Settings

Open Settings from the menubar gear. Pages are grouped by what you want to change. Model configuration lives in the Models app.

Find a setting

Press Ctrl+K / Cmd+K with Settings open. Search for a setting or an everyday phrase such as "stop sounds", "backups", or "let agents edit files". Choose a result to open its page and highlight the control.

Search also opens related settings in Brain and Models. Sidebar groups expand independently, so you can keep frequently used pages visible.

The map

Group	Pages
General	Startup & setup, Appearance, Notifications, Audio
Code & workspace	Editor, Terminal, Language servers, Browser, GitHub, Issues
AI & agents	Models & connections, Agents, Chat context, Rules, Tool permissions, Autopilot, Timeouts & recovery
Extensions	Plugins, Skills, Skills Library, Agent packs, Web search, MCP servers, Connect other apps, Servers, Webhooks
Data & privacy	Backups & access
About & troubleshooting	About, Updates, Health & diagnostics

General

Startup & setup controls desktop tray behavior and launch at startup. It also links to common settings and lets you run setup again.

Appearance includes interface zoom in the desktop app, Compact or Full chat view, eight theme families with dark and light variants, fonts, and custom colors. Changes apply immediately. In a browser, use the browser's zoom controls.

Notifications controls bell alerts, desktop notifications, and sound packs. Test desktop notification checks system delivery. Individual resets restore a preference to its default; Show modified only helps you find changes.

Audio selects input and output devices and microphone processing. Speech recognition and read-aloud models live in Models → Voice.

Code & workspace

GitHub connects your github.com account for pull requests, CI checks, and GitHub issue sync. Select Sign in with GitHub, copy the one-time code, and complete authorization using Continue on GitHub. Minnow verifies the account and displays your username. You can cancel and retry an unfinished sign-in. The same optional step appears during first-run setup.

If GitHub CLI is missing, use Install GitHub CLI, restart Minnow, and select Check again. Existing CLI logins are detected automatically. GitHub CLI manages credentials; Minnow does not store another GitHub token. Accounts supplied through GH_TOKEN or GITHUB_TOKEN are identified as environment-managed. Repository remotes and Git's existing credential setup remain separate from account sign-in.

Editor controls wrapping, indentation, inline AI suggestions, their context, and their model. Terminal controls panel behavior and the default shell, with workspace overrides. Language servers configures code diagnostics and symbol completions.

Browser controls the preview panel, navigation permission, restored tabs, and allowed origins. Issues configures issue IDs, GitHub sync, types, statuses, priorities, and defaults.

AI & agents

Models & connections opens Models. Agents configures shared prompt profiles, composer modes, work agents, sub-agent types, and context policy. Chat context chooses the default Brain notes, code map, and project documents added to chats. Rules manages standing instructions.

Tool permissions provides Off, Ask, and Full permissions by tool. Advanced controls cover structured arguments, tool loading, caching, and result size.

Autopilot sets board defaults for task concurrency, git worktrees, retries, planner fallback, and recovery. Each board can override these defaults. Timeouts & recovery sets idle and maximum durations for model responses and describes sub-agent recovery.

Extensions

Plugins installs and manages local extension packages. Review a workspace folder, then install it and configure its connections, tools, skills, or panels. See Plugins.

Skills manages installed agent instructions. Skills Library is a separate page for browsing and installing third-party collections; expand Add from GitHub URL to install a skill folder from a repository. Agent packs shows installed collections first, with ZIP upload and optional pack creation instructions below.

Web search selects a provider and API keys. Servers manages local services such as SearXNG; model hosting lives in Models. MCP servers adds tools from external Model Context Protocol servers. Connect other apps gives other agents access to Minnow's Issues, Brain, and manual. Webhooks sends signed event notifications to other services.

Data & privacy

Backups & access manages backups and restore, filesystem access, the agent shell sandbox, and network access.

File and git tools stay inside open workspaces by default. Network access is local to this computer by default; enabling LAN access requires a restart. See Tools and permissions and Use Minnow from another device.

About & troubleshooting

About shows version, runtime, storage, and startup diagnostics. Updates checks for new builds and controls the update channel. Health & diagnostics shows subsystem health, captured errors, local logs, and a redacted report you can copy.

Where settings are stored

Settings are saved in your Minnow home in files such as config.json, tools.json, search.json, rules.json, and skills.json. Secrets are encrypted. Browser-only appearance preferences are saved on the device.

See Where your data lives.