Helios / User guide / Settings and provider accounts

Settings and provider accounts

Configure Helios appearance, accounts, model discovery, title generation, context and execution settings.

Check the active account

Settings → Accounts shows one row for Claude, Codex/GPT, Gemini, Muse, Kimi and OpenRouter. Account identity and plan appear when the provider reports them.

Native sign-in actions open the provider’s own flow. For example, Codex uses codex login, Kimi uses kimi login, and Gemini opens Antigravity. Return to Settings to refresh the account state after completing the flow.

OpenRouter uses an API key configured through Providers. A native provider can also have different subscription and API-key routes. Check the route before starting a task: account sign-in does not guarantee that an environment API key is inactive.

Choose defaults for new chats

In Defaults, choose the starting model and permission mode, then press Save chat defaults. The default working-directory chooser saves its folder choice immediately.

Existing conversations can retain their own settings. Always check the active toolbar when a restored chat behaves differently from a newly created one.

Models and reasoning levels are validated against provider capability information. Discovery can refresh that information; it does not grant a subscription entitlement or add a model to an account.

Adjust appearance

Use Appearance to follow the system colour scheme or choose light or dark. Optional sidebar transparency depends on the desktop and compositor around the native GTK4/libadwaita window.

Keep readable contrast and comfortable window dimensions for long sessions. The workspace and session sidebar can be toggled independently with Ctrl+3 and Ctrl+1.

Choose how session titles are made

Behavior → Title Generation Backend offers four choices:

Backend	Requirements and behaviour
First message (no model)	The default. Uses the message to name a session without making a model request.
Ollama	Uses a separately installed and running Ollama server and the configured model.
Built-in Local Engine	Requires an installed `llama-cli`. The chosen GGUF model can be downloaded if absent; selecting this is not a promise of a bundled or already-offline runtime.
Claude	Makes an extra Claude CLI model request, consuming the active account or API allowance. The supported CLI per-title budget guard applies; subscription usage is not necessarily a separate dollar charge.

You can rename a session manually from its sidebar context menu. Choose First message if you want predictable titles with no additional model setup or title-generation calls.

Refresh providers and inspect tools

Providers contains native discovery, account and model information. Refresh a provider after updating its CLI or changing the signed-in account. OpenRouter’s model catalogue and routing controls depend on its configured key and the catalogue’s reported capabilities.

Model picker · Shown models lets you hide individual entries across providers; Show all restores them. The currently selected model stays visible. OpenRouter also has a separate first-tier shortlist under OpenRouter · Models in the picker; clearing it shows the full catalogue.

Tools and the conversation’s Capabilities pane help inspect reported tool and MCP inventories. Native configuration is still owned by the relevant provider; see context and tools.

Open diagnostics

Diagnostics provides the log file. Its normal location is ~/.helios/logs/helios.log, or logs/helios.log below a configured HELIOS_STATE_DIR.

Start a diagnostic launch from a terminal when needed:

HELIOS_DEBUG=1 helios

Debug logging adds detail about provider processes and records. Read and redact a relevant excerpt before attaching it to a public issue. Include the app version, provider CLI version and steps that reproduce the problem.