Settings reference
Find model defaults, providers, prompts, skills, MCP servers, and archived-chat controls.
Open Settings with the gear icon at the top of Dream. The sidebar has General, Providers, Prompts, Skills, MCP servers, and Archived Chats. General preferences apply as you select them. Forms for prompts, skills, and server definitions have their own Create or Save action.
General#
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Language | The interface language |
| Terminal | The shell used for new terminal sessions |
| Theme | System, Light, or Dark appearance |
| Base color | The interface's gray tones |
| Accent color | Primary actions and active states |
Changing the terminal shell affects new sessions. Open a new terminal to use the selection; see Terminals.
Chat messages#
| Setting | Default | What it controls |
|---|---|---|
| Show reasoning summaries | On | Display of summaries supplied by the model |
| Group tool calls | Off | Compact grouping of tool activity |
| Expand tool calls | Off | Whether tool-call details start expanded |
| Change checkpoints | On | Snapshots project files before each reply so you can review and restore changes |
The display settings affect conversations across projects. They do not change the model's reasoning effort or grant additional tool permissions. Turning off Change checkpoints stops new snapshots; see Reviewing and restoring changes.
Models#
The Models group is at the top of General.
| Setting | Scope |
|---|---|
| Default chat model | Newly created chats across projects |
| Default permissions | Ask, Accept edits, or Full access for new chats |
| Effort | Reasoning effort for new chats, when supported by the default model |
| Speed | Speed tier for new chats, when supported by the default model |
| Text generation model | Generated commit messages and pull-request text, with its own effort and speed |
Existing chats retain their own selections. Enable a model under Providers before choosing it as a default. Follow Models and defaults for the complete setup workflow.
Providers#
Each provider card shows its detected CLI status, installed version, refresh action, and an enable switch. Enable the provider and individual models to make them available in selectors. An Update available badge shows a newer CLI version when detected; update the CLI outside Dream and refresh the card afterward.
Install and sign in through the provider's CLI outside Dream, then refresh its card. Dream settings do not replace the CLI's authentication flow. See Connect a provider.
Prompts, Skills, and MCP servers#
| Section | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Prompts | Create, preview, copy, reorder, and edit reusable prompts for any project's chat |
| Skills | Browse skills by provider and project, preview SKILL.md files, and create new skills |
| MCP servers | Add or import tool servers and manage their connection settings |
Archived Chats#
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Row checkboxes | Select archived conversations across projects |
| Header checkbox | Select all archived conversations |
| Restore | Returns selected chats to active history |
| Delete | Permanently removes selected chats and messages from Dream |
| Archive chats after | Sets the inactivity cutoff in days; default 30 |
| Archive now | Archives chats that meet that cutoff |
The cutoff does not schedule an automatic job. See Archiving and restoring chats before using bulk actions or permanent deletion.
Controls outside Settings#
Some preferences belong to individual chats or projects. Set a chat's model, effort, speed, and permissions in its composer. Toggle multi-chat in the left toolbar. Resize chat columns and tool panels directly in the workspace.