Settings Reference

The complete field reference for <CETAS_HOME>/.cetas/settings.json — every key, its type, and its default, organized by nesting level.

<CETAS_HOME>/.cetas/settings.json is one JSON object. Cetas writes it atomically and preserves every key it does not own, so keys added by other tools (or by a future version) survive a model switch. On startup, a missing file is created with an empty providers object. An existing file is never overwritten — including an empty or malformed one. A broken settings file is a loud failure, not something Cetas quietly repairs.

Top-level keys

Key	Type	Purpose
`model`	string	The active conversation slot, `provider/model`
`reasoning_effort`	string, optional	Reasoning effort; absent means the slot’s default
`decision_model`	string, optional	The decision slot, independent of `model`
`providers`	object	Provider settings; each entry is interpreted by its extension
`subagent`	object	Subagent default model, effort, and limits
`workflow`	object	Budgets for the Board multi-ticket execution loop
`model_manager`	string	The terminal host’s model-manager choice
`manager_selections`	object	What each manager last had selected
`magpie`	object	Magpie gateway settings; see Connecting the Magpie gateway

Expanded level by level below.

model / reasoning_effort / decision_model

Key	Read by	Notes
`model`	Every surface	The conversation slot; written by `/model`
`reasoning_effort`	Every surface	Absent means the slot’s advertised default; written by `/effort`
`decision_model`	Terminal and editor	The decision slot; written by `/decision`

Unrelated keys are preserved verbatim when a selection is updated. If provider configuration changes make the previous selection unavailable, Cetas falls back to an available default instead of refusing to compose.

providers

Entries map a provider id to its settings. Each entry is interpreted by that provider’s extension; this page does not answer for them:

Built-in ids and login methods: Providers.
An id that is not built-in becomes a custom provider whose wire is declared by the entry’s protocol (chat_completions / responses / messages, default chat_completions); the entry shape (base_url, protocol, auth, models, model metadata) is in Custom models.

Credentials do not belong in providers: a gateway_key written there is not read at all, and gateway credentials live only in the shared credential store (written by /login). The field Cetas reports as ignored, and warns about, is magpie.gateway_key in the magpie section — a credential in an editable configuration file is in the wrong place to begin with. Recording it is covered in Connecting the Magpie gateway.

subagent

{
  "subagent": {
    "default_model": "zai/glm-5.3",
    "default_effort": "low",
    "limits": {
      "swarm_items": 16,
      "concurrency": 4,
      "global_concurrency": 20,
      "timeout_ms": 1800000,
      "spawn_budget": 64,
      "answer_timeout_ms": 600000
    },
    "kinds": []
  }
}

Key	Default	Notes
`default_model`	— (inherit parent)	Default conversation slot for kinds that bind no model
`default_effort`	—	Same, for reasoning effort
`limits.swarm_items`	`16`	Maximum items in one parallel wave
`limits.concurrency`	`4`	Children running at once in a wave
`limits.global_concurrency`	`20`	Children running at once overall
`limits.timeout_ms`	`1800000`	Wall clock per child (30 minutes)
`limits.spawn_budget`	`64`	Children a session may spawn in total
`limits.answer_timeout_ms`	`600000`	How long a child’s question may wait for the parent (`0` disables)
`kinds`	`[]`	Kind entries carried directly in settings, same fields as the `.md` frontmatter — see Subagents

Every field is optional; an absent section means defaults and no extra kinds. The model-selection precedence chain: explicit argument → kind binding → default_model → the parent’s live selection.

workflow

Controls the Board multi-ticket execution loop. Disabled unless enabled is true.

Key	Default	Range
`enabled`	`false`	boolean
`max_executions`	`8`	1–1000
`max_elapsed_ms`	`600000`	1–86400000
`execution_timeout_ms`	`60000`	1–86400000, and ≤ `max_elapsed_ms`
`max_concurrency`	`2`	1–8
`max_expansions`	`2`	1–16
`max_generated_tasks`	`20`	1–200
`max_depth`	`16`	2–16
`continue_on_confirmed_failure`	`false`	boolean

This section is strict on purpose: an unknown key is a composition error, and a wrong type or out-of-range number is rejected. A typo in a budget must not silently become a different budget.

model_manager / manager_selections / magpie

Terminal host only: these remember which model manager you chose and what each manager last had selected, so switching back restores the previous slots. The end-to-end walkthrough is in Connecting the Magpie gateway.

Key	Type	Notes
`model_manager`	`"providers"` or `"magpie"`	Active manager; absent means `"providers"`
`manager_selections`	object	manager → `{ model, reasoning_effort }`, kept separately per manager
`magpie.base_url`	string	The Magpie gateway address
`magpie.enabled`	boolean	Whether Magpie is enabled