type   = "local"                  # local (-L) | remote (-R)
bind   = "127.0.0.1:5432"
target = "127.0.0.1:5432"

A WSL distribution on a Windows machine is a host with kind = "wsl" and a distro (see reasonix remote wsl list):

• It has no address, so it takes only the folder and install fields. host, port, user, keys, passwords, proxy_jump, use_ssh_config and forwards are rejected on it.
• Add one under Settings, Remote: the "WSL distribution" choice appears only on a machine that has WSL, and lists its distributions (WSL 1 ones are shown disabled). Studio then opens it like any other machine in the list.
• Connecting needs WSL 2 and a distribution that has ps and nohup; a minimal image without them is refused with the missing name.
• The kernel runs inside a shell session Studio keeps open, because WSL ends everything a session started when it ends.
  • When Studio closes its link, the kernel goes away with the distribution (WSL stops an idle one after about 15 seconds).
  • Conversations are kept on disk and resume on the next connect.
  • Nothing keeps a distribution running behind your back.
• Model credentials come from the distribution's own configuration (provider = "remote"): under WSL's default networking the distribution cannot reach this machine's loopback, so this machine's provider is not shared.
• A folder chosen as a Windows path (C:\work\app or \\wsl.localhost\<distro>\home\me\app) is translated by the distribution; a folder it cannot see is refused.
• From the command line, reasonix remote wsl add <name> <distribution> adds one, and remote test and remote connect then work as they do for an SSH host.
  • connect keeps the session open until you press Ctrl-C, and the kernel stops with it.
  • status, forward, serve and fs stay SSH-only and refuse a WSL machine with remote: host is not reached over ssh.

For an agent's own shell commands, only list, help and wsl list|test run:

• Every other reasonix remote subcommand refuses there (exit 77), because it changes the machine book or opens a link, which a person does.
• The host marks the commands it runs for the agent to tell them apart. It guards against an agent that does not hide; it is not the sandbox.

CLI:

reasonix remote add gpu-box dev@203.0.113.7 --workspace '~/projects/app'
reasonix remote import --all              # import aliases; ssh -G resolves Include/Match rules when connecting
reasonix remote test gpu-box              # dial + auth + host-key confirmation
reasonix remote connect gpu-box --open    # bootstrap serve, tunnel, open the URL
reasonix remote serve status gpu-box
reasonix remote fs ls gpu-box:'~/projects/app'

Hosts with use_ssh_config enabled resolve the final effective configuration through the local OpenSSH ssh -G, including Include, wildcard Host, Match (including Match exec), repeated IdentityFile, ProxyJump, and IdentitiesOnly. Import stores the original alias instead of a stale snapshot.

connect is a foreground supervisor (like ssh -N plus the serve bootstrap): it keeps the tunnel and configured forwards alive, auto-reconnects with exponential backoff if the link drops, and re-attaches forwards on reconnect. Ctrl-C disconnects the local side only — the remote serve keeps running, so the next connect reuses it. There is no background daemon in V1.

Host keys are verified against your OpenSSH ~/.ssh/known_hosts (read-only) plus a Reasonix-managed ~/.reasonix/remote/known_hosts. A first-seen key prompts for trust-on-first-use and is recorded in the managed file; a key that contradicts a recorded one is a hard error that names the offending line and is never auto-accepted.

Remote-side state lives under the remote host's ~/.reasonix/remote/: serve-<workspace-slug>.json (pid, bound loopback address, workspace), serve-<slug>.token (0600; the auth token, passed to serve via --token-file so it never appears in ps), serve-<slug>.broker (0600; the provider broker token, see below), and serve-<slug>.log.

Getting the kernel there

The remote runs a reasonix serve. The binary is a static Go build — no runtime, no Node, no glibc — so putting it there is a file transfer, not an install. serve_install = "auto" tries, in order:

1. The remote fetches its own release. Reasonix reads SHA256SUMS here and hands that host the archive URL and the digest; the host downloads over its own connection and keeps the archive only if it matches. Nothing but the command crosses the SSH link, and a machine in a datacenter pulls the ~21MB archive far faster than a laptop can push it.
2. Upload this machine's binary, when the platforms match.
3. Download here and push over SFTP, for a host with no route to the release.
4. npm, last. npm i -g reasonix installs the same static binary but needs Node ≥18 over there to do it; it stays because a network that mirrors npm while throttling GitHub is a real one.

Set serve_install to npm, upload or never to take exactly one route. reasonix remote test <name> reports which routes are open on a host before you connect, and names what closes each one that is not.

Model credentials

A remote session resolves its models on your machine by default. The connection carries a reverse (-R) forward back to a provider broker Reasonix runs on loopback here; the remote kernel calls that instead of a model endpoint, and the request is issued from this machine with this machine's key.

So a remote host needs no API key of its own and no egress to the model API — a locked-down build machine works. The key is never written to the remote disk: only a per-connection broker token is, and only as a 0600 file. The remote also never sees the endpoint, headers, or proxy settings behind a provider; it sees the same catalog you do and nothing else.

Set provider = "remote" on a host to leave it resolving providers from its own config instead, for a machine whose providers are deliberately not yours. reasonix remote serve start never uses a broker: that serve is meant to outlive the command that started it, and a broker published from a command that has exited is a port nobody holds.

Two costs are worth knowing. Model traffic now leaves through your own uplink rather than the remote's, which is a downgrade when the remote sits on a much fatter pipe. And the models available to a remote pane are the ones configured here, so a provider only that host had configured no longer appears unless you switch it to provider = "remote".

In the desktop app, manage hosts under Settings -> Remote SSH, then use the status-bar chip or the host row's Remote explorer button to browse and edit files over SFTP, manage port forwards, and start/open the remote workspace. Opening a workspace creates a separate native Reasonix window, similar to a VS Code Remote SSH window. The primary window owns the SSH tunnel; the remote window is an isolated, lightweight shell and does not restore or acquire local conversation sessions. The remote window uses this machine's providers through the broker described above, so opening a workspace on a host that has never held an API key just works. On a host set to provider = "remote" the old path applies: the window shows the authenticated setup page first, saves the key only in the remote Reasonix credential file, and activates the Provider without restarting the remote Serve process. A transient SSH outage keeps the remote window open; the desktop reconnects in the background, re-attaches its loopback forward, and reloads the window against the recovered Serve. An authentication or host-key failure is terminal and closes the unusable remote window instead.

Lifetime of the remote serve

• The reasonix serve process on the host is persistent. Quitting the desktop or losing the link does not terminate it, and the next connect attaches to it.
• A pane's session on that serve does not outlive the desktop. Each pane drives its own runtime there; closing the pane or quitting the desktop makes Studio call POST /runtimes/{id}/close on the remote serve before it takes the tunnel down.
• That close cancels a turn in flight and releases the session lease, so another window can open the session. Only the pane's runtime is closed: the serve process keeps running and the next connect can attach to it. Runtimes opened by other clients are left alone too, whichever way the serve was started.
• provider = "remote" decides only where model credentials come from. It does not detach a pane from the desktop.
• A serve already running for the workspace is attached to, never replaced, whether reasonix remote serve start, another window or a hand-started reasonix serve --port-file launched it. A later connect never deletes its port or pid files and never stops it.
• serve start uses no broker, so a host with provider = "local" cannot attach to it. That connect fails with an explanation and leaves the serve running. Set the host to provider = "remote" (it then needs its own credentials), or stop the serve with reasonix remote serve stop <host>.

Custom OpenAI-compatible providers

In the desktop app, open Settings -> Model -> Access -> Add model service -> Custom provider for proxies, aggregators, or self-hosted services that speak the OpenAI-compatible chat API or Anthropic-compatible Messages API.

For common providers, choose Add model service -> Recommended preset instead. New official DeepSeek entries use the Anthropic-compatible Messages endpoint by default and enable provider-side web_search; the same DEEPSEEK_API_KEY works for both protocols. On startup, Reasonix upgrades unmodified legacy deepseek-flash / deepseek-pro entries that still use the official endpoint and standard key/model settings. Customized official Chat Completions entries stay unchanged and show an Upgrade protocol action in Settings. Proxy endpoints, custom headers, model lists, and capability overrides are never migrated automatically. Existing separately named deepseek-anthropic entries remain compatible, but that redundant preset is no longer offered for new access. Reasonix can prefill editable custom-provider entries for Kimi CN, Kimi Global, Kimi Coding Plan, MiMo API, MiMo Anthropic, MiMo Token Plan CN/SGP/AMS and their Anthropic-compatible variants, MiniMax CN/Global API, MiniMax CN/Global Anthropic, GLM CN, Z.AI Global, GLM/Z.AI Coding Plan OpenAI-compatible and Anthropic-compatible endpoints, OpenCode Go, OpenCode Go Anthropic, OpenCode Go DeepSeek Anthropic, OpenCode Go DeepSeek Responses, OpenCode Zen Anthropic, Qwen/DashScope CN/Global, Qwen Coding Plan CN/Global OpenAI-compatible and Anthropic-compatible endpoints, StepFun OpenAI-compatible and Anthropic-compatible endpoints, NovitaAI, GMI Cloud, Vercel AI Gateway, HuggingFace Router, NVIDIA NIM, KiloCode, and Ollama Cloud. Plan names describe the access/payment route; they include CN/Global only when the provider exposes distinct regional endpoints. Kimi Coding Plan is therefore a dedicated plan endpoint, while Kimi direct API is split into CN and Global. The preset path usually needs only the provider API key: the key value is stored in Reasonix home .env, while config.toml stores the endpoint, model list, key environment-variable name, context window, vision model metadata, proxy bypass for China-only endpoints, MiniMax reasoning_split, GLM/MiniMax thinking heuristics, Anthropic-compatible Bearer auth where needed, Ollama Cloud max-effort support, and OpenCode Go per-model reasoning overrides. The dedicated OpenCode Go DeepSeek Anthropic and DeepSeek Responses presets expose the verified Flash routes and enable provider-side web_search by default; the Responses variant uses stateless context replay. The existing mixed OpenCode Go Anthropic preset remains scoped to Qwen and MiniMax so server tools are not sent to unverified models. DeepSeek Pro remains on the Chat Completions preset because live Anthropic and Responses requests currently fail in the OpenCode Go upstream conversion. The OpenCode Go preset includes its native kimi-k3 subscription route with image input, high/max reasoning effort, and a 1,048,576-token context window. Existing untouched OpenCode Go preset installs are upgraded automatically; edited model catalogs are preserved. The Kimi CN and Kimi Global direct-API presets also include kimi-k3 with image input, a 1,048,576-token context window, and the official low/high/max effort scale (default max). For the official K3 endpoints, Reasonix preserves complete assistant messages across turns, sends output limits as max_completion_tokens, and omits K3's fixed sampling parameters. Untouched legacy Kimi direct-API catalogs are upgraded automatically without changing the default model; custom catalogs and endpoints are preserved. After adding a preset, open its provider card if you need to change models, headers, endpoint, or compatibility settings.

Fill API address with the provider endpoint that should receive the standard chat path. In this mode Reasonix previews and sends chat requests to:

<API address>/chat/completions

Enable Full URL when the service gives you a complete request URL, for example https://gateway.example.com/v1/chat/completions. Reasonix then sends chat requests directly to that URL and does not append /chat/completions. The preview under the field shows the exact request URL that will be used.

Model discovery uses the API address to try likely model-list URLs such as /models and /v1/models. If the gateway requires a separate model-list endpoint, open Compatibility settings and set models_url, for example https://gateway.example.com/v1/models. If discovery is not available, fill the model list manually.

Full URL still uses the OpenAI-compatible chat request body. It does not switch the request schema to the OpenAI Responses API.

Compatibility settings

The Compatibility settings (usually leave unchanged) section is for gateways whose authentication, model-list endpoint, or reasoning/thinking request shape differs from the normal OpenAI-compatible defaults. Leave these fields at their defaults unless the provider documentation or a proxy error tells you otherwise. For Anthropic-compatible services, such as some coding-plan endpoints, choose Anthropic-compatible as the connection protocol before saving.

Field	What it controls	When to change it
api_key_env	The environment-variable name used for this provider's API key. Desktop-saved key values are stored in Reasonix home .env under this name; the TOML config stores only the name.	Change it when several providers need distinct keys, or leave it blank for a service that does not require an API key.
models_url	The URL used only for model discovery. Chat requests still use the API address or Full URL above.	Set it when /models or /v1/models is not where the gateway exposes its model list.
Extra request headers	Static HTTP headers, one Header: value per line.	Use for gateways such as OpenRouter that require HTTP-Referer, X-Title, or similar site headers. Keep bearer/API keys in the key field instead of duplicating them here.
Extra request body	A JSON object merged into the top-level chat request body.	Use only for provider-specific flags such as {"enable_thinking": true}. Reasonix still owns core fields such as model, messages, tools, stream, and thinking, and null values are rejected.
Authorization: Bearer	For Anthropic-compatible providers, sends the saved API key as Authorization: Bearer <key> instead of x-api-key.	Enable it only when the gateway documents Bearer auth, such as MiniMax Global or Vercel AI Gateway.
Model capability mode	Which reasoning request protocol Reasonix should use for this provider.	Keep Auto-detect unless the gateway is misdetected or the model docs require a specific reasoning format.
Thinking override	Provider-specific override for thinking.type.	Keep Auto unless the backend documents enabled, disabled, or adaptive. Unsupported values can make some OpenAI-compatible gateways reject the request.
Balance URL	Optional endpoint for wallet/balance lookup.	Set it when the provider exposes a balance endpoint and you want the desktop status bar to show it. The key is sent only to this address and never follows a redirect.
Balance format	How that endpoint answers: deepseek, moonshot or openrouter (balance_format).	A vendor's own domain (api.deepseek.com, api.moonshot.cn/.ai, openrouter.ai) is read in that vendor's format with nothing set. Any other address, a relay for example, must name the format, or it is shown as not configured and the endpoint is not asked. Existing entries on such addresses are written as deepseek once, which is how they were always read. Reasonix 1.x rewrites the shared config file without keys it does not know, so a format it dropped is put back at the next start from provider-keys.json beside the config, unless you removed it in the connection editor.
Context window	The provider-wide token budget Reasonix uses for automatic context cleanup. 0 disables automatic compaction.	Set it to the provider's model context limit; use a per-model override below when selected models differ.

Each selected model also has an optional Context window input. Leave it blank to inherit the provider-wide value, or enter a positive token count to override that value for this model. This avoids premature compaction for long-context models and provider errors for shorter-context models sharing the same endpoint. Use the context-window limit from the model documentation, not the maximum output tokens. For example, 128K commonly means 128000; if the provider documents 131072, use that exact value. Values below 16384 show a non-blocking warning because they can trigger frequent compaction and reduce cache hit rates.

Model capability mode options:

Option	Effect
Auto-detect (recommended)	Reasonix chooses the request shape from model capability metadata and endpoint detection.
DeepSeek thinking	Uses DeepSeek-style thinking control, including thinking.type and DeepSeek-supported reasoning depth.
OpenAI reasoning	Uses the standard OpenAI-compatible reasoning_effort levels.
Plain chat	Sends no reasoning or thinking control fields. Use this for text-only proxies that reject reasoning parameters.

Thinking override options:

Option	Effect
Auto (provider default)	Does not write an explicit provider-level thinking override. Reasonix uses the provider/model default behavior.
Enabled	Sends thinking.type = "enabled" for compatible providers.
Disabled	Sends thinking.type = "disabled" for compatible providers. On DeepSeek-style providers this also avoids sending a reasoning depth hint.
Adaptive (self-adjusting)	Sends or preserves thinking.type = "adaptive" only for providers that document adaptive thinking, such as MiniMax-M3-style endpoints.

Some OpenAI-compatible gateways require non-standard top-level request body fields. Add them with extra_body on the provider entry:

[[providers]]
name        = "spark"
kind        = "openai"
base_url    = "https://maas-coding-api.cn-huabei-1.xf-yun.com/v2"
models      = ["xopglm52"]
api_key_env = "SPARK_API_KEY"
extra_body  = { enable_thinking = true }

extra_body is merged into the chat JSON request body. Reasonix keeps core fields such as model, messages, tools, stream, and thinking under its own control.

Hooks

Reasonix has hooks: shell commands that run at fixed points of the agent loop and can observe, inject context, or (on two events) veto what is about to happen. They are separate from permissions: [permissions] rules decide whether a tool call is allowed or prompted, a hook runs your own code.

Event	Fires	Can block
PreToolUse	before a tool call, after matching; toolName and toolArgs are in the payload	yes
PostToolUse	after a tool call (success or failure)	no
PostToolUseFailure	after a tool call returned an error	no
PermissionRequest	before an approval prompt is shown	no
UserPromptSubmit	before a user prompt starts a turn	yes
Stop / StopFailure	when a turn ends / fails	no
SessionStart / SessionEnd	when a session becomes active / is closed or rotated by /new	no
SubagentStart / SubagentStop	around a foreground task call	no
Notification	when the agent needs the user's attention	no
PreCompact	before compaction; stdout becomes extra summary guidance	no
PostLLMCall	after each model turn; non-empty stdout on exit 0 replaces the stored reasoning text	no

Hooks are configured in <Reasonix home>/settings.json (global) or <root>/.reasonix/settings.json (project). Each event maps to a list of hooks:

{
  "hooks": {
    "PreToolUse": [
      {
        "match": "bash",
        "command": "sh ~/.reasonix/hooks/no-git-push.sh",
        "description": "block git push",
        "timeout": 3000
      }
    ],
    "SessionStart": [
      { "command": "echo 'Team rule: run make lint before every commit.'" }
    ]
  }
}

Fields:

• command (required): run by the platform shell.
• match: tool events only; an anchored regex over the tool name, so file does not match read_file. Empty or * means every tool.
• description: the label shown in /hooks and in block notices.
• timeout: milliseconds; default 5000 for PreToolUse, PermissionRequest and UserPromptSubmit, 30000 otherwise.
• cwd and env: working directory and extra environment.

A malformed file loads no hooks and does not stop Reasonix.

Contract. The event payload arrives as one line of JSON on stdin (event, sessionId, cwd, and by event toolName, toolArgs, prompt, toolResult, error, ...). The exit code is the verdict:

• 0 passes. On SessionStart, stdout (plain text, or JSON with hookSpecificOutput.additionalContext) is injected once into the next real user turn, as described under Desktop hooks.
• 2 blocks, but only on PreToolUse and UserPromptSubmit. A blocked tool call is not run and the model receives blocked: <hook> hook (<scope>) stopped this call — <stderr, or stdout if empty> · command: ... · source: ..., so write the reason for the model to read.
• Any other code, or exit 2 on a non-blocking event, only warns the user.
• A timeout blocks on PreToolUse and UserPromptSubmit and warns elsewhere. A hook that cannot be spawned does not block, and neither does a script that crashes (exit 1, or 127 for a missing file): only an explicit exit 2 vetoes.

Example: refuse git push in bash. The payload's toolArgs for bash is the tool's argument object, so the command is toolArgs.command. Save as ~/.reasonix/hooks/no-git-push.sh (needs jq):

#!/bin/sh
cmd=$(jq -r '.toolArgs.command // empty')
case "$cmd" in
  *"git push"*)
    echo "git push is disabled in this setup; ask the user to push." >&2
    exit 2 ;;
esac
exit 0

Without a hook, the simpler tool is a permission rule, which needs no script and holds in every mode:

[permissions]
deny = ["Bash(git push*)"]

Prefer the rule when a command pattern is enough; use a hook when the decision needs code (inspect arguments, consult a file, log, or react to a prompt).

Scope.

• Global hooks (<Reasonix home>/settings.json) and hooks from installed plugin packages apply, except in the read-only observe posture, which loads no hooks at all.
• Project hooks (<root>/.reasonix/settings.json) run only after the user approves them as they stand (reasonix trust); until then they are held back and a notice says so. Editing the file or a workspace script it names withdraws the approval.
• reasonix review never runs project hooks, approved or not: the checkout is untrusted input, so only global and plugin hooks apply.
• Only tool hooks (PreToolUse, PostToolUse, PermissionRequest), PostLLMCall and PreCompact fire in every agent a session runs, subagents included (see the session_id table below).

Limits.

• A hook cannot force the model's wording: a block reaches the model as a refused call, and the model decides what to say or try next.
• There is no per-session scope: hooks come from the settings files and apply to every session that loads them.
• Native hooks cannot answer an approval prompt; only a PreToolUse block refuses a call.

Desktop hooks

Desktop hooks run local commands at lifecycle events such as SessionStart, UserPromptSubmit, PreToolUse, and PreCompact. A successful SessionStart hook may write plain text to stdout, or return JSON with hookSpecificOutput.additionalContext; Reasonix injects that text once into the next real user turn as <hook-context event="SessionStart">...</hook-context>. This is intended for plugin or workflow bootstrap context, including Superpowers-style startup instructions, without baking that workflow into Reasonix's system prompt.

Plugin packages can provide this startup context through hooks/session-start-codex or a plugin-root CLAUDE.md. Claude-style .claude/settings.json command hooks are also mapped to matching Reasonix hook events.

The injected hook context is dynamic current-turn context. It does not change the stable system prompt, memory prefix, or tool schema, though dynamic content can still reduce cache reuse for that turn.

Tool hooks (PreToolUse, PostToolUse, PermissionRequest), PostLLMCall and PreCompact fire in every agent a session runs. Each fires under a session_id derived from the parent session's id at the moment the hook runs:

Agent	Hook session_id
Executor	<session>
Planner	<session>:planner
Guardian	<session>:guardian
task, read_only_task, parallel_tasks, fleet, run_skill, read_only_skill children	<session>:subagent:<call>
reasonix review	a fresh id per run

/new or a branch switch moves every child to the new id along with the parent.

SubagentStart and SubagentStop:

• bracket a foreground task call only; read_only_task, parallel_tasks, fleet, skill children and background tasks fire neither;
• carry the call's id as callId, so a consumer can pair them;
• SubagentStop fires on every end: answer, failure, cancel or refusal;
• neither can block: exit 2 only warns.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcuts are documented by client because users usually look for the keys that work in the surface they are using. Desktop keeps its Plan toggle, while the CLI cycles Ask, Auto, and Plan with Shift+Tab. Desktop uses Cmd+Y on macOS or Ctrl+Y elsewhere for YOLO by default. If YOLO is rebound on Windows/Linux, Ctrl+Y becomes the standard composer redo fallback. Desktop paste stays on the platform paste key; in the CLI, terminal-native text paste and application-owned image paste use separate shortcuts.

[ui].shortcut_layout is still accepted for old configs, but the shortcut behavior below is unified across layouts.

For CLI/TUI text input, [ui].cursor_shape accepts underline, block, or bar. The default is bar: it remains easy to locate without covering double-width CJK characters in mixed-language input. Set it to block for a traditional terminal cursor or underline for a lower-profile cursor. This setting does not change desktop or web text fields.

Desktop GUI

Desktop shortcuts are managed from Settings → Shortcuts. Pick a configurable row, press a new key combination, and Reasonix saves it for the desktop app. Standard editing shortcuts such as Undo and Redo are shown as locked rows because the WebView's native text history uses those platform chords. Conflicting bindings are rejected so one shortcut never triggers two actions. Press ? or use the help button in the topic bar to open the shortcuts sheet; it is generated from the same shortcut registry, so it reflects any custom bindings.

Global shortcuts:

Key or control	What it does	Notes
Cmd+K on macOS, Ctrl+K on Windows/Linux	Toggles the command palette	The palette focuses search when it opens; Esc closes it.
Cmd+, on macOS, Ctrl+, on Windows/Linux	Opens Settings	Use Shortcuts in Settings to customize desktop bindings.
Cmd+W on macOS, Ctrl+W on Windows/Linux	Closes the active top tab	The last tab is kept by the normal close-tab guard.
Cmd+B / Ctrl+B	Shows or hides the left sidebar	Same action as clicking the sidebar toggle.
Cmd+Shift+B / Ctrl+Shift+B	Expands or collapses the most recent shell output	Same action as clicking the collapsed shell-output hint.
Cmd+1-Cmd+9 on macOS, Ctrl+1-Ctrl+9 elsewhere	Jumps to the matching visible chat in the sidebar	Hold Cmd/Ctrl briefly to reveal the numbered badges. Existing custom shortcuts that already use the same key take precedence.
Cmd++, Cmd+-, Cmd+0 on macOS; Ctrl++, Ctrl+-, Ctrl+0 elsewhere	Increases, decreases, or resets the interface size	Steps through the same sizes as Settings > Appearance > Size > Interface (80% to 180%) and saves the same setting. = is accepted for the plus key on keyboards that report it that way.
?	Opens the keyboard shortcuts sheet	The sheet shows the current effective desktop bindings.

Composer shortcuts:

Key or control	What it does	Notes
Enter	Sends the current message	IME composition confirmation is left alone.
Shift+Enter	Inserts a newline	The composer keeps focus.
Shift+Tab	Toggles Plan on/off	Plan changes the workflow instruction; built-in writers keep the active Ask/Auto/YOLO and Sandbox boundary, while MCP writer/destructive targets stay hard-blocked for the whole planning phase.
Cmd+Z on macOS, Ctrl+Z on Windows/Linux	Undoes the latest composer edit	Native typing stays in the WebView history; Reasonix-managed paste, cut, folded blocks, and structured tokens are restored as complete transactions.
Cmd+Shift+Z on macOS, Ctrl+Shift+Z on Windows/Linux	Redoes the latest composer edit	On Windows/Linux, Ctrl+Y is also accepted after the YOLO shortcut has been rebound.
Cmd+Y / Ctrl+Y (default)	Toggles YOLO on/off	Turning YOLO off restores the previous Ask/Auto base when known. The current binding is shown in Settings → Shortcuts.
Cmd+V on macOS, Ctrl+V on Windows/Linux	Pastes clipboard content	Clipboard images are attached. Studio references ordinary files by their native path when available, including files selected with Add attachment, pasted, or dropped. Sources without a native path stream into the workspace.
Plain Up / Down at the prompt boundary	Recalls older or newer submitted prompts	Modified arrows and native text navigation stay with the textarea.
Esc while a turn is running	Cancels the running turn	If the turn has not produced a response yet, the draft is restored.

Remembered projects have Move up / Move down in their project menu. Open it with the keyboard, navigate with arrows or Home/End, and use Escape to return to the trigger. Moving a project changes sidebar order without changing the launch project.

Studio remembers which local and remote projects you collapse in the sidebar, including Collapse all / Expand all, when you reopen it in the same browser or desktop profile. New projects start expanded. These display choices stay on this device; they do not change sessions or synchronize to another client.

Ordinary Reasonix-managed worktree chats appear under their original project, without a separate project row for each checkout.

Only isolated worktrees carry a neutral Isolated worktree label in the chat header and composer directory picker. Otherwise, the header has no directory badge and the picker shows just the branch name.

Hover for an explanation and the actual directory path. Worktrees separate code directories; ports, databases, and other runtime resources may still be shared.

Before sending, a selected worktree explains that creation starts when the message is sent. Worktree chats also carry a sidebar marker.

Reopening history uses that chat's working directory, while starting a chat from the project uses the original directory. Ordering, search, paging, pins and archives span the project.

When reading legacy history for the first time, the sidebar shows discovered conversations while summaries and turn counts are filled in the background. Conversations marked as reading their summary can already be opened.

Search indicates incomplete coverage instead of reporting a definitive empty result. Failed summaries can be retried without blocking other conversations. Summary caches live in the current version's directory; legacy history is not rewritten.

History search index rebuilds after an upgrade run in the background. Background reads yield when a conversation is opened or read, then continue after the foreground operation. Search results may remain incomplete until indexing finishes.

Removing the project closes its idle panes and retains every directory and transcript. Existing transcripts stay in place and group on restart without migration. Worktrees added separately outside Reasonix-managed storage remain independent projects.

With a paging-capable server, long conversations initially display the latest 200 messages. Scroll upward or choose Load earlier messages to read more.

In-conversation find reads earlier pages as needed and indicates incomplete coverage; clearing the query stops further prefetching. Rewind, compaction and session changes reload recent content.

Paging affects presentation only, not the full conversation used by the model.

The list holds up to 32 projects; adding another requires removing one first. serve-workspaces.json now stores an object with paths and launch. Older binaries read only arrays and cannot preserve this format: do not share the same state home with an older binary after reordering.

Menus and controls:

Key or control	What it does	Notes
Up / Down in slash, @, or past-chat menus	Moves the highlighted item	Past-chat search uses the same navigation keys.
Enter / Tab in those menus	Accepts the highlighted item	Directory-like entries can keep the menu open for the next level.
Esc in those menus	Closes the current menu or returns from past-chat search	Regular typing continues after the menu closes.
Ask / Auto / YOLO approval controls	Picks the tool approval posture directly	Clicking these controls is unchanged by keyboard shortcuts.
Tool approval card	Left / Right, Enter, 1-4, Esc	Move the highlighted action, confirm it, pick a numbered action, or deny. The default highlighted action is Allow once.
Plan approval card	Left / Right, Enter, 1-3, Esc	Move between Revise plan, Start execution, and Exit plan. The default highlighted action is Start execution.
Plan control	Toggles Plan on/off	Same mode as Shift+Tab.
Goal item in the collaboration menu	Starts, views, or clears Goal	Goal is not in any keyboard cycle.

Studio file attachments

Ordinary local files, including large APKs, use path references whenever the desktop shell can identify the file. Selecting one external file grants read access to that file, not its siblings; selecting a folder grants its descendants, but a symlink inside it does not grant access outside that folder.

Files without a native path use binary streaming into .reasonix/attachments. Streaming bounds memory use. Ordinary uploads have a default 1 GiB safety ceiling per request to protect disk space; native path references do not copy bytes.

Incomplete files are removed if the transfer fails or is canceled. Removing an uploading attachment cancels its transfer.

Entry point	Limit
Native ordinary-file references	No attachment size cap; the file stays where it is.
Ordinary-file binary upload	Default 1 GiB safety ceiling per request, adjustable in user config. Disk space and upstream limits still apply.
Image upload	10 MiB per image, checked before upload and by the kernel.
Legacy JSON/Base64 attachment endpoint	25 MiB general-file limit; retained for older clients.
Encrypted cloud relay	16 MiB per request body; oversized uploads stop at that budget. This is a relay limit, separate from native references and direct uploads.

In the user's config.toml, [attachments] max_stream_bytes = 1073741824 sets the ordinary upload ceiling in bytes.

• 0 removes that ceiling; negative values use the default. Project reasonix.toml cannot set this value.
• An upload one byte over the limit is refused and its partial file removed.
• The typed attachment.too_large response includes limit_bytes and limit_source (default or user).
• A malformed user config refuses the upload until repaired. The image and relay limits remain independent.

These limits govern attachment transport. A referenced file is read on demand; its full bytes do not become model input automatically.

CLI / TUI

The composer uses theme-coloured top and bottom borders and a slim bar cursor by default. Long drafts grow to the available maximum height; once they overflow, wheel events inside the composer scroll the draft without moving the insertion cursor, while wheel events in the transcript keep scrolling the conversation. Use /theme auto|light|dark to select the background mode, or /theme <style> to select one of the named accent palettes shown by bare /theme.

The responsive footer keeps the active Ask/Auto/Plan or YOLO posture and current interaction state on the left. On wider terminals, model, effort, and work mode stay together on the right; a second row shows available Git identity, cache hit rate, context use, compaction headroom, jobs, and balance. ready is the idle composer state, not a model-health check. Pickers, approvals, image paste, shell mode, and other active interactions replace it. Narrow terminals move, wrap, or compact whole groups; labels and displayed work-mode values follow /language, while /work-mode command arguments remain the stable English identifiers.

Chat and transcript shortcuts:

Key or command	What it does	Notes
Enter	Sends the current message	While a turn is running, non-empty input is durably queued as a follow-up before the composer clears. On an empty composer it jumps back to the newest output and keeps following it.
Ctrl+Enter, Ctrl+S, or /steer <text>	Adds guidance to the active turn	The guidance is persisted first; if the turn cannot accept it, it remains a normal follow-up. On an idle composer Ctrl+S sends the message as Enter does, and Ctrl+Enter does nothing.
Shift+Enter, Alt+Enter, or Ctrl+J	Inserts a newline	Plain Enter is reserved for send/confirm.
Plain Up / Down	Recalls older or newer submitted prompts	Only from the composer's first or last line, so multi-line editing keeps the arrows. While a turn runs (or the queue is paused) and messages are queued, Up selects the newest queued message into the composer instead; see the queue keys below.
Queue keys, with a message selected	Edit, reorder, delete or retry a queued message	Up / Down move the selection (past the newest puts your draft back); Alt+Up / Alt+Down move the message in the queue; Enter saves your edit in place; d twice deletes it (the first press only asks, and is not typed) and r runs a blocked one again (both only while the composer still holds the full message unedited and, in vi command mode, before the vi keys: once you edit, those letters are typed); Enter and the edit keys wait until the full message has been read, and a message that cannot be read, or that has already started, ends the selection and brings your draft back; Esc lets go. Space on an empty composer pauses or resumes the queue. Up to three queued messages are drawn under the working line; /queue (below) shows the rest.
PageUp / PageDown, also with Shift	Scrolls the transcript	Works regardless of the current chat state.
Ctrl+Home / Ctrl+End	Jumps to the top or bottom of the transcript	Useful after long tool output.
Ctrl+L or /cls	Clears only the visible transcript	The LLM context, session file, tools, memory, and plugins stay loaded. Use /clear when you want to discard the conversation context.
Esc	Backs out of the current action	It cancels a running turn; otherwise it clears non-empty input or leaves ! shell mode.
Double Esc on an empty idle composer	Opens the rewind picker	Same entry point as /rewind.
Transcript text selection	Copies transcript text	Releasing an in-app drag writes through the verified native clipboard path in a local session (pbcopy on macOS, the available Wayland/X11 tool on Linux, or the Windows clipboard). SSH falls back to OSC 52 and labels the fallback instead of claiming native success. Ctrl+C/Super+C/Meta+C/Ctrl+Insert or right-clicking the active selection copies it again.
Right-click with no active selection	Pastes clipboard text locally	In a local session with in-app mouse capture on, Reasonix reads text only and routes it through the normal bracketed-paste handling. Over SSH, use the terminal paste shortcut because the remote process cannot read the local clipboard; /mouse restores the terminal's native right-click menu. Right-click with an active selection still copies that selection.
/mouse	Toggles in-app mouse capture	Off hands the mouse back to your terminal, restoring its native click-drag selection and right-click context menu, at the cost of in-app drag-select, the transcript scrollbar, and wheel-scroll. Set REASONIX_DISABLE_MOUSE=1 to start every session with it off. Remote (SSH) sessions start with capture off so native selection works out of the box; REASONIX_DISABLE_MOUSE=0 forces capture on everywhere.
Ctrl+C	Copies, cancels, clears, or quits	Copies an active transcript selection first. Otherwise it cancels a running turn, clears non-empty input, or quits on a second empty-composer press. A second press while a cancelled turn is still stopping quits too.
Ctrl+D	Quits the TUI	Immediate quit on an empty idle composer.
Ctrl+Z	Suspends the TUI to the shell	macOS and Linux; resume it with fg. Windows has no job control, so the key does nothing there.
/quit or /exit	Quits the TUI	Runs at once, also while a turn is running. Typing a bare exit, quit or :q sends it to the model as a normal message.
Your terminal's text-paste shortcut	Pastes text	Text stays on the terminal's bracketed-paste path (Cmd+V on macOS, commonly Ctrl+Shift+V on Linux, and the terminal's configured shortcut elsewhere). Reasonix consumes the resulting paste event and never probes for an image first. For terminals that hand Shift+Insert to the app instead of pasting, that key reads the clipboard text in a local session and pastes it the same way; over SSH it says to use the terminal's paste shortcut.
Ctrl+G	Keeps folded pastes as files	A paste of 1,000 characters or 5 lines or more is folded into a [Pasted text #N · M lines] label and sent whole. Ctrl+G stores every folded paste still in the draft as a file under the workspace's attachments and relabels it [Pasted file #N · M lines]; the message then carries a pointer to the file instead of the text.
Ctrl+V on macOS/Linux; Alt+V on Windows	Pastes a clipboard image	Image paste is a separate application action. The footer shows Pasting image… while the clipboard is read, then inserts an editable [image #N] token at the cursor.
/paste-image	Pastes a clipboard image	Command form of the same image-only action.
A line starting with !	Runs a shell command directly	The command runs locally without asking the model.

/queue list shows bounded previews without loading full bodies. Use /queue show|edit|delete|move, /queue pause|resume, and /queue retry|refresh to inspect or manage pending work. After crash recovery the inbox is paused, so review it and run /queue resume before dispatch continues. Each item is limited to 4 MiB; a session accepts at most 64 items and 64 MiB total.

Mode and display shortcuts:

Key or command	What it does	Notes
Shift+Tab	Cycles Ask → Auto → Plan → Ask	YOLO remains outside this composer-mode cycle; the footer shows the active mode.
Ctrl+Y	Toggles YOLO on/off	Turning YOLO off restores the previous Ask/Auto base when known. Terminals that forward Command/Super may also send Cmd+Y, but Ctrl+Y is the reliable terminal shortcut.
--yolo, --dangerously-skip-permissions	Starts chat in YOLO	Same runtime mode as Ctrl+Y.
[ui].commandmode = "vi"	Opts the composer into a vi command mode	User/global only; a project reasonix.toml cannot set it, so a cloned repo never rebinds the user's keys. Esc enters command mode, a running turn or not; only Ctrl+C interrupts. Ctrl+C with a non-empty prompt clears it and leaves shell mode, in vi mode and out; in vi mode it first saves the trimmed draft to the prompt history, so Up recalls it. Unset or "" keeps the default, where Esc stops a running turn. The footer names the current input mode, NORMAL in command mode and INSERT otherwise.
auto_submit = true	Commits a multi-question ask once its last question is answered	Top-level config; user/global only, so a project reasonix.toml cannot set it; default false. The ask card drops its Submit tab: answering a question moves on to the next unanswered one, answering the last with nothing left unanswered commits the batch at once, and a skipped question pulls the panel back to it. Unset keeps the Submit tab and its explicit Enter.
`/preset [balanced	delivery]`	Shows or switches the current session's execution setting (执行设定)
`/theme [auto	light	dark
Ctrl+O	Toggles verbose reasoning display	Also available through /verbose.
Ctrl+B	Expands or collapses long shell output	Long shell-output hint lines can also be clicked in the transcript; text selection is handled in-app while the full-screen TUI has mouse reporting enabled.
/goal <objective>, /goal status, /goal pause, /goal resume, /goal clear	Starts, checks, pauses, resumes, or clears Goal	A Goal is unbounded unless [agent].goal_token_budget is set.
/migrate, /migrate --from <legacy-dir>	Retries legacy migration or imports sessions from a chosen v0.x source	Use --from for custom Windows v0.52 install/data directories; it imports sessions only. See Configuration paths.

Picker and approval shortcuts:

Context	Keys	What they do
Slash or @ completion	Up / Down, Ctrl+P / Ctrl+N, Tab / Enter, Esc	Move, accept, or close the completion menu. While a turn is running, Esc also stops it, except in vi mode.
Tool approval prompt	Up/Down or j/k/Tab, Enter, y, a, p, n, number keys, Esc, Ctrl+C	Move, answer the highlighted row (the cursor starts on allow once), allow once, allow for this session, always allow, deny, pick a row by its position, deny, or cancel the turn. a and p are offered only when the call can be allowed that way, so the numbers follow the rows shown. In vi mode Esc does not answer; a row key or Ctrl+C does.
Plan approval prompt	Up/Down or j/k/Tab, Enter, y, n, x, number keys, Esc	Move, answer the highlighted row, start executing the plan, revise it, leave plan mode, or pick a row by its position. Esc asks for a revision, except in vi mode.
Ask question card	Up/Down or j/k, Left/Right or h/l, Space, Enter, 1-9, Esc, Ctrl+C	Navigate answers/tabs, toggle multi-select answers, submit/activate, pick numbered options, dismiss, or cancel the turn.
Rewind picker	Up/Down or j/k, Enter, b, c, d, s, u, y, Esc	Choose a turn, apply both/conversation/code/summarize actions, confirm with Enter or y a file restore the checkpoint covers only partly, or go back/close.
Model, provider, or resume picker	Up/Down or Ctrl+P/Ctrl+N; j/k while search is empty; type to filter; Enter; Esc	Search, select an item, or close the picker. Once search input starts, j/k become query text. /provider opens that provider's model list. In the resume picker Ctrl+D twice deletes the highlighted saved session: the first press only asks, and any other key takes it back.
/mcp panel	Up/Down or j/k, Enter/Right/l, Esc/Ctrl+C/Left/h, q, Space, n, d, a, u, r	Move; show a server's tools; go back from them or close; close; enable or disable a server (enabling one the repository declares asks y first); add a server; remove one (asks y first); sign in to a server that answered 401; grant the extra access a server asks for; reconnect a failed server. To add, type its command, URL or config and press Enter, then on the review install it with y (user), l (local) or p (project), or leave with n/Esc; keys are ignored for a moment after the review opens, and a server too long to show whole cannot be installed from it.
/clear confirmation	Arrow keys or j/k / Tab, Enter, y, n, Esc / Ctrl+C	Toggle Clear/Cancel, confirm clear, or cancel.

Mode meanings:

Mode	Meaning
Ask	Prompts for fallback writer approvals.
Auto	Auto-allows fallback approvals; explicit ask / deny rules still apply.
YOLO	Skips ordinary tool approval prompts; deny, user ask questions, and plan approval prompts still wait.
Plan	Directs the model to plan first — a plan-first workflow, not an all-tools read-only mode. Built-in writers still follow the active Ask/Auto/YOLO rules and Sandbox; installed MCP writers, destructive targets, and readers from unauthorized servers are hard-blocked for the whole planning phase (approval cannot release them; they return once Plan exits), and explicit phase-only tools such as complete_step wait until approval.
Goal	Pursues a saved objective until complete, blocked, or cleared.

Permissions & sandbox

Permissions gate each tool call: deny > ask > allow > fallback. Bash and file mutation tools require approval by default; read-only tools generally do not. Approvals are stored and matched as permission rules, not button labels: for example Bash(npm run build), Bash(npm run test:*), and Edit(docs/**). reasonix can grant Bash as an exact command or as a conservative command prefix (for example Bash(go test:*)), while file-editing tools share session edit grants and persist path-scoped rules such as Edit(src/app.go). Parameter/arithmetic expansions, assignments, heredocs, file redirects, and globs cannot reuse a bare Bash, prefix, or glob allow; a user-approved reusable choice saves the whole command as Bash=<literal>. They still follow normal fallback, so Auto executes them without an extra prompt. Command/process substitution, a dynamic command name, eval, source, shell -c, inline runtime code, and unparseable forms require a human in interactive Ask/Auto. Headless Ask/Auto/DontAsk reject that nested/indirect class unless an exact literal exists; YOLO may bypass it. Advanced users can set [permissions] allow_dynamic_bash = true to let an Allow fallback, including Auto, cover that class; explicit ask and deny rules still take precedence. Because a headless run has no approval UI, the default Ask posture also fails closed on ordinary writer fallback and explicit ask rules. Use reasonix run --auto ..., -y, or --permission-mode auto when unattended automation should allow ordinary writer fallback; configured ask and deny rules always remain authoritative.

Text from outside is a separate question. [permissions] ask_on_external_origin = true (user file only, off by default) makes Auto and YOLO ask first when:

• the call is not a read;
• one of its string arguments, at least 12 bytes, is copied byte for byte from a web page, MCP tool result or other external result the task read;
• you did not write that string yourself.

The question is fresh. Auto, YOLO and a remembered answer do not settle it. With nobody to ask, such as a headless YOLO run, the call is refused with the origin named instead of being executed.

Not asked about: a call your own allow rule covers, an installed MCP server, and any call that is not a verbatim copy (re-encoded, paraphrased, built by a script the model wrote first). A resumed session starts with nothing recorded.

Ask is not read-only: after approval, a writer can still run. Permissions decide whether to allow or prompt; the Sandbox is the enforced capability boundary. The sandbox remains a second boundary after authorization; confinement cannot make ambiguous command parsing safe to authorize automatically.

Permissions are policy (which calls to allow / prompt). The sandbox is enforcement: the file-writers (write_file / edit_file / multi_edit / move_file) refuse any path outside [sandbox] workspace_root (default: the current dir, so edits stay in the project), resolving symlinks and .. so a link can't tunnel out. forbid_read optionally hides sensitive files or directories from the agent's read/list/search tools; use absolute paths or ${HOME} / ${VAR} references, not ~, because config expansion is environment-variable based. bash is itself jailed by default when an OS sandbox is available ([sandbox] bash, Seatbelt on macOS and bubblewrap on Linux): commands may write only those same roots plus platform-specific command temp/cache roots, cannot read configured forbid_read roots while the OS sandbox is active, and reach the network only when [sandbox] network is set. Reasonix always removes saved provider and bot credential variables from tool subprocess environments and automatically adds its global credential .env to the runtime read-deny boundary. Project .env files keep their existing workspace-scoped behavior.

Device nodes (Linux). The bubblewrap sandbox shows a private /dev, so host devices such as the GPU are not there. [sandbox] allow_devices binds some in:

• It lists globs under /dev (for example /dev/nvidia*, /dev/dri/*).
• Only existing character or block device nodes qualify; symlinks, directories and files are skipped, and at most 64 are bound.
• It is empty by default.
• It is read from your user config only. A project's reasonix.toml cannot set it, because a device is a host capability, not a workspace file.

Git metadata is host-protected. Inside the bash sandbox, the Git configuration and hooks of the workspace repository stay read-only, because the host's own git reads them.

The repository is the one git itself discovers from each writable root. A .git file is followed to the gitdir it names the way git resolves it, relative to the file with symlinks followed, so the protection lands on what git will read. Protected:

• .git itself, the gitdir, the common dir and every symlink on the way to them: none can be removed, renamed or replaced by a symlink.
• config, config.worktree, commondir and hooks/ of the gitdir and of the common dir.
• config, config.worktree and commondir of each existing worktrees/* entry, and config and config.worktree of entries created later.
• config, config.worktree, commondir and hooks/ of each submodule gitdir under modules/, existing or created later.

Everything else under .git (objects, refs, index, logs, lock files) stays writable, so add, commit, branch, checkout, merge, rebase, stash, tag and worktree creation keep working. These operations change:

Operation	In the sandbox
git config without --global, git remote add / set-url, git branch -m, git submodule init, git submodule update --init, git sparse-checkout init, git maintenance register, git init in an existing repository	Fails
Installing a hook into .git/hooks	Fails
git worktree remove / prune of a linked worktree that existed before the command	Fails; one added in the same command can be removed
Cloning a new submodule (git submodule add, git submodule update for one not yet cloned)	Fails on macOS; on Linux the clone lands but its config entry does not
git branch --set-upstream-to, git checkout --track, git push -u	Reports the refused write but exits 0; no upstream is recorded

To add or initialise submodules, run it outside the sandbox, in a terminal; updating submodules that are already cloned works inside it.

When a command's output names one of these paths, the bash result says so with sandbox.git_metadata_protected, also when git exited 0.

A protected file that already has another hard link refuses every confined command with sandbox.git_metadata_linked, because a write through the other name would reach it; the user removes that link outside the sandbox.

Limits:

• On Linux, bubblewrap can only mount over paths that exist and cannot pin a symlink. Creating an absent commondir, config.worktree or hooks directory, or swapping a symlink on the gitdir: path, is not stopped there.
• Closing that on Linux is the host's side: its own git has to pin its git and common directories instead of rediscovering them.
• Existing worktree and submodule gitdirs get exact rules, up to 128 each on macOS and 512 on Linux.
• On macOS, patterns cover the rest and gitdirs created later. They skip refs/ and logs/, so a branch or tag named config or hooks stays writable, but a new submodule named hooks is protected whole.
• On macOS with more than 128 worktrees, git worktree add fails; past 128 submodules each command starts about 0.1 s slower.
• On Linux, past 512 gitdirs the whole worktrees/ or modules/ directory is mounted read-only, and a command can cause that by planting HEAD files. A command can likewise plant a submodule gitdir with a hard-linked config, after which every confined command is refused until the user removes it.
• A repository created by a sandboxed command is protected from the next command on.
• A .git made unrecognisable to git (for example a corrupted HEAD) sends git's discovery further up.
• A repository nested in the workspace that is not a submodule gitdir under modules/ is not protected, including one a command creates and records as a gitlink.
• The host can run such a repository's configuration through its gitlink unless the host's own git excludes it.
• Hooks that core.hooksPath points outside .git, and files include.path names, are ordinary workspace files.
• Windows has no Bash sandbox, so none of this is enforced there.

Session-private temporary directory. Within one logical chat session, Bash commands share a private temporary directory so consecutive calls can exchange files through $TMPDIR (and, on Linux under bubblewrap, through literal /tmp). No user setup is required: Reasonix automatically exports TMPDIR, TMP, and TEMP for Bash and client-owned ACP terminals. The directory is created lazily, is never the host public temporary root, and is rotated on /new, /clear, resume of another session, and branch switches. Model/settings hot rebuilds keep the same directory. Temporary files are not durable storage: resume across process restarts does not restore them, and scripts that need long-lived data should write into the workspace or a user-specified path.

Reasonix-generated and project scripts should use the standard temporary environment variables rather than hard-coding /tmp; users should not set these variables themselves. For example:

tmp_file="${TMPDIR:?}/result.json"

$tmpFile = Join-Path $env:TEMP "result.json"

Platform	$TMPDIR / $TMP / $TEMP	Literal /tmp
Linux + bubblewrap	Virtual /tmp (bound to the private dir)	Shared for the session (not a fresh empty tmpfs each call)
macOS Seatbelt	Host path of the private dir (allowed by policy)	Host macOS temporary directory; scripts should use $TMPDIR
Windows (no OS Bash sandbox)	Host path of the private dir	Not promised to match (e.g. Git Bash /tmp)

Independent sandboxes such as MCP servers keep their own isolation and do not inherit the chat session's temporary directory. An approved sandbox-escape command still receives the private temp environment variables, but on Linux its literal /tmp is no longer mapped by bubblewrap.

Windows note: the OS-level Bash sandbox on Windows is off unless the user turns on [sandbox] windows_integrity = true (see "On Windows" below). While it is off the effective mode is off; even an older config containing bash = "enforce" resolves to off, reasonix doctor flags the ignored value, and the desktop selector is read-only. Bash commands then run unconfined, while the dedicated file tools still enforce workspace_root, allow_write, and forbid_read in process. Saved credential variables are still removed from the child environment, but an approved unconfined shell runs as the user and is not a security boundary for other user-readable files.

When no OS sandbox backend is available, bash = "enforce" refuses bash execution instead of running unconfined. Install the platform sandbox backend (bubblewrap/bwrap on Linux, sandbox-exec on macOS) or set [sandbox] bash = "off" to explicitly restore the pre-1.16 unconfined shell behavior.

On Windows the sandbox is off unless you turn on [sandbox] windows_integrity = true (Settings > Sandbox; user file only).

On Windows

With windows_integrity on, a bash command runs under a write-restricted token.

• The first session grants a synthetic Windows identity write access on the workspace, your allow_write folders and the data caches of your toolchains.
• The caches are Go build and module, npm, pip, cargo registry and NuGet packages. A folder that holds programs you run (~/go/bin, .cargo/bin) is never granted.
• The grant is a permission entry on those folders, recorded in the Reasonix state folder. It gives nobody else access and is inert if the sandbox is turned off.
• reasonix sandbox list shows what is granted; reasonix sandbox revoke takes it back.

What it bounds, measured on Windows 11 and for every child process:

• Creating, appending to and overwriting files outside the granted folders.
• mkdir, registry writes under your user (HKCU), and global git configuration.
• Writes through a junction or symbolic link that points out of a granted folder.
• Backup-semantics writes (robocopy /B): the token carries no privileges.
• Creating a scheduled task, creating a service and writing HKLM from the command were refused when measured.

What it does not bound:

• Deleting or renaming away an existing file outside the granted folders. Windows does not apply the restriction to those two. The delete guard and the approval layer remain the control for deletes.
• Reading files, and the network.
• Host authorities: the Windows named pipes of ssh-agent and docker, and COM and RPC services such as the task scheduler, are reachable.
• Writes anywhere that Everyone or your logon session can already write: both are in the restricting set, so a folder open to them is open to the command.
• The toolchain caches that are granted are writable by the command, so a poisoned cache can reach your later unsandboxed builds. macOS and Linux have the same exposure for their caches.

Other facts:

• The command runs with every privilege except the traverse check removed, and in a job that cannot reach the other windows, clipboard or display settings of your session.
• Only the three standard handles cross into the command.
• A command cannot start its own launcher: the launcher refuses to run under a restricted token, and grants only session temp folders the host made.
• It needs an interactive desktop session. In an SSH or service session enforce refuses to run commands (sandbox.win_no_logon_sid) instead of running them unconfined.
• Not measured: standard (non-admin) accounts, other Windows versions, ReFS and network drives. Linux and macOS are unchanged and bound every kind of write.

In a dev container or Docker

Bubblewrap has to create user and mount namespaces (and a network namespace for a closed network), which a default container blocks. Measured on Docker Desktop (Linux VM, Debian 12, bubblewrap 0.8.0), by launching a confined command under enforce in each configuration:

Container configuration	Sandbox	Reported cause
bubblewrap not installed	unavailable	sandbox.no_bubblewrap
default docker run; seccomp unconfined only; SYS_ADMIN only; seccomp and AppArmor unconfined without SYS_ADMIN	unavailable	sandbox.bwrap_namespace_denied
SYS_ADMIN with seccomp and AppArmor unconfined	works with the network open; a closed network is unavailable	sandbox.bwrap_network_denied for the closed network
the above plus NET_ADMIN, or --privileged	works, network open or closed	none

• Both CAP_SYS_ADMIN and an unconfined seccomp profile are needed; either alone is not enough.
• Reasonix does not look for a container. The message comes from what bubblewrap could and could not do, so a container granted those privileges gets its sandbox, and one that is not is told which privilege is missing.
• Granting them widens the container itself. The other choice is [sandbox] bash = "off"; the container is then the only boundary, and what you mount writable (a credentials file in a bind-mounted workspace included) is writable by every command.
• Only the Linux sandbox was measured. A Dev Containers or Codespaces session, rootless Docker and SELinux hosts were not run.

For coding-quality reports, run reasonix doctor quality <branch-id-or-path> (add --json for structured output). This reads the selected session but emits only content-free counts and profile categories: model family, runtime profile, collaboration / approval modes, message and tool-call counts, verification and persisted compaction-summary counts, plus desktop token/cache telemetry when available. It omits transcript text, paths, session identifiers, tool arguments and output, endpoints, and custom model names, so the result is suitable for a public issue or Discussion. This differs from reasonix doctor session, whose support zip contains the complete unredacted transcript and must remain in a trusted support channel.

Capability diagnostics

Use this when a skill, slash command, hook, plugin package, MCP server, or AGENTS.md is missing, shadowed, disabled, or fails to start. Full flag reference, JSON schema, and issue codes: Capability diagnostics.

# Static (default): no network, no MCP child processes
reasonix doctor capabilities

# Machine-readable (stdout is pure JSON)
reasonix doctor capabilities --json

# Another workspace root
reasonix doctor capabilities --root /path/to/project

# Live MCP probe — only when you explicitly allow starting third-party servers
reasonix doctor capabilities --live --timeout 5s

Surface	How
CLI	reasonix doctor capabilities (above)
Desktop	Settings → Diagnostics — refresh, copy redacted JSON, optional “include current session runtime” (reads the active tab Host only; does not start MCP)
Agent	/reasonix-guide (built-in inline skill) or ask naturally; it prefers static doctor JSON before --live

Exit code 0 allows warnings/info; 1 means at least one error (or a live start failure); 2 is bad flags. This is separate from reasonix doctor (providers/sandbox) and reasonix plugin doctor <name> (one package).

Plugins (MCP)

When a cached resource capability is available before its server connects, read_mcp_resource waits within the normal startup budget. Cancelling that read does not cancel the session's background connection attempt.

Reasonix is an MCP client. A [[plugins]] entry's type selects the transport: stdio (default) launches a local subprocess (command/args/env); http (Streamable HTTP) connects to a remote url with optional static headers (${VAR} / ${VAR:-default} expanded from the environment, so tokens stay out of the file); sse connects to servers that still use the legacy persistent GET + announced POST endpoint transport.

${REASONIX_WORKSPACE_ROOT} (or ${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}) expands to the current workspace's absolute path, so one global entry can name the project:

headers = { IJ_MCP_SERVER_PROJECT_PATH = "${REASONIX_WORKSPACE_ROOT}" }

For a remote HTTP server without a static Authorization header, an authentication challenge (HTTP 401 with a Bearer challenge) is reported as needing sign-in. Run reasonix mcp auth <name> in the CLI. Reasonix performs OAuth metadata discovery, dynamic client registration, PKCE S256 authorization, and refresh-token rotation. Discovery and token requests use the same Reasonix network-proxy settings as the MCP connection.

Before a browser opens, Reasonix names the authorization host the server chose and asks. "Always" is remembered for that server and host only, beside its OAuth state, and cleared with it.

When a signed-in server refuses a call (HTTP 403, insufficient_scope) because the access you granted is too narrow:

• The model is told to stop and say so, and you get a notice.
• Only you can grant more: click Grant more access on the server's row, or run reasonix mcp auth <name> --upgrade.
• The scope names are the server's own words, shown as written.
• You are asked every time, in every approval mode, and the answer is never remembered.
• A server that keeps asking after being granted is refused for good.

Tools whose definitions change after you approved them are held back until you accept them (reasonix mcp trust <name>). To take one server's changes without being asked, run it with --follow (--unfollow undoes it); each change is still announced.

OAuth client and token state is kept outside the workspace in the server's private Reasonix state directory, written with mode 0600, and bound to the full configured resource URL. An explicit static Authorization header always takes precedence. Clear authentication removes only Reasonix's local OAuth state; it does not sign out the third-party browser session. Reasonix opens the browser only after an explicit sign-in action, never automatically from a background tool-call failure. Removing the MCP server also removes its local OAuth state unless a lower-priority declaration for the same resource becomes effective.

Browse the official MCP Registry from Settings → MCP servers → Browse registry, or use reasonix mcp browse [query] and reasonix mcp install <registry-name>. Registry access is explicit and never runs during startup. Entries that need secrets or required arguments are shown as manual setup instead of being installed with an incomplete configuration; query-specific cached results remain available during a registry outage.

The normal setup path is intentionally one step. Use Desktop's Add and connect, n in the terminal /mcp panel, or ask Reasonix to install a package or URL. These explicit installs are saved to the user-global config.toml (p in the panel: reasonix.toml) and are also authorization: the server connects in the current session, and no second trust step appears now or on the next startup. Servers declared by the current project's reasonix.toml or .mcp.json remain in that project and are trusted without a separate launch confirmation. Explicit deny rules still win. The server's calls run directly, including tools that declare destructiveHint. The dedicated Planner still refuses destructive tools, and strict read-only sub-agents still expose only hinted non-destructive readers.

MCP names are resolved once per workspace. Project declarations override same-name global installs; inside a project, reasonix.toml overrides .mcp.json. Editing updates the effective declaration in its original file, and removing a higher-priority declaration reveals the next one instead of deleting every same-name entry.

stdio servers keep one process for initialize, reads, and writes, so stateful servers such as browsers retain sessions and open pages. Because an OS sandbox is fixed when a process starts, this shared process uses the server's normal process sandbox for every call; readOnlyHint and read-only sub-agent filtering are dispatch policy, not a second per-call process sandbox.

Tools surface to the model as mcp__<server>__<tool>. A tool declaring MCP's readOnlyHint: true joins parallel dispatch and the strict read-only tool surfaces. Installing a server or declaring it in project configuration authorizes the dedicated Planner to use all of its non-destructive tools without another per-tool setting; strict read-only research sub-agents receive only hinted non-destructive readers. Tools without the hint remain write-capable for scheduling and mutation accounting. While planning, built-in writers keep the ordinary permission posture. The dedicated Planner permits authorized non-destructive MCP (including opaque writers) but hard-blocks destructive or unauthorized targets; a single-model Plan without that dedicated Planner keeps the older writer/destructive block until Plan exits.

Installing an MCP server is the authorization decision. After installation, all of its tools run directly without a second server-level, per-tool, writer, or destructive approval setting. Explicit global deny rules still win. The host keeps readOnlyHint and destructiveHint internally for parallel scheduling, Plan restrictions, strict read-only sub-agents, and cached-to-live safety reclassification; these hints do not add user configuration. Reasonix deliberately trusts an installed server to describe those hints honestly. Planner/read-only filtering is therefore a workflow boundary for trusted servers, not containment against a malicious MCP server; explicit deny rules and the process sandbox remain host-controlled boundaries.

The retired trusted_read_only_tools, default_tools_approval_mode, tools.<raw>.approval_mode, and approvals_reviewer fields are ignored when loading older files and removed the next time Reasonix saves that MCP entry.

A server's prompts surface as /mcp__<server>__<prompt> slash commands (positional args after the command); its resources are pulled in by writing @<server>:<uri> in a message; /mcp lists connected servers and what each exposes. make build also produces bin/reasonix-plugin-example — a runnable reference stdio server (echo, wordcount, a review prompt, a style-guide resource) you can copy.

[[plugins]]                       # local stdio server
name    = "example"
command = "reasonix-plugin-example"
# startup_timeout_seconds = 60    # optional initialize + tools/list cap
# call_timeout_seconds = 600       # optional per-server MCP call timeout
# tool_timeout_seconds = { "generate_video" = 1800 }   # optional raw MCP tool names

[[plugins]]                       # remote server over Streamable HTTP
name    = "stripe"
type    = "http"
url     = "https://mcp.stripe.com"
headers = { Authorization = "Bearer ${STRIPE_KEY}" }

Enabled MCP servers start connecting automatically in the background after a session begins, so chat stays usable while tools come online. Use /mcp or the desktop MCP panel to refresh status, reconnect a server, inspect failures, or disable a server for the current session. For a read-only config/runtime health report across skills, hooks, packages, and MCP (without changing settings), see Capability diagnostics (reasonix doctor capabilities or Settings → Diagnostics).

An interactive caller waits only briefly for a cold server. If that wait ends, the shared startup continues in the background rather than being killed and restarted; retry the tool after it comes online. mcp_startup_timeout_seconds (default 30) bounds the full launch, authorization, initialize, and tools/list sequence. mcp_call_timeout_seconds applies only after the server is connected. Either value can be overridden per server.

Set disabled_tools = ["write_file", "delete_file"] in a server's [[plugins]] entry to hide selected tools. .mcp.json accepts the same extension.

• Names match tools/list exactly, before namespacing or prefix stripping. An empty list leaves every tool enabled.
• Hidden tools stay out of the registry, capability catalog, /mcp tool lists and schema token counts, including cached schemas. Config saves preserve the list.
• Restart the session or disconnect and reconnect the server after editing it. An active session keeps its existing schema prefix.
• This controls the tools Reasonix exposes; it does not sandbox the server process.

Already have an .mcp.json? Drop it in the project root and Reasonix reads it as-is — the mcpServers spec (command/args/env, type/url/ headers, ${VAR} expansion) maps field-for-field onto [[plugins]]. Both sources are merged; on a name collision reasonix.toml wins.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/path"] },
    "stripe": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.stripe.com", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${STRIPE_KEY}" } }
  }
}

Upgrading from 0.x? Your old ~/.reasonix/config.json is still read for its mcpServers (honouring mcpDisabled) as a lowest-priority source, so MCP servers keep working — move them into reasonix.toml's [[plugins]] or a .mcp.json when convenient.

Custom instructions / 提示词怎么注入

Choose the scope before adding a prompt.

One task / 单次任务

Type the instructions in chat. For a reusable prompt you invoke explicitly, use a custom slash command.

直接在聊天框输入要求。需要反复手动调用的提示词可写成自定义斜杠命令。

Repository rules / 仓库规则

• Create AGENTS.md, or use the repository's existing REASONIX.md / CLAUDE.md, at the workspace root. For example: - Run the project tests before reporting completion.

• Use AGENTS.local.md for personal rules in that directory, or an instruction file in your Reasonix home for user-global rules.

• See standing-instruction resolution for hierarchy, imports, and /memory instructions to inspect what loaded.

• 在工作区根目录创建 AGENTS.md，或沿用仓库已有的 REASONIX.md / CLAUDE.md。 例如添加 - 完成前运行项目测试。。

• 当前目录的个人规则可放在 AGENTS.local.md；跨项目的用户规则放在 Reasonix 主目录中的指令文件。

• 层级、导入及查看已加载内容的 /memory instructions 命令见 常驻指令文档。

User-wide persona / 用户级人设

1. In Studio, open Settings → Persona → System persona.
2. Fill Start of the system prompt and/or Additional instructions, then Save.
3. Start a new session, or wait for the existing session's next rebuild (for example, a model switch). Saving does not change the running session's prompt.

These settings supplement built-in guidance; they do not replace it. They are stored in your user configuration, not a project's reasonix.toml. See System persona for configuration fields and limits.

1. 在 Studio 打开设置 → 人设 → 系统人设。
2. 填写系统提示词开头和/或补充要求，点击保存。
3. 新建会话，或等现有会话下一次重建（例如切换模型）后生效。 保存不会改变正在运行的会话提示词。

这些设置补充而非替换内置指令，写入用户配置，不由项目 reasonix.toml 设置。 配置字段及限制见系统人设。

Slash commands

In an interactive reasonix session, built-in commands (/compact, /context, /new, /clear, /rewind, /tree, /branch, /switch, /todo, /model, /work-mode, /mcp, /skills, /hooks, /memory, /goal, /output-style, /sandbox, /language, /reasoning-language, /help, /version) run locally — /help lists them all. Built-in skills such as /init, /explore, /test, and /reasonix-guide also appear in the slash menu and via run_skill (bodies load on demand; only the index line is cache-stable). Use /reasonix-guide when you need config or capability troubleshooting; it points at reasonix doctor capabilities (see Capability diagnostics). /new starts a new session while saving the previous transcript for history/resume; /clear asks for confirmation, then discards the current context without saving it. /tree shows saved conversation branches, /branch [name] branches from the current conversation tip, and /switch <id|name> loads another branch. Custom commands are Markdown files under .reasonix/commands/ (project) or ~/.reasonix/commands/ (user) — review.md becomes /review, a subdirectory namespaces it (git/commit.md → /git:commit). The body is a prompt template; invoking the command sends it as a turn.

In Studio, a finished reply has a "Branch into a new conversation" button. It copies the conversation up to that reply into a new session titled "<title> · branch" and leaves the original as it was. It needs a live turn boundary, so a session restored after a restart does not offer it.

Subagent profiles

Subagent profiles are manual Skills with runAs: subagent and invocation: manual. They are stored in the same project/global Skill roots as the desktop settings page, so profiles created on either surface are immediately available to the other after the session refreshes. In interactive chat, invoke one with /<name> <task>; Reasonix runs an isolated child loop and keeps only the task and final answer in the parent conversation.

The headless CLI provides explicit management and execution commands without changing the ordinary reasonix run task semantics:

reasonix subagent list
reasonix subagent create reviewer --description "Review changes" --prompt-file reviewer.md --tools read_file,grep,bash
reasonix subagent edit reviewer --effort high --model deepseek-pro
reasonix subagent try reviewer "review the current diff"   # always read-only
reasonix subagent run reviewer "review and fix the current diff"
reasonix subagent delete reviewer --yes

create defaults to project scope when a workspace is available and to global scope otherwise; pass --scope project|global to choose explicitly. edit changes only explicitly supplied fields, and an empty value such as --model= or --tools= clears that field. The profile editors deliberately refuse custom-path or richer hand-authored Skills so they cannot discard frontmatter, references, or scripts; manage those files through the Skills workflow instead. Built-in profiles have no editable file, so edit accepts only --model and --effort for them and stores the same per-name overrides as the desktop settings page.

See Subagent profiles for the complete CLI reference, Skill file format, model precedence, safety behavior, and troubleshooting.

Context Engine v2 separates two intentionally different layers:

• Standing instructions come from hierarchical REASONIX.md, AGENTS.md, and CLAUDE.md files. Put rules here when they must be present on every relevant turn. User-global files load first, then workspace and deeper target directories; within one directory, .local.md variants win.
• Rules are Markdown files in .reasonix/rules/, .claude/rules/ (project) and <Reasonix home>/rules/ (user), subdirectories included.
  • A rule with no paths: frontmatter is delivered like the standing instructions.
  • A rule with paths: ["src/**/*.ts"] (a list or a comma-separated string) is delivered on the next turn after the session reads or edits a matching file, and is retracted if it stops applying.
  • Rules load user first, then project, so a later rule is the more specific one.
  • A file is limited to 32 KB and each of the two layers to 64 KB. What exceeds a limit is skipped and shown in capability diagnostics. Symlinks are not followed.
  • Neither layer touches the cache-stable prefix.
• Background memory stores one durable fact per Markdown file. Each fact has an immutable ID, monotonic revision, timestamps, independent type (user, feedback, project, reference) and scope (project, global), plus freshness metadata. Facts may be stale, so they never outrank the current request or standing instructions.

Before a turn that changed files may finish, Reasonix asks whether a check ran after the last write. It recognises the common runners on its own — go test, pytest, npm test, make check, cargo test, tsc --noEmit and the like — but it deliberately cannot tell python deploy.py from python run_tests.py. A project that runs its checks through its own scripts needs no setup for this: the agent names which command was the check when it signs the step off (complete_step evidence with kind: verification and the command as run), and the host proves from its own receipts that the command ran after the write and passed. The agent decides only which of the commands it ran was the check; whether it ran, exited zero, and did so after the write are never its to claim.

When a command ran that the host could not read as a check, and the host saw it leave the tree as it found it, the turn ends with a warning: the miss is its own blind spot, not evidence the work went unverified.

Two cases still fail. A turn that changed files and ran nothing at all, and one whose unreadable command changed something — watched or merely unestablished. The way out of the second is the citation above, a check the host recognises, or conclude_blocked.

Declaring checks is the stronger, optional form. Name them in any standing-instruction file, under exactly this heading:

## Reasonix host checks

- verify: python -m pytest tests/
- verify: python scripts/screening.py --self-check

Every declared check must then have run since the latest write for the turn to end, and the built-in classifier stops having a say — the project has defined what verification means there. Entries are - verify: <command> (or * verify:); ordinary instructions elsewhere in the file stay guidance and never become gates.

The same section names the paths whose changes deserve the hardest review:

## Reasonix host checks

- sensitive: src/auth/**
- sensitive: infra/network.tf

A change under a declared path requires review plus security_review before the turn can end; everything else is scored by structure alone (an opaque write the host cannot name a path for, or ten or more paths at once). Sensitivity is declared rather than inferred, because a path's spelling cannot tell internal/auth from session_write_authority.go.

Reasonix automatically recalls a small set of relevant facts before each real user turn. It searches the raw user message, suppresses generic requests such as "continue", prefers project facts over equivalent global fallbacks, down-ranks stale facts, and appends at most four facts / 2,400 characters to the user turn. This dynamic suffix does not rewrite the cache-stable system prompt or tool schemas. Use /memory recall to see the selected IDs, scores, reasons, freshness, budget, and suppression decision.

New, bounded, non-sensitive project/reference facts can be created automatically with no setup or approval click. Global facts, user preferences, feedback, updates, duplicates, sensitive/oversized content, and every forget still require explicit confirmation. The storage layer makes the automatic grant create-only, so it cannot overwrite a fact that appears concurrently. A top-level headless controller may use the same one-shot low-risk create path; sub-agents and headless surfaces without the owning scoped controller fail closed.

forget archives rather than permanently deletes. Every update snapshots the previous revision; restore and archive recovery always create a higher revision instead of overwriting history:

/memory instructions
/memory recall
/memory revisions <id-or-name>
/memory restore <id-or-name> <revision>
/memory archived
/memory recover <archive-path>

The desktop Context Center shows the same provenance, conflicts, revision history, recall trace, and recovery actions. Opening its Suggestions tab scans recent local user turns automatically; candidates are deduplicated against both memory scopes and instruction bodies, but nothing is saved until the user accepts it. Remote workspaces never fall back to local desktop memory or sessions.

Legacy facts are upgraded in place with deterministic IDs and revision 1; missing scope is inferred from the containing directory. Migration is idempotent, old clients retain safe routing, and legacy Memory v5 transcripts remain readable. For the complete behavior and privacy/cache contract, see Context Engine v2.

---
description: Review the staged diff
argument-hint: [focus-area]
---
Review the staged diff. Focus on $ARGUMENTS, list bugs with file:line.

$ARGUMENTS expands to all space-separated args, $1…$N to positional ones. MCP prompts also appear here as /mcp__<server>__<prompt>.

Embedded documentation retrieval

Reasonix bundles the Markdown files from docs/ into each CLI and Desktop build. The read-only docs tool searches that exact offline corpus with local BM25 retrieval and can read a complete matching section with source provenance. The agent should use the tool before web search or assumptions when a question concerns Reasonix configuration, CLI/Desktop behavior, permissions, MCP, memory, recovery, providers, or maintainer workflows.

No setup, network connection, vector database, or embedding service is needed. Search results prefer the query language while retaining explicit en, zh-CN, audience, and catalog filters. Balanced and Delivery profiles expose the tool directly; Economy connects the docs source on demand. Every result reports the product version, immutable source revision, and corpus SHA-256 digest. The embedded manifest is bound to the candidate's docs/*.md and build identity, so an online page cannot silently replace version-matched local guidance.

Use /docs to inspect the bundled corpus identity and usage examples without calling a model. Use /docs <question> (for example, /docs how to configure an MCP server) to make Reasonix search the corpus locally first and then pass the matched sections to the currently configured AI for a sourced answer. This command path does not depend on the model deciding to call the docs tool, while ordinary natural-language questions may still use the tool automatically. Existing custom commands and compatible plugin or skill aliases keep ownership of /docs; when that happens, CLI and Desktop normally expose the built-in corpus as /reasonix:docs instead. If that qualified name is also already owned, Reasonix selects the next free reasonix:-qualified fallback without displacing it. A remote Desktop uses the host's resolved command catalog, so the displayed entry always matches what that host will execute.

Pull requests that change user-visible CLI, Desktop, configuration, provider, permission, or tool behavior must declare whether embedded documentation was updated. When no documentation change is needed, the declaration must explain why the existing version-matched guidance remains correct.

Goal

Goal is the unified runtime for long-running objectives. Reasonix keeps working until the goal is complete, blocked, paused, or cleared. Ordinary chat never changes collaboration mode implicitly; choose Goal in the composer or use /goal to start a long-running objective.

The desktop plan fold and the terminal footer show a goal's state, turns, requests, tokens and active work time, and name the stop cause when it is not running.

Goal has no default model-round, cross-Run turn, wall-clock, or numeric no-progress limit. It continues until completion, a genuine user/external blocker, manual stop/pause, an unrecoverable external error, or an explicit user-selected budget. To place an optional ceiling on an unattended loop, set:

[agent]
goal_token_budget = 20000000

The default is 0 (off). Reaching a positive token budget produces one summary and a resumable budget_spend pause. /goal resume grants a fresh configured slice while cumulative Goal statistics remain intact. Explicit positive max_steps, task time, and task cost budgets remain available as well. Progress is goal-scoped and novelty based: new read/search results, mutations, verification, todo/signoff changes, and reviews advance the goal; an exact tool/argument/result repeat does not. Cumulative turns, tokens, real provider requests, and active work time are tracked and shown as statistics; a token limit appears only when explicitly configured. A paused goal keeps its todos, Delivery checkpoint, and runtime history — use /goal resume to continue, or /goal pause to pause a running goal manually. /goal status shows turns, requests, tokens, and work time. Repeated host failures, zero-evidence rounds, and Todo stall thresholds inject a strategy redirect and reset their intervention epoch; they do not pause the Goal. At the end of every goal turn the model reports its disposition through the structured update_goal tool (continue/complete/blocked); when no report arrives, an independent bounded evaluator judges the turn once, and any evaluator failure pauses the goal instead of continuing silently.

For complex work, write the objective as a task contract: Context, Request, Output format, Constraints, and Pause policy. Goal mode treats those sections as the boundary for autonomous work. It keeps going with sensible defaults unless the next step requires an irreversible or externally visible operation, a scope change, or information only the user can provide.

Legacy simple/write/research classes are still inferred for sidecar and CLI compatibility, but they no longer select an execution quota. There is no separate research runtime to configure. Goal state stays in the normal session sidecar, progress comes only from novel host receipts, canonical todos, complete_step, review and the Delivery checkpoint, and completion is decided by Delivery readiness plus the bounded Goal evaluator. Legacy .reasonix/autoresearch/<task-id>/ archives are read-only: an explicit old path can be recovered as an ordinary Goal, but new runs never create or update those directories. Deprecated budget flags are accepted for compatibility but are hidden from help and completion.

Scheduled runs

A schedule makes Reasonix run a read-only task for you at a time you chose and leave the result waiting. Create and manage them in Studio under Settings, Automation, Scheduled runs, or with the command line below.

reasonix schedule add --every 2h --prompt "Summarize what changed in the open TODOs" --workspace ~/src/app
reasonix schedule list
reasonix schedule pause <id>      # pause-all, resume, resume-all, renew and rm work the same way
reasonix schedule tick            # claim and run what is due now, then exit

• A person confirms it. add, resume, renew, rm and resume-all need a terminal. add shows the whole plan (prompt, folder, model, budget, expiry) and asks you to type back its short id; list shows who created each one. A command run by a tool, a pipe or a scheduler is refused.
  • The host marks every subprocess it starts for the agent with REASONIX_AGENT_CHILD=1, and these commands refuse when it is set, so an agent that opens its own pty is stopped too.
  • That is a guard against accidents and a trick, not a boundary: a child can clear its own environment, and only the sandbox confines what an agent can do.
• When it runs.
  • Studio ticks while it is open, with a window or a tray icon showing; a kernel nobody can see, or one with no parent that ends it, never starts a run. One kernel at a time ticks.
  • Otherwise call reasonix schedule tick from the operating system's scheduler (cron, launchd, Task Scheduler).
  • Every tick goes through the store's own budget and expiry checks, so neither route can bypass them.
• Trusted folders only. A schedule's folder must be a project you have trusted in Studio or the terminal UI. Anything else is refused by the kernel (schedule.workspace_unknown), and trust is checked again at every run: withdrawing it stops the schedule's runs.
• Read-only. A run reads files in its folder and writes nothing. Anything that needs your approval is parked for you and never answered on your behalf.
• Ceilings. [schedule] in your user config can change them; a repository's reasonix.toml can only tighten them.
  • One run at a time, and by default at least 60 minutes between runs (never under 10).
  • Per run: 250,000 tokens, 40 steps and 15 minutes.
  • 4 runs a day for one schedule and 6 for all of them, and a lifetime budget per schedule.
  • A 30 day expiry that only you renew.
• Late and missed runs. Only the latest slot counts. It still runs if it is at most 15 minutes late (never more than a quarter of the interval); otherwise it is recorded as skipped and not made up.
• The model is pinned when you create the schedule, from your own configuration. If it later becomes unavailable the run fails and says so.

@ references

Embed @ references in a message and Reasonix resolves them before sending, as tagged context blocks: @path/to/file (or @dir) injects a local file's contents (or a directory listing), and @<server>:<uri> injects an MCP resource. A local path is only treated as a reference when it actually exists, so ordinary @mentions stay literal. Typing / or @ opens an autocomplete menu — slash commands, or hierarchical file navigation (one directory level at a time, descend into folders) plus MCP resources.

In Studio's file panel, right-click one file or folder:

• Copy path copies its absolute workspace path, including remote roots. It is available once the workspace reports an absolute root.
• Copy reference copies an @ token to paste into the composer. Spaces and tabs are escaped; folder references end in /. Names the reference grammar cannot represent, or whose final whitespace the composer would trim, disable this action.

Paths containing : disable Copy reference because they can be interpreted as MCP resources instead of workspace entries.

Copying does not open the entry or send a message.

Two-model collaboration

reasonix setup manages providers, model lists, credentials, connection tests, and the default model. It stages changes until Save and exit, and synchronizes provider access with the desktop app. See the CLI reference. Running two models together (executor + planner, separate cache-stable sessions) is a one-line edit afterwards — set planner_model to any other enabled provider:

[agent]
planner_model = "deepseek-pro"   # used as the low-frequency planner

The planner sees loaded REASONIX.md / AGENTS.md memory and a small read-only research tool set, so it can inspect relevant files before handing a plan to the executor. Writer and workflow tools remain executor-only.

Reasonix routes each turn deterministically without another classifier model: questions, short follow-ups, clear atomic edits, and bounded read-only actions go straight to the executor; bounded implementation work may receive a short light plan. Ambiguous, cross-surface, structured, high-risk, active-Goal, or Delivery work receives a full plan unless the request is clearly atomic or read-only. Explicit Plan Mode remains a separate host workflow and is never planned twice. An explicit plan first / 先规划 request forces planning, while just do it / 直接改 goes directly to the executor. Execution boundaries are recognized across the request, not only at its beginning, while quoted examples are ignored. Bare plan-first requests continue from the planner to the executor automatically. Requests that explicitly say to wait for confirmation pause at the host approval boundary and continue to the executor after approval. Only an explicit plan only / 不要执行 request ends the current turn with the plan persisted and no execution; a later user instruction can continue in the same session. The phase detail records a privacy-safe route, depth, and reason code for diagnosis without logging the user prompt.

Light plans contain a compact objective, at most four ordered steps, likely touchpoints, and the main verification. Full plans distinguish verified from candidate touchpoints and add relevant non-goals, risks, acceptance criteria, command-level verification, and rollback guidance when the operation is hard to reverse. These contracts are part of one stable planner system prompt; only the small per-turn depth instruction is appended to the user turn, preserving the planner's prefix cache after the one-time prompt upgrade. The host also gives light and full research different per-turn round budgets. If a planner still does not finalize after its bounded research and finalization round, ordinary plan-and-execute work continues with the executor using the original task. Plan-only and approval-gated requests remain fail-closed, and the incomplete planner turn is rolled back instead of leaving an unusable continuation tail.

Reasonix manages normal execution automatically: if an active todo produces no new completion, unique read, command, or mutation for 8 tool-call rounds, the host asks the executor to reassess. In Goal mode, the later threshold forces a smaller step, different tool/approach, focused delegation, or a real blocker report, then execution continues. Exact repeats do not count as progress; new host-observed work renews the lease. Two-level task lists keep the same single-current contract: the active level-1 sub-step is the one in_progress item while its level-0 phase stays pending; sub-steps are worked and signed off in order, and once every sub-step has completed the phase itself becomes in_progress for its own final sign-off.

Existing [agent].max_steps and planner_max_steps keys remain syntactically accepted during upgrades, but their values are ignored and removed with a one-time notice. This prevents a stale hidden limit from truncating automatic progress or inherited subagent work. Use the one-off CLI --max-steps flag when an explicit run budget is needed.

An ordinary chat task has no limit of any kind by default — not rounds, not tokens, not time, not money. It runs until the model finishes, an adaptive guard decides it stopped making progress, or you stop it.

One such guard is the perseveration guard (a model stuck echoing one block): it detects when the model emits the same short block of text or reasoning byte-for-byte.

Detection is on by default, but it only reports: a byte-identical block is sometimes legitimate output — printing a value 300 times, a run of identical table or log rows, a page of = or A — so nothing is cut and nothing reaches the model unless you opt in.

A detected loop is surfaced through the progress-watch channel as a perseveration notice, and the run goes on.

The notice is said once per loop episode: while the same loop keeps tripping the guard it stays quiet, and it is said again only after a block that does not trip the guard in between. The user's progress_watch.pause setting is what ends the run on a detected loop.

Cutting the stream and nudging a retry is opt-in with [progress_watch].perseveration_retries (a global default) or a per-provider perseveration_retries on a [[providers]] entry, which overrides the global value for that provider:

[progress_watch]
perseveration_retries = 0   # the default: report a detected loop, never cut

[[providers]]
name = "deepseek"
perseveration_retries = 1   # this provider also cuts and retries once

At 0 a detected loop is only reported, as above.

A positive value also cuts the stream, shows the user a [retrying (N) avoiding perseveration] interjection, appends a host-authored nudge through the mid-turn steer path, and retries up to that many times; once the budget is spent the run stops resumably with a perseveration pause.

Before retrying, it trims the loop from the turn back to the phrase and its last repetition, so the retry resubmits evidence of the loop rather than all of it. The trim reaches both the transcript and the stored turn, so the two never diverge.

Setting the key negative disables the guard entirely.

An optional spend gate is available when you want one. It bounds a whole task (every "continue" included, until you start unrelated work), and on crossing it the task produces one tool-free summary and pauses; the work is saved and the next message continues it.

[agent]
task_cost_budget = 5.0            # in the model's pricing currency
task_time_budget_minutes = 60     # wall clock across the whole task

Both are off unless set. In particular, task_time_budget_minutes = 0 (and legacy negative values) disables the time gate; only a positive value enables it. Neither has a default, because a stop is a judgement only you can make: no amount of money is portable across models — a budget loose enough for a cheap model would land a frontier model within a couple of answers — and a long task is as often the job you asked for as it is a runaway.

Cost applies only to a priced model. Without a price table that axis stays inactive rather than reading the task as free; use the time axis for a free or local model.

Rounds are deliberately not an axis. A turn that reaches a high round count without spending much is one whose rounds are individually cheap and fast, which is the case least worth interrupting. Use the one-off --max-steps flag when you specifically want a run bounded by rounds.

Subagent skills inherit the executor model by default. Set subagent_model to run them on another configured model, or use subagent_models to override only specific skills such as review or security_review.

Subagents delegate in layers: the root is depth 0, and max_subagent_depth (default 8, a stop against a model delegating to itself without bound; 0 removes it, 1 is the single-layer boundary) is the deepest layer with recursive tools. max_subagent_concurrency and max_parallel_writers default to 0, no limit: write claims, not a count, keep writers apart. A project's reasonix.toml cannot set any of the three. A 429 under heavy parallelism is retried with backoff and Retry-After.

Use read_only_task when planning needs isolated, deeper research without granting write-capable delegation. Use read_only_skill when the same need is best expressed through an existing skill. Both run ephemeral read-only subagents with only read-only research tools plus safe foreground bash, return only the final answer, and do not create resumable subagent transcripts. Read-only nested delegation may be available until max_subagent_depth is reached, but writer-capable task / run_skill remain unavailable inside these read-only child registries. Execution settings share one tool surface: call use_capability for read_only_skill and other optional tools. Subsequent writer calls still pass through Permissions/Sandbox.

Every strict read-only child is built through one shared construction pairing — RunReadOnlySubAgentWithSession / NewReadOnlyAgent — which marks the child permanently read-only and applies a final registry filter. The filter removes writers, destructive MCP targets, readers from unauthorized servers, and every host-mutating tool. User-installed and project-configured servers are authorized immediately. Eligible readers may still start on demand. These are the strict read-only entrances:

Entrance	Purpose
read_only_task	Isolated read-only research child from the main session
parallel_tasks (read-only)	Concurrent read-only research children
fleet with read_only: true	Parallel profile-aware batch (forced read-only per item)
read_only_skill	The same isolation driving an existing skill
reasonix review (CLI)	Read-only review of a diff or branch
Desktop preview/review subagents	Read-only desktop analysis surfaces

reasonix review treats the checkout it reviews as untrusted input and runs only your own configuration:

• The review skill is the built-in one, or one in your Reasonix home or home-directory skill folders. No project skill directory is read, so a <root>/.reasonix/skills/review never replaces it.
• Tools and their sandbox, including [tools.search] engine and rg_path, come from <Reasonix home>/config.toml, never from the checkout's reasonix.toml.
• Hooks are only the ones you configured under the Reasonix home: the global settings.json and installed plugins. Project hooks from the checkout (<root>/.reasonix/settings.json) never run, and the interpreter those hooks use comes from your own [tools.shell].
• Review hooks start in the checkout root so they can inspect it, but a bare command such as python never resolves to an executable the checkout ships: the hook process runs with NoDefaultCurrentDirectoryInExePath=1, which stops cmd.exe on Windows from searching the current directory first.

The model and provider still resolve from the merged config, as in a session.

In persisted sessions, parallel_tasks and fleet return a bounded preview plus one Subagent reference per completed child instead of concatenating every full answer into a truncation-prone tool result. The parent can call read_subagent_result with that reference and page by offset_bytes; results are scoped to the current conversation lineage and workspace. Headless runs without a persisted parent session remain ephemeral and receive fair bounded previews, but cannot mint durable references.

A sub-agent that is still running can be sent guidance:

• The model calls task with task_id set to the sub-agent's sa_... reference and the guidance as prompt. You send it from Settings or the sub-agent's view.
• The sub-agent reads it at its next tool call, framed as coming from the delegating session (or from you). Its own approvals still apply.
• If the sub-agent has already finished, task_id continues its transcript exactly as continue_from does.
• max_subagent_steer_bytes and max_subagent_steers_per_minute bound one message and the rate (user config only; Settings > Tools > Guidance to running sub-agents; 0 lifts a limit).
• Guidance cannot be sent from a paired device.

The interactive two-model Planner uses a dedicated construction path (NewPlannerAgent): it still blocks bash, file writers, and ordinary writers, but may call authorized, non-destructive MCP through the fixed use_capability proxy without requiring readOnlyHint. Direct mcp__* schemas never enter the Planner tool list, so MCP install/connect churn does not change the Planner cache prefix after the one-time schema upgrade. Missing readOnlyHint no longer blocks the Planner; tools with destructiveHint are zero-exec and should be written into the plan for the Executor. In Balanced two-model sessions the Executor has its own frontend for the same stable proxy, so an auto_start=false or destructive capability discovered by the Planner remains callable by capability ID after handoff. Planner and Executor ledgers/audits stay isolated and only the Host connection is shared.

Ordinary task / fleet sub-agents also get the same fixed proxy (session- shared Host and connections, per-agent frontend/ledger) and may call installed or project-configured MCP without readOnlyHint. Those calls use the trusted MCP permission path (live authorization plus explicit deny only); writer and destructive calls are still serialized, recorded as mutations, and subject to Delivery evidence/lease guards rather than Planner handoff. Strict read_only_task / read_only_skill / review sub-agents share the stable proxy schema and connection reuse but keep the strict execution gate (authorized && readOnlyHint && !destructiveHint). Profile allowed-tools MCP names convert to capability-id allowlists on the proxy; children never inherit dynamic mcp__* schemas.

Inside a strict child, use_capability re-checks the resolved target before commit/permission/hooks/execution. An unconnected eligible MCP reader may start on demand from the current schema cache. Before tools/call, cached readOnlyHint/destructiveHint facts are checked against the live initialize/tools-list result; a reader-to-writer change or destructive promotion means zero executions and a normal retry through the current boundary. A schema-only change refreshes the cache for the next session without interrupting the authorized call. Runtime enablement, authorization, and the complete connection identity are checked again immediately before dispatch, so a same-name client from another project/tab cannot be reused accidentally. An unauthorized server cannot raise privileges there. This strict-child boundary is narrower than the dedicated Planner: the Planner accepts authorized opaque non-destructive MCP, while a strict child requires an explicit reader hint and never exposes writers at all.

Choose the startup execution setting with --preset balanced|delivery (for example, reasonix run --preset delivery "fix and verify this bug"). Legacy --profile economy|balanced|delivery still works (economy maps to balanced). Both execution settings share the same provider-visible core tool surface: direct read/bash/edit/write, background-shell lifecycle tools, ask/compress/recall when registered, and the stable use_capability proxy for optional tools (search, MCP, skills, subagents, docs, web_fetch, and so on). Calling use_capability never expands the top-level provider schema, so the prompt-cache tool prefix stays stable across execution settings.

What differs by execution setting is host policy (planning route, verification intensity, independent review floor), not the tool list:

• Balanced (default) — auto light/full planning by risk, risk-tiered verification, conditional independent review on medium-risk multi-file work.
• Delivery — full acceptance criteria, full verification, forced independent review on medium+ risk, and security review on high-risk work. Mutations and verification commands are blocked until a concrete acceptance list exists; a changed result cannot finalize until it has been reviewed, verified after the latest mutation, and signed off with complete_step.

Meta tools such as task, run_skill, and review are not counted as mutations by themselves — only real child writes are. Read-only analysis remains available without forcing a write.

Inside an interactive TUI session, use /preset to inspect the current choice or /preset balanced|delivery to switch it. /work-mode and /profile are compatibility aliases. The switch updates the execution setting in place without rebuilding the controller, preserves history, the session path, leases, and the Ask/Auto/YOLO posture, and is rejected while a turn, approval/question, background job, or another runtime switch is active. This command changes only the current session and does not persist a new global default. Because the provider-visible tool surface is unified, switching execution settings does not create a new tool-schema cache prefix.

Desktop tabs expose the same three choices (shown as Light / Balanced / Delivery) and dual-write agentPreset with legacy tokenMode (economy/full/delivery) for one compatibility version.

For interactive frontends, Plan Mode is always an explicit user choice. Select Plan in the desktop collaboration-mode control or cycle to Plan with Shift+Tab in the CLI. Reasonix first drafts a plan, then waits for approval before the workflow switches to implementation. Tool calls made while drafting still use the current Permissions and Sandbox. Legacy agent.auto_plan and agent.auto_plan_classifier values are ignored and removed from the user config during upgrade. The visible reasoning language can be changed with /reasoning-language auto|zh|en in the session, or reasonix config reasoning-language auto|zh|en in a shell/script. Pass --local to the reasoning-language shell command only when you intentionally want a project-local override.

The why behind separate sessions (keeping each model's prefix cache-stable) is in SPEC.md §3.5.

Free web search with SearXNG

web_search can use a SearXNG instance that you run yourself, so searches cost nothing. Reasonix does not start it.

mkdir -p ./searxng/config/ ./searxng/data/ && cd ./searxng/
docker run --name searxng -d -p 8888:8080 -v "./config/:/etc/searxng/" -v "./data/:/var/cache/searxng/" docker.io/searxng/searxng:latest

(the command is from the SearXNG documentation). SearXNG answers JSON only when its settings.yml allows it; put this in ./config/settings.yml and restart the container:

use_default_settings: true
search:
  formats: [html, json]

Then, in your user config file (a project file cannot set these):

[tools]
web_search_backends = ["searxng"]
searxng_url = "http://localhost:8888"

A backend counts as not answering when:

• the request fails, or the status is not 200;
• the body is not JSON, or no results came back.

Each time that happens Reasonix shows a notice naming the backend and the cause, then tries the next one. If none answers, the model receives search.all_backends_failed.

• Engines inside SearXNG that rate-limit you do not fail a search while one engine still answers.

In Settings, Web access has a Test connection button beside the address. It saves the field, then sends one search to the saved address, follows no redirect, uses no proxy, and says why the instance does not answer.

It never connects to a link-local, cloud-metadata or unspecified address; a loopback or local-network address is fine. The model is told the same code when a real search fails.

Code	Meaning	What to do
search.searxng_json_disabled	The instance answered 403. SearXNG does that when json is not in search.formats of its settings.yml; a reverse proxy in front of it can also answer 403.	Add json to search.formats and restart it; if that is set, look at the proxy.
search.searxng_unreachable	Nothing answered at the address.	Check that it runs and that host and port are right.
search.searxng_not_searxng	It answered 200 but not with SearXNG's JSON results.	Point at SearXNG itself, not a login page or another service.
search.searxng_redirected	The address redirects.	Enter the final address, for example the https one.
search.searxng_address_refused	The test will not connect to this address (link-local, cloud metadata or unspecified).	Use a loopback or local-network address for a self-hosted instance.
search.searxng_status	Any other HTTP status, for example 429 or 500.	Retry later or read the instance's log.

• Results are third-party content and are labelled as such to the model.

Paid fallback: the DeepSeek Search API

Add "deepseek_api" after "searxng" to let web_search fall back to DeepSeek's Search API when the free backend did not answer.

[tools]
web_search_backends = ["searxng", "deepseek_api"]

• It uses the key of a provider you configured for api.deepseek.com.
• DeepSeek lists the price as $0.75 per 1,000 successful requests (pricing page, read 2026-10-17); it bills only a 200 response with results, and announces the billing start date separately.
• The first time a search would reach it, a card shows the price and the query that would be sent to DeepSeek. Allow once, allow for the session, or always allow, which records web_search_paid_allowed = ["deepseek_api"] in your user file.
• After you choose always allow, the queries the model sends are no longer shown one by one before they go to DeepSeek.
• No approval mode answers that card for you, and a project file cannot record the allowance.
• Without an answer the model receives search.free_failed_paid_needs_consent. A 402 reaches it as search.insufficient_balance.
• Each successful paid request is counted in the usage view under its own source, deepseek-search.

Paid fallback for fetching pages

web_fetch can fall back to DeepSeek's Fetch API when this machine could not read a page.

[tools]
web_fetch_backends = ["local", "deepseek_api"]

• local is the fetch from this machine and is free. It counts as not answering when the request fails, the status is not 2xx, or no text came back.
• DeepSeek lists the same price as for search, $0.75 per 1,000 successful requests; a request is billed only when it returns page content.
• The first time it would be used, a card shows the price and the address that would be sent to DeepSeek. Agreeing to search is not agreeing to fetch: always allow records web_fetch_paid_allowed.
• An address on your own network is never sent. That covers loopback, private and link-local addresses, and names that resolve to them.
• So are names that cannot be public, even when this machine cannot resolve them: a single label such as jira, or a name under localhost, local, internal, lan, home.arpa, invalid, test, example or onion. Both are refused with fetch.internal_address.
• The whole address, including its query string, is sent to DeepSeek as written. The card shows it in full; after you choose always allow it is no longer shown each time.
• Pages are third-party content. Each successful paid fetch is counted in the usage view as deepseek-fetch.

Letting a model watch a video file

read_video has two ways to look at a video.

• Frames: ffmpeg samples still images, which loses audio and the order of fast events.
• Natively: the MP4 itself is handed to a model that watches video, with no ffmpeg in between.

Native needs two declarations in the provider entry of your user config: the models, and how a file reaches them.

[[providers]]
name = "dashscope"
video_models = ["qwen3-vl-plus"]
video_protocol = "inline_data_url"   # or "moonshot_file"

• inline_data_url: the file travels inside the request as a video_url data URL. DashScope's documentation (read 2026-10-17) limits the encoded string to under 10 MB, so Reasonix caps the file at 7.5 MB.
• moonshot_file: the file is uploaded once (POST /files, purpose = "video") and the request names it as ms://<id>.
• Moonshot's file API (read 2026-10-17) allows 100 MiB per file and 10 GiB per organization, and does not say how long a file is kept.
• A file the vendor no longer holds is uploaded again once. Files stay in your organization's storage until you delete them there.
• A model that is not listed in video_models, or an entry with no video_protocol, keeps getting frames. Nothing is guessed from a model or host name; an explicit empty list means "no model here watches video".

read_video takes mode: auto (default) sends natively when the selected model offers it and the file fits, otherwise samples frames and says why; frames always samples; native refuses with a code if the file cannot be handed over.

• Only MP4 is sent natively; any other container is sampled into frames (video.native_container_unsupported).
• To lower the size limit, set [tools] video_native_max_bytes in your user file; a project file cannot set it, and it can only be lower than the protocol's own limit. A refusal names which limit stopped it (video.native_too_large).
• The model sees the video on the one request that follows the read. After it answers, later requests carry a one-line note instead, so a long file is not resent every turn; call read_video again to look again. The session file keeps a reference to the file, not its bytes.
• The file is read from disk when the request is built. A file that changed since it was read is not sent (video.file_changed), and one that is gone is reported as video.file_missing.
• Only a video this process's read_video handed out is ever opened; a reference from a restored or imported session is not, and is reported as video.file_unavailable.
• Sub-agents do not get native video; they use frames.
• Where there is no OS sandbox, read_video still asks before its first use, as before; choose always allow on that card or add a rule for read_video to stop being asked.

Not built, and why:

• Gemini: its video input is in the native Gemini API (inline data, the Files API, YouTube URLs); the OpenAI-compatible page does not list a video content part, and Reasonix reaches Gemini through that endpoint.
• Zhipu GLM: the documentation shows video_url with a public HTTPS address only and says nothing about base64 or limits, so a local file cannot be sent without Reasonix uploading it somewhere.

Letting the model change a setting

The model has a setting tool. When something it needs is switched off, such as handing a task to another project, it can ask you to turn the switch on instead of sending you to Settings.

A refusal that a setting would lift ends with (fix: setting ...). The tool can also list settings by the words of their id.

• Nothing changes until you answer a card. It names the setting, the old and the new value, and when the change takes effect. It is worded by Reasonix; the model's own reason is only quoted under it.
• Every setting has a class in the code. A preference (a font, a retry count) can be agreed once for the rest of the session. An elevated setting (messaging between sessions, dispatching to another project, a protection the model could otherwise loosen) is asked every time, in every approval mode including YOLO.
• Boundary settings (approval mode, sandbox, network, rules, hooks, provider keys and addresses, safety limits, and the switch for this tool) are never changed by the model. It can only point you at them (op=open).
• The card shows the whole new value; a value too long to show is refused instead of cut. The change is written to your user file, a project file cannot grant it, and values are checked with the same rules as the Settings screen.
• At most three proposals are put to you per turn, and none while plan mode is on (the model can still look at settings and point you at one).
• To remove the tool, set [tools] setting_tool = false, or leave setting out of an explicit [tools] enabled list.

Google Gemini, native (experimental)

The gemini provider kind speaks Google's Interactions API. It is experimental: it was written from Google's documentation (read 2026-10-17) and has not been run against the real endpoint, so expect rough edges and report them.

Install the Google Gemini, native (experimental) preset, or write the entry yourself:

[[providers]]
name = "gemini-native"
kind = "gemini"
base_url = "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta"
api_key_env = "GEMINI_API_KEY"
models = ["gemini-3.8-flash"]

• Every request carries the whole conversation and store is false, so the transcript stays yours; Google keeps nothing of it.
• Thinking runs at the level the entry sets (/effort); the preset lists the levels each model documents. Thought summaries are streamed as reasoning, and the thought steps are sent back exactly as received, in order, on the next request.
• temperature and top_p are never sent: Google's reference page does not list them for this API.
• The preset lists only models whose own pages were read: gemini-3.8-flash, gemini-4-argon, gemini-3.6-flash, gemini-3.5-flash-lite and gemini-3.1-pro-preview, all with a 1,048,576-token window, image and video input. Others work if you list them and say what they read.
• The older Google Gemini preset uses Google's OpenAI-compatible endpoint. That endpoint documents no video input.

Watching video

Declare the models and how a file reaches them, as for any provider (see Letting a model watch a video file):

video_models = ["gemini-3.8-flash"]
video_protocol = "gemini_files"   # or "gemini_inline"

• gemini_inline puts the file in the request as base64. Google's page says "under 20MB total request size" while its table says 100 MB; the narrower reading is used, so the file is held to 15,000,000 bytes (the encoded request is a third larger). You can only lower it with [tools] video_native_max_bytes.
• gemini_files uploads the file with the Files API resumable protocol, waits until Google reports it ACTIVE, refers to it by its uri, and deletes it when the request ends. Google allows 2 GB per file and 20 GB per project and removes files after 48 hours on its own.
• MP4, WebM and MOV are sent natively on both protocols; any other container is sampled into frames. A file Google reports as FAILED, or in a state this build does not know, is not sent and the model is told video.upload_failed.
• A public YouTube address cannot be given to the model through read_video: the host does not fetch addresses, and handing one to the vendor is a separate setting.

Cost

Reasonix prices Google's list rates per 1M tokens (https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing, read 2026-10-17):

Model	Input	Cached	Output (incl. thinking)
gemini-3.8-flash, gemini-3.6-flash	$0.75	$0.075	$3.75
the same two from 2027-01-01	$1.50	$0.15	$7.50
gemini-3.5-flash-lite	$0.30	$0.03	$2.50
gemini-3.1-pro-preview (up to 200k prompt tokens)	$2.00	$0.20	$12.00

gemini-3.1-pro-preview costs more above 200k prompt tokens ($4.00 / $0.40 / $18.00), which one rate card cannot say, so a long prompt reads low. gemini-4-argon shows no price on the page and is not priced. Storage for explicit context caching is not counted.

Handing a video address to the model vendor

Some vendors read a video from a public address instead of a file. read_video can take url in place of path, but only when you turn this on in Settings (Web access → Video addresses, or [tools] video_url_passthrough = true in your user file; a project file cannot set it).

Turning it on is a confirmation of its own: the model can propose it, and you answer a card every time.

• The vendor visits the address itself; nothing is downloaded on your machine. Turn it on only if you accept that the vendor's servers open the address.
• Only an address you wrote in the conversation is handed over. An address the model found in a page, a file or a tool result, or made up, is refused (video.url_not_from_user), so a page's author cannot make the vendor visit an address of their choosing.
• The address must be https, with a public host name: no credentials, no IP address, no localhost, single-label or local-network name, and at most 2,048 characters (video.url_invalid).
• Zhipu GLM takes a public https address in a video_url part and no file (docs.bigmodel.cn, read 2026-10-17). Declare it with video_models = ["glm-4.6v"] and video_protocol = "zhipu_url" on the entry; a local file is then read as frames.
• Gemini takes a public YouTube address as a video uri on gemini_inline and gemini_files; no other address is handed to it (video.url_unsupported_model).
• A reference restored from a stored or imported transcript is never sent: only an address checked in this process is.