Settings & customization

Press Cmd/Ctrl,, or click the gear at the top right of the window, to open Settings. It opens as a centred window over the dimmed canvas rather than taking over the whole app. Press Esc (the first press clears a search), use the close control, or click outside the window to leave it, and it reopens on the last page you visited.

The left rail holds every page, in five named groups:

• Your AI: Dex and Agents.
• Your space: Appearance, Canvas and panels, Notifications and Keybindings.
• Tools: Terminal, Editor, Browser, Notes and Git and worktrees.
• Your computers: This computer, Phone and Deska Cloud.
• Support and privacy: Updates, Help, Privacy and Diagnostics.

There is no page for loose settings any more. Each of them moved to the page it belongs with: the interface language and Restore agent sessions to This computer, Wake my cloud computer to Deska Cloud, the Focus time switch and workspace export and import to Canvas and panels, Tips on new surfaces to Help, and Reset all settings to the end of Diagnostics.

Your account is the identity card pinned at the bottom of the rail, with your avatar, name and plan. Click it to open the Account page.

Each page renders its settings as grouped cards, with the label on the left and the control on the right. The search box at the top searches labels, descriptions and keywords across every page, so you can type scrollback or beta instead of hunting for the right page. It ignores accents and matches word by word, so every word you type has to appear but not in the same place, and it knows a few synonyms: startup finds what Deska does when it opens. Old links keep working: a page that moved forwards to its new home.

The assistant that answers you, and what it is allowed to reach. Four groups: Who answers, Panel search, Background work and Actions.

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Who answers is a ranked list of fallbacks that decides who answers Dex. Each rung is one of two things: a coding agent on this computer (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Cursor, Antigravity, Pi, Hermes, Mistral Vibe, and Kimi Code), optionally pinned to a model, so the same agent can appear twice with two different models, or another of your computers, which answers with its own signed-in agent, and you can prefer which agent and model it uses over there.

• Top to bottom: Dex tries the list at the start of each turn and answers with the first rung available. If a rung fails before any of the answer streamed, Dex quietly moves on to the next. Every reply ends with who answered, beside its Copy button: the agent and its model (Answered by Claude Code, then claude-sonnet-5), or the agent and the computer when another of your computers answered.
• Sleeping computers: a sleeping Deska Cloud computer is woken when the chain lands on it. The turn shows a Waking… line with the computer’s name, gives up after about 45 seconds, then moves on and says so. A personal computer that is off counts as offline; it cannot be woken remotely.
• Ask first: turn it on for a rung and Dex pauses with a card (“X is not available. Answer with Y?”) before spending anything on that rung. Answer uses that rung; Cancel stops the turn.
• When nothing can answer: Dex shows one short line on what happened and a button back to this page; Details lists which rung failed and why. The card closes on its own after a few seconds, waits while your pointer is on it, and the conversation keeps the message. If the project’s folder is missing, for example on a drive that is not connected, Dex still answers and tells you which folder it could not find.
• Waking ahead of time: Deska may wake your first cloud fallback in anticipation, at most once an hour, when the rung above it fails. This page says when it did.
• A free fallback with Deska Cloud: when your account has a Deska Cloud computer, Deska adds one last rung on its own: opencode over there answers with a free model, no account signed in. It only answers when everything above it failed, so Dex works from the first minute of a fresh box. Free models can be slower than a signed-in agent, and free providers may use prompts to improve their models. Remove the rung and it never comes back on its own.
• Rungs add themselves: sign a coding agent in, on this computer or on a box, and it appends itself to the chain as a fallback, with a notification saying so. Removing an added rung is permanent too; nothing you delete resurrects.
• Quick access: the Dex bar’s settings popover has a Dex answers with row naming who answers next, with its model; picking a rung there opens its models, and choosing one pins that model on the rung and moves it to the top of the chain. Manage agents opens the Agents page for accounts, models and the fallback order. The quiet label beside the bar’s gear names the answering rung at a glance.
• In the task composer: the chain only orders the agent list. A task never moves to another computer by itself. On a Deska Cloud desk whose box has no signed-in agent, a new task opens on opencode, the one agent that will actually run there.

Panel search: Dex’s model is the 30 MB model that lets Dex find the right panel or task in milliseconds, across every project on this computer and their whole history (see Dex). The row says what it is doing right now (downloading, indexing your history, paused and why, or how many passages it holds) and offers the one action that fits: retry a paused download, remove it, which deletes the model and everything it read, or download it again after removing it. Deska downloads it by itself the first time it opens. It runs on this computer and spends nothing from your agent’s plan, so it is not part of Background work.

Background work: Work in the background is on by default. It lets the agent that answers Dex write panel summaries and thread titles without being asked and, with a key stored by an earlier version, filter terminal hints and name the terminals Dex opens. Each one uses a little of that agent’s plan. When Claude Code answers Dex, it also starts Claude Code when Deska opens and when you switch workspaces, so the first answer comes faster; that start sends no message. If the agent that answers takes a while to start and the next one in the list is Claude Code, it is started beside it, so a fallback does not have to start in the middle of your question; that start sends no message either. An agent set to ask first is never started early. Turn it off to stop all of it at once: Generate summaries automatically and AI-filtered hints then show as off, with Open Dex settings beside them, and keep their own choice for when you turn it back on. Summarize, Refresh summary and Generate message still work when you ask. It applies to this computer.

Actions: Act without asking is on by default, so when you ask Dex to close panels, delete a note, revert or merge an agent’s work, remove a worktree or remove a community panel, he does it without a confirmation card. Turn it off to confirm each one first; during a hands-free session the card also takes a spoken yes or no. It applies to this computer. Your coding agents have the same kind of switch, on the Agents page, under Agent autonomy.

The talk key and the dictation shortcut live on the Keybindings page.

See Agents & Dex for how the assistant works with the rest of the canvas.

The agents behind Dex and every supervised task, with their accounts and default models. The page configures this computer, named by the machine pill under the title, and closes with a Tools & accounts section: this computer first, then one row per machine on your account, each opening that computer’s agents and sign-ins. The groups above it: Your agents, How tasks start, Tools, Agent updates and Agent autonomy.

• Your agents starts with two choices. Dex answers with picks the agent Dex tries first, and New tasks use picks the agent new tasks start on (or Ask each time), with Use the same agent as Dex under it when the two differ. Fallback order for Dex opens the full list. If you had chosen an agent or model for agents that Dex opens in a terminal (the voice popover’s old Coding agent row), that choice is kept as Agents opened in a terminal, where you can make it follow new tasks instead.
• Below the choices, one card per agent (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Cursor, Antigravity, Pi, Hermes, Mistral Vibe, and Kimi Code). A card shows the install and account status and offers Install, Connect account or Change account, the model selection, separate Check Dex and Check tasks buttons, and the default runtime mode: Provider default, Approval required, Auto-accept edits, Auto (AI reviews risky actions) or Full access. A mode the selected model cannot honour is shown disabled with the reason rather than being silently downgraded. Binary path, home path and launch arguments sit under Advanced.
• Add agent opens a list of providers. A provider you already have reads Another account when this computer can keep a second account of it (every agent) and One account only otherwise. One you disabled reads Enable, and picking it turns it back on instead of adding a duplicate. Each extra account has its own Sign out on its card. See Separate accounts. Agent and model for this project closes the section. It applies only to the project open now, which it names; pressing that project opens Your workspaces to switch to another one.
• How tasks start: New tasks run in picks where the task composer starts (This checkout or New worktree; every task can still switch before it starts), and Cut new worktrees from origin fetches the base branch first so a task starts from what the remote has.
• Browser preview tools: lets supervised agents open and drive a browser panel to check their own frontend work.
• Panel actions: lets a task use the actions of the community panels you connect to it, such as reading a board or adding an image. When panel content enters a task’s turn, Deska switches the task to Supervised until that turn ends. See Panels connected to a task.
• CLI update checks: compares the provider CLIs you have installed against the provider’s published release source and shows an update advisory on their agent cards.

The switches that let an agent act without asking live under Agent autonomy at the bottom of this same page, described below. Dex has the same kind of switch, Act without asking, on the Dex page, under Actions. See Coding agents for connection checks, default models and what each mode actually allows.

Settings has no page for model keys, and Deska never asks you for one: your coding agent always runs on its own CLI login, and the managed allowance covers dictation and spoken replies. A key stored by an earlier version stays in your operating system’s secure storage. See Agents & Dex and Plans & billing.

The app-level housekeeping pages:

• Help: Learn Deska holds Tips on new surfaces, the small one-time tours a panel shows the first time you use it. Under it, Documentation opens these docs, What’s new opens the release notes, Report a problem sends what happened with the log and a screenshot after showing you all of it, Discord community (Join) is where the team answers questions, and Email support writes to a person at [email protected]. See Quickstart.
• Account: reached from the identity card pinned at the bottom of the rail. It shows the plan you are on, your remaining dictation minutes (the Voice minutes card: dictation and spoken replies share one allowance, so there is a single figure) and how many computers are linked. Manage billing opens your account page on deska.dev, and on the free plan Explore plans sits under it. Your profile is your page in the Marketplace, where you choose whether anyone else can see it. Sign in on your phone shows a QR code that signs a phone into this account, and Sign out closes the page. Signed out it simply reads Not signed in and Deska keeps working locally.
• Updates: the version you are running, a button that walks the whole update flow (Check for updates, then Download v…, then Restart to update), the current release’s highlights, and the release channel (Stable or Beta). Deska checks in the background but never downloads without you. The full flow is in Updates.

Deska speaks English and Spanish. On the computer the choice is Interface language, under Language on the This computer page: System, English or Español. On the phone it is App language in Settings, with the same three choices. The app changes language as soon as you pick one, with no restart, and the computer’s menus and dialogs follow it too.

System is the default: Deska follows your computer’s or phone’s language, and uses English when that language is one Deska does not speak yet. Each device keeps its own choice, so the phone can be in Spanish while the computer stays in English. When you are signed in, the choice is also saved to your account.

The interface language and the language Dex answers in are two settings. Dex’s reply language is Reply language in the Dex bar’s settings popover (see Voice); left on Auto, Dex answers in your interface language, and a language you pin there always wins. Release notes inside the app, and messages that come from a computer or a server, such as push notifications, stay in English for now.

One page per working surface:

• Git and worktrees: how Deska stays in sync with your remotes. Under Remotes, Background fetch is how many minutes a git fetch stays fresh for the checkouts on screen, so the ahead and behind counts stay current. It ships at 2; set it to 0 and Deska never contacts a remote on its own. Where new tasks run and whether new worktrees are cut from origin are on the Agents page, under How tasks start. For two versions, a Moved section keeps the row New tasks are now in Agents (Where a new task runs and how its worktree is cut.), whose Open Agents button takes you there.
• Terminal, Shell: on Windows, pick PowerShell (PowerShell 7 when it is installed) or CMD. A Default shell path overrides that on every platform; leave it blank to auto-detect.
• Terminal, Text: font family and font size overrides. Leave them at their defaults to follow the app.
• Terminal, Smart actions: Deska watches output for sign-in links, device codes, file paths, suggested commands and failures, then offers one-click actions. AI-filtered hints asks the model behind a key stored by an earlier version whether a detected hint is worth showing before it appears, and only runs while Background work on the Dex page is on.
• Terminal, Performance: Scrollback buffer sets how many lines each terminal keeps, and Auto-suspend idle background terminals pauses offscreen, silent terminals after two minutes so the operating system can reclaim memory (macOS and Linux only).
• Terminal, Theme: pick a terminal palette or import your own.
• Editor: font size, tab width, file icons (Color paints each file type the way Cursor does; Ink keeps the same shapes in one tone), how Markdown opens (Preview, Split or Source), and format on save.
• Browser: homepage, search engine, and what happens when a URL appears in terminal output (Off, Automatic or Ask before opening).
• Notes: Notes folder shows the folder your notes are kept in as markdown files, with the full path when you hover it. Move notes… moves every note to a folder you choose, an Obsidian vault for instance, and Use default folder moves them back.

See Terminals and Browser & widgets for what these panels can do.

The quickest way to change how Deska looks is on the canvas itself: right-click an empty spot and choose Change look, or type theme in the command palette. A small popover lets you pick a theme, an accent color and a wallpaper, and the desk changes as you click. All appearance settings at its foot opens this page.

The page leads with the same three choices: Theme and colours, Background and a Terminal and editor row. The fine tuning sits under More options, closed until you open it.

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• Theme: one row of nine looks. System is the default and follows your operating system. The rest are System light, Dark warm, Dark cold, Light subtle, Dracula, Cyber wave, Pink city and Adeberry. Three of them are light: System light, Light subtle and Pink city.
• Accent color: a row of swatches for highlights and focus rings. The first option is theme default, which follows whatever accent the active theme ships. The named overrides are cyan, teal, iris, pink, amber and rose, and each stays legible on every theme. The last swatch opens a color picker.
• Customize colors: expand the editor below the accent to choose the app background, windows, cards, islands, menus, borders, text and status colors. Each opens the same visual picker with a hex field. Changes show as you drag or type and stay when you press Save or click away; Cancel or Escape puts back the color you started from. Reset one color or the whole custom palette. Low contrast is reported without changing your choices. Choosing a preset restores its original colors. System mode remembers separate colors for its light and dark bases. Share my look includes these colors. Terminal themes and editor syntax keep their own settings.
• Background: Grid style is the pattern drawn on the canvas, Dots (the default), Lines or None. Canvas background offers four tabs: Media, Solid, Gradient and None, which leaves the theme’s own background. Media shows two rows of the fifty built-in wallpapers (the one you use is always among them); Show all 50 wallpapers opens the rest. The screenshots in these docs use Golden Port in the dark theme and Venice in the light one. Below it, Choose a file… sets your own image, GIF or video, with a Fit choice for it. Opacity, blur and dim open from Adjust opacity, blur and dim, and are already open when the background is your own file. While a video or an animated image (a GIF, WebP or PNG that moves) plays behind the desk, glass surfaces are solid, as with Reduced effects, so the motion never makes every frame redraw the blur.
• Fonts and terminal colours: text size, font and terminal themes are set per tool. The row’s Terminal and Editor buttons open those pages.
• More options, Canvas effects: Ambient mode shifts the canvas hue with the time of day, Reduced effects uses opaque glass surfaces and turns off background blur (off by default; it applies immediately and is saved across restarts) and Project tint paints the workspace color into the grid and focus glow. The switch for the Focus time chip is on the Canvas and panels page.
• More options, Window: Native macOS window tabs, macOS only, and it appears only there.

How the canvas moves, what panels tell you at a glance, and what the canvas remembers. It joins the old Canvas and Panels and layout pages in four groups: Navigation, Tabs and summaries, Indicators and History and backups. The grid and the canvas background are on the Appearance page, described above.

• Zoom speed: a multiplier from 0.5x to 3.0x on wheel and trackpad zooming.
• Zoom with a mouse side button: hold a side button and turn the wheel to zoom the canvas. On by default.
• Auto-focus largest visible panel: activates whichever panel occupies the most visible area as you pan and zoom. Off by default.
• Tabs and summaries: Tab orientation sets the default layout for panel tab strips, Horizontal or Vertical; any panel can override it from its own header. Show panel summaries keeps summary text visible in each panel header. Generate summaries automatically separately controls agent reads when a panel settles, and only while Background work on the Dex page is on.
• Indicators: Focus time switches the chip beside the minimap that shows your time in flow today.
• History and backups: Rotating snapshots keeps up to 50 backups per workspace (on by default), and Show time scrubber adds the floating pill that steps through them (off by default). Export current workspace… saves the active workspace as a portable .workspace bundle, and Import workspace… opens one as a new workspace, on this machine or another.

The canvas itself is covered in Workspaces & the canvas.

• Notifications: when Deska may interrupt you, here or on your phone. Enable notifications shows an operating system notification when something needs you, and Only when window unfocused keeps them quiet while Deska is the focused window. What to notify about is a switch per kind: an agent needs you, an agent finished, a long command finished, updates installed. On your phone sends notifications to the Deska mobile app: Push to your phone turns them on, Only when I’m away skips them while you are active on this computer, and Notify me about has a switch per kind. They only reach the phone while remote access is on for this computer, theEnable remote access switch under Phone → Remote access. Notifications covers the categories and how tapping one takes you back to the right thread.
• Keybindings: rebind any action to a chord of your choosing, scoped to where it should apply. See the keyboard shortcuts reference for the full default list, the reserved chords, and how conflicts are swapped automatically.

This computer is how Deska behaves on the machine in front of you. Under Language, the interface language (see Interface language below). Under When Deska opens, Restore agent sessions reopens agent conversations in restored terminals when a workspace reopens. It is on by default.

Phone holds Remote access, with the Enable remote access switch that lets you reach this computer’s terminals, coding agents and ports from the Deska mobile app. Your own computers need no pairing at all: turn the switch on, sign in on the phone with the same account, and this computer appears in its list. Phone notifications are set on the Notifications page, under On your phone, and they only reach the phone while remote access is on here. For two versions, a Moved section keeps the row Push to your phone is now in Notifications (Phone notices are sent from there, while remote access is on.), whose Open Notifications button takes you to that section.

Share this computer is a separate action for a different case. It mints a one-time code that grants another account access, and the people who accepted are listed underneath with a Revoke button. Full details in Remote access.

Deska Cloud manages your cloud computers and the agents running on them. Under When Deska opens, Wake my cloud computer starts your Deska Cloud computer when the app opens, so walking onto it is instant; it goes back to sleep on its own if nothing happens on it. It is on by default. See Computers.

What a coding agent may do without stopping to ask you. It lives at the bottom of the Agents page (it was a separate Permissions page before): one switch per terminal-launched agent CLI that has a skip-permissions mode, so Claude Code, Antigravity, Hermes, Mistral Vibe and Kimi Code get Skip permissions, Codex gets Full auto and Cursor gets Run everything. Claude Code, Codex and Cursor start on; the others start off. OpenCode and Pi have no such mode. Turning one on means that agent is always launched in that mode and acts without asking for confirmation; supervised threads follow each instance’s Default mode instead. These switches live only here: an agent card in the Panel Library chooses whether the agent opens as a Task or in a Terminal, and a Terminal launch follows the switch on this page.

What Deska sends anywhere, and what it never sends. Three switches, all on out of the box and all able to be turned off: Send crash reports reports unhandled errors anonymously, Send anonymous usage data sends app version, operating system and update events with no file paths, project names or personal data, and Share token activity with your account sends only token counts, per day and model, never prompts, code, paths, projects or sessions. Your profile shows them and their value at API prices unless you make them private in Edit profile. See Privacy & your data for exactly what each one carries.

A Discord section sets what your Discord status shows while Deska is open, through the Discord app on your computer: Show Deska on Discord (on) and Show the project name (off). See Discord status.

A read-only support snapshot, and the first place to look when something is behaving oddly. It shows the Deska version and release channel, the Electron, Chromium, Node and V8 versions, your platform and kernel, the paths a bug report needs (each with a Reveal button), the last cached probe for each coding-agent instance, the size of the agent thread log, and any Deska environment variables set in this process by name only.

Copy diagnostics copies exactly what is on screen as plain text. It contains no account names, tokens or API keys, which makes it safe to paste into a support thread.

Reset all settings, at the end of the page under Reset, restores every preference to its default after a confirmation. It cannot be undone, and it never touches your project files.

Troubleshooting & FAQ walks through the failures this page helps you identify.