Open Settings with ⌘,. Its pages are below in the order the app lists them, and a choice in bold is the default. To find a setting by name, press ⌘F in Settings and type.
General
Appearance, file links, sounds and updates.
Appearance
| Setting | What it does | Choices |
|---|
| Theme | System follows your Mac's appearance. | System, Light, Dark |
| Reduce motion | Shortens transitions and stops looping animations. | System, On, Off |
Files
| Setting | What it does | Choices |
|---|
| File links open in | Lookout previews files in the side pane; Default app hands them to the Mac's default app. | Lookout, Default app |
Software update
| Setting | What it does | Choices |
|---|
| Software update | Check for updates, or restart to update when one is ready. | |
| Check for updates automatically | Shortly after Lookout opens, then every hour. A new version shows as Update in the sidebar. | On, Off |
| Download updates in the background | Ready to restart as soon as it's found. Off, Update downloads it when you click. | On, Off |
Sounds
| Setting | What it does | Choices |
|---|
| Play a sound when a chat finishes | Not when you stop it yourself. | On, Off |
| Sound | The chime's file: the default, or one you choose. | |
Keyboard
Every shortcut, by what it does.
Every shortcut is on Keyboard shortcuts.
Providers
The models you sign in to, and their plans.
One row per provider, Connected first, then Available. Open a row for its sign-in, its accounts, how requests spread across them, and its models.
Usage
What your plans have left, and this Mac's turns.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| Turns | Every turn in the period, page by page. |
| Export CSV | The period's turns as a spreadsheet. |
Chat
Show on Home, messages sent while the agent works, dictation, subagents.
Show on Home
| Setting | What it does | Choices |
|---|
| Multitask | Split the work across parallel subagents | On, Off |
| Ask | Answer questions without making edits | On, Off |
Messages sent while the agent works
| Setting | What it does | Choices |
|---|
| When you send | In a coding chat, Queue runs it when the agent finishes and Steer reads it at its next step; an agent's chat steers by default. | Queue, Steer |
Dictation
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| Send a take that ends with this word, and leave the word out | Empty is off. The word is the last word of the take, in any case, and a trailing period or comma is ignored. |
Advanced
| Setting | What it does | Choices |
|---|
| Before the cache runs out | Leave a quiet chat as it is, prepare its summary while it is cached, or compact it right away. | Off, Prepare, Compact |
| Keep the cache warm | A short request reads the chat from the cache before it runs out, while a long command runs or the chat sits quiet. | On, Off |
Composer
| Setting | What it does | Choices |
|---|
| Multitask in the composer | The Multitask chip beside the + in every composer. Off hides the chip; a chat's level stays as it was. | On, Off |
Subagents
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| Subagent model | What a subagent runs on when the agent doesn't pick one, and its effort. |
| Agents without asking | Agents a turn or a workflow run may start before it asks you. |
When a plan is used up
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| Fallback models for agents without their own | Where an agent's turn goes on when its plan is used up. Empty: it waits for the reset. |
Connectors
MCP servers whose tools the agent can use.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| Add custom | A local command or a remote URL whose tools join the agent. |
| Paste a config | Add connectors from an mcp.json snippet. |
| Project connectors | A project's own connectors live in its .lookout/mcp.json, so everyone on the repo gets them. |
Skills
Playbooks the agent can follow, kept as SKILL.md files.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| New skill | Write a SKILL.md the agent can follow. |
| Skills folder | Where your skills live as files. |
| Use Claude Code and Codex rules and skills | Chats also read ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, ~/.codex/AGENTS.md and their skills folders, in place. |
Plugins
Bundles of skills and connectors, installed for every project.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| Install plugin | A folder with a plugin.json naming its skills and connectors. |
Memory
What new chats start with, and the files it lives in.
| Setting | What it does | Choices |
|---|
| Use memory | New chats start with what Lookout remembers, and the agent saves what you ask it to. | On, Off |
| Learn from chats | After a substantial turn, Lookout keeps preferences and project facts it picked up. | On, Off |
| Save Everywhere memories | Who may add to the memory every chat starts with: an agent’s save asks you first, goes to that project instead, or goes through. | Ask me, Only me, Agents may save |
| Open memory folder | The Markdown files Lookout keeps, exactly as stored. | |
| Export memories | A zip of memory folders any agent can read: MEMORY.md and Markdown files. | |
| Import memories | Bring in a memory folder or a Lookout export. | |
| Add memory | Something every new chat should know. | |
Archive
Archived chats: restore them, delete them, how long they stay.
| Setting | What it does | Choices |
|---|
| Keep archived chats | Forever, unless you choose a limit. A chat whose project folder is gone is always kept. | Forever, 90 days, 30 days |
| Search archived chats | Titles and project names. | |
Account
Your profile, password and sessions.
These show once you're signed in to your Lookout account.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| Profile image | A square PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF, up to 300 KB. |
| Username | The name you sign in with. |
| Email | The address your account mail goes to. |
| Password | A new password needs at least 12 characters. |
| Delete account | Removes your profile, sessions, synced credentials and usage. |
Sessions
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| Sign out | This device on its own line; every other device with Sign out everywhere else. |
Devices
This Mac and the devices on your account.
These show once you're signed in to your Lookout account.
This Mac
| Setting | What it does | Choices |
|---|
| Use Touch ID for changes | Adding or removing a device asks for Touch ID instead of your Lookout password. | |
| Use this Mac from your other devices | Your other devices, the lookout command and agents you connect can start, steer and stop chats here. | |
| Pause new chats | New chats don't start here while it's on. Running chats go on. | |
| Commands at low priority | Commands chats run here run after this machine's own work. | |
| Park running chats | They stop at a safe point and pick up again when Lookout next starts here. | |
| Keep awake | Keeps this Mac from sleeping while it works for you. | When plugged in, Always, Never |
| Name | How it appears on your other devices. | |
Your devices
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| Add a device | Another Mac, a server, or a computer with the lookout command. |
Recovery Key
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| Recovery Key | With your password, it adds a new device when none of yours is around. |
History
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| History | Who added or removed whom, as your devices signed it. |
App access
The apps that can drive Lookout.
Connect an app shows the server address and the steps for the app you pick. Each app's menu has Edit tools and Revoke. Add projects sets, per app and per client on this Mac, which folders it may add as projects: Off, Anywhere in Home or Chosen folders (how). MCP tools has every tool.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| Connect an app | The server URL and the steps for the app you pick. |
| Apps | The apps signed in to Lookout, each with the tools you allow. |
| Let apps reach this Mac | Apps you connect can start and steer chats on this Mac. Set up once with your password. |
Project settings
Each project has a few settings of its own. Choose Project settings from the project's menu in the sidebar, or from Chat actions at the top of one of its chats.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|
| Display name | The project's name in Lookout. The folder on disk keeps its name. |
| Folders | New chats start in the primary folder; the agent works in all of them. Add folder adds another, Type a path takes one typed out. |
| Archive idle chats | Archives a chat once it has been idle this long: Never (the default), 6 hours to 1 month, or Custom in whole minutes, hours or days. Pinned chats stay put. |
| Subagents | What this project's subagents run on when the agent isn't asked for a model: Use the default (Settings' choice), Same as the parent, or a model and its effort. |
| Chats at once in this project | How many of this project's chats run at once on this machine; the rest wait their turn. No cap runs them all. Edit sets a number, or empty for no cap. An agent working on the project can change it too. |
| Last change | Who last changed how many chats of this project run at once, and when. |
| Worktree commands | Edit opens Setup, a command that runs in a new chat's worktree before the chat starts (if it fails, the chat doesn't start), and Teardown, an optional command that runs when that worktree is removed. |
Setup and Teardown are saved in the project's .lookout/worktree.json, so a clone on another machine runs the same commands. Their output shows in the chat. A project with no Setup whose folder holds a lockfile is told new worktrees start without dependencies, and Use as setup saves the command that installs from it (A project without a setup command).