--- title: Settings description: "Settings in the Mac app page by page: what each setting does, and its default." canonical_url: https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/settings type: reference section: Reference last_updated: 2026-10-21 related: - https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/shortcuts - https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/models - https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/memory --- > Every page of these docs: https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/llms.txt # Settings Settings in the Mac app page by page: what each setting does, and its default. 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](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/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](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/other-apps#add-projects)). [MCP tools](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/mcp#connect) 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](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/subagents#model) 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](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/agents) 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](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/worktrees#no-setup)). ## Related - [Keyboard shortcuts](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/shortcuts.md): Every keyboard shortcut in the Mac app, grouped by where it works. - [Models and providers](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/models.md): Connect the providers you have a plan with, then pick a model, its effort and its variant for each chat. - [Memory](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/memory.md): What Lookout remembers across chats, for you and for each project, and how to see and change it.