msd-core/docs/CONFIGURATION.md

GSD Configuration Reference

Complete schema reference for .planning/config.json. For setup walkthroughs and task-oriented guides see the docs index.

Full configuration schema, workflow toggles, model profiles, and git branching options. For feature context, see Feature Reference.

---

Configuration File

GSD stores project settings in .planning/config.json. Created during /gsd-new-project, updated via /gsd-settings.

Full Schema

{
  "mode": "interactive",
  "granularity": "standard",
  "model_profile": "balanced",
  "model_overrides": {},
  "models": {},
  "dynamic_routing": null,
  "planning": {
    "commit_docs": true,
    "search_gitignored": false,
    "sub_repos": []
  },
  "context": null,
  "workflow": {
    "research": true,
    "plan_check": true,
    "verifier": true,
    "auto_advance": false,
    "nyquist_validation": true,
    "ui_phase": true,
    "ui_safety_gate": true,
    "ui_review": true,
    "node_repair": true,
    "node_repair_budget": 2,
    "research_before_questions": false,
    "discuss_mode": "discuss",
    "max_discuss_passes": 3,
    "skip_discuss": false,
    "human_verify_mode": "end-of-phase",
    "tdd_mode": false,
    "text_mode": false,
    "use_worktrees": true,
    "code_review": true,
    "code_review_depth": "standard",
    "plan_bounce": false,
    "plan_bounce_script": null,
    "plan_bounce_passes": 2,
    "plan_chunked": false,
    "code_review_command": null,
    "cross_ai_execution": false,
    "cross_ai_command": null,
    "cross_ai_timeout": 300,
    "security_enforcement": true,
    "security_asvs_level": 1,
    "security_block_on": "high",
    "post_planning_gaps": true,
    "build_command": null,
    "test_command": null
  },
  "code_quality": {
    "fallow": {
      "enabled": false,
      "scope": "phase",
      "profile": "standard",
      "mcp": false
    }
  },
  "ship": {
    "pr_body_sections": []
  },
  "hooks": {
    "context_warnings": true,
    "workflow_guard": false
  },
  "statusline": {
    "context_position": "end"
  },
  "review": {
    "default_reviewers": null,
    "models": {}
  },
  "parallelization": {
    "enabled": true,
    "plan_level": true,
    "task_level": false,
    "skip_checkpoints": true,
    "max_concurrent_agents": 3,
    "min_plans_for_parallel": 2
  },
  "git": {
    "branching_strategy": "none",
    "create_tag": true,
    "phase_branch_template": "gsd/phase-{phase}-{slug}",
    "milestone_branch_template": "gsd/{milestone}-{slug}",
    "quick_branch_template": null
  },
  "gates": {
    "confirm_project": true,
    "confirm_phases": true,
    "confirm_roadmap": true,
    "confirm_breakdown": true,
    "confirm_plan": true,
    "execute_next_plan": true,
    "issues_review": true,
    "confirm_transition": true
  },
  "safety": {
    "always_confirm_destructive": true,
    "always_confirm_external_services": true
  },
  "project_code": null,
  "agent_skills": {},
  "agent_skills_security": {
    "trusted_global_roots": []
  },
  "response_language": null,
  "features": {
    "thinking_partner": false,
    "global_learnings": false
  },
  "learnings": {
    "max_inject": 10
  },
  "intel": {
    "enabled": false
  },
  "claude_md_path": "./CLAUDE.md"
}

---

Core Settings

Setting	Type	Options	Default	Description
mode	enum	interactive, yolo	interactive	yolo auto-approves decisions; interactive confirms at each step
granularity	enum	coarse, standard, fine	standard	Controls phase count: coarse (2-4), standard (4-6), fine (6-10)
model_profile	enum	quality, balanced, budget, adaptive, inherit	balanced	Model tier for each agent (see Model Profiles). adaptive was added per #1713 / #1806 and resolves the same way as the other tiers under runtime-aware profiles.
runtime	string	claude, codex, or any string	(none)	Active runtime for runtime-aware profile resolution. When set, profile tiers (opus/sonnet/haiku) resolve to runtime-native model IDs. Today only the Codex install path emits per-agent model IDs from this resolver; other runtimes (opencode, gemini, qwen, copilot, …) consume the resolver at spawn time and gain dedicated install-path support in #2612. When unset (default), behavior is unchanged from prior versions. Added in v1.39
model_profile_overrides.<runtime>.<tier>	string | object	per-runtime tier override	(none)	Override the runtime-aware tier mapping for a specific (runtime, tier). Tier is one of opus, sonnet, haiku. Value is either a model ID string (e.g. "gpt-5-pro") or { model, reasoning_effort }. See Runtime-Aware Profiles. Added in v1.39
model_policy.provider	string	openai, anthropic, google, qwen, generic	(none)	Declares the model provider. Known providers (openai, anthropic, google, qwen) unlock catalog-backed presets. generic treats all model IDs as opaque strings — no prefix inference, no reasoning-effort defaults. model_policy.runtime_tiers resolves before legacy model_profile_overrides. See Model Policy Presets. Added in v1.42 (#49)
model_policy.budget	enum	high, medium, low	(none)	Selects a budget tier when using a known provider. GSD materializes the matching catalog preset into explicit tier mappings at resolve time. Ignored when provider is generic or custom. Added in v1.42 (#49)
model_policy.high	string	model ID	(none)	High-cost tier model ID for generic/custom provider. Used when provider: "generic" or "custom". Added in v1.42 (#49)
model_policy.medium	string	model ID	(none)	Medium-cost tier model ID for generic/custom provider. Added in v1.42 (#49)
model_policy.low	string	model ID	(none)	Low-cost tier model ID for generic/custom provider. Added in v1.42 (#49)
model_policy.runtime_tiers.<runtime>.<tier>	object	{ model, reasoning_effort? }	(none)	Explicit per-runtime, per-tier model entry. tier is one of opus, sonnet, haiku (matching the existing profile tier names). reasoning_effort is forwarded only to runtimes that support it; unsupported runtimes never receive the field. Takes precedence over model_profile_overrides. Added in v1.42 (#49)
models.<phase_type>	enum	opus, sonnet, haiku, inherit	(none)	Per-phase-type model tier. Six accepted slots: planning, discuss, research, execution, verification, completion. Lets you tune at the phase level ("Opus for planning, Sonnet for the rest") without learning agent names. Resolves between model_overrides (higher) and model_profile (lower); see Per-Phase-Type Models. Added in v1.40 (#3023)
granularities.<phase_type>	enum	coarse, standard, fine	(none)	Per-phase-type granularity override. Six accepted slots: planning, discuss, research, execution, verification, completion. Lets you tune phase count at the phase level without changing the global granularity. Precedence: granularities[phaseType] (highest, enum-guarded) → granularity (global) → planning.granularity → 'standard' (hard default). Added in v1.43 (#68)
dynamic_routing.enabled	boolean	true, false	false	Master switch for dynamic routing with failure-tier escalation. When true, agents resolve to tier_models[default_tier] and escalate one tier up on orchestrator-detected soft failure. Added in v1.40 (#3024)
dynamic_routing.tier_models.<tier>	enum	opus, sonnet, haiku	(none)	Tier alias for light, standard, or heavy. Used when dynamic_routing.enabled: true. Added in v1.40
dynamic_routing.escalate_on_failure	boolean	true, false	true	When false, escalation is disabled even if enabled: true — every attempt uses the default tier. Added in v1.40
dynamic_routing.max_escalations	integer	0, 1, 2, …	1	Hard cap on retries per agent invocation. Beyond the cap the resolver returns the cap-tier model. Added in v1.40
project_code	string	any short string	(none)	Prefix for phase directory names (e.g., "ABC" produces ABC-01-setup/). Added in v1.31
phase_id_convention	enum	"milestone-prefixed", null	null	Phase ID naming convention. null = legacy numeric IDs (Phase 1, Phase 2). "milestone-prefixed" = globally unique IDs that encode the enclosing milestone (Phase 1-01, Phase 1-02). Run gsd-tools roadmap upgrade --convention milestone-prefixed to migrate an existing ROADMAP.md.
response_language	string	language code	(none)	Language for agent responses (e.g., "pt", "ko", "ja"). Propagates to all spawned agents for cross-phase language consistency. Added in v1.32
context_window	number	any integer	200000	Context window size in tokens. Set 1000000 for 1M-context models (e.g., claude-opus-4-7[1m]). Values >= 500000 enable adaptive context enrichment (full-body reads of prior SUMMARY.md, deeper anti-pattern reads). Configured via /gsd-config --advanced.
context_profile	string	dev, research, review	(none)	Execution context preset that applies a pre-configured bundle of mode, model, and workflow settings for the current type of work. Added in v1.34
claude_md_path	string	any file path	./CLAUDE.md	Custom output path for the generated CLAUDE.md file. Useful for monorepos or projects that need CLAUDE.md in a non-root location. Defaults to ./CLAUDE.md at the project root. Added in v1.36
claude_md_assembly.mode	enum	embed, link	embed	Controls how managed sections are written into CLAUDE.md. embed (default) inlines content between GSD markers. link writes @.planning/<source-path> instead — Claude Code expands the reference at runtime, reducing CLAUDE.md size by ~65% on typical projects. link only applies to sections that have a real source file; workflow and fallback sections always embed. Per-block overrides: claude_md_assembly.blocks.<section> (e.g. claude_md_assembly.blocks.architecture: link). Added in v1.38
context	string	any text	(none)	Custom context string injected into every agent prompt for the project. Use to provide persistent project-specific guidance (e.g., coding conventions, team practices) that every agent should be aware of
phase_naming	string	any string	(none)	Custom prefix for phase directory names. When set, overrides the auto-generated phase slug (e.g., "feature" produces feature-01-setup/ instead of the roadmap-derived slug)
brave_search	boolean	true/false	auto-detected	Override auto-detection of Brave Search API availability. When unset, GSD checks for BRAVE_API_KEY env var or ~/.gsd/brave_api_key file
firecrawl	boolean	true/false	auto-detected	Override auto-detection of Firecrawl API availability. When unset, GSD checks for FIRECRAWL_API_KEY env var or ~/.gsd/firecrawl_api_key file
exa_search	boolean	true/false	auto-detected	Override auto-detection of Exa Search API availability. When unset, GSD checks for EXA_API_KEY env var or ~/.gsd/exa_api_key file
search_gitignored	boolean	true/false	false	Legacy top-level alias for planning.search_gitignored. Prefer the namespaced form; this alias is accepted for backward compatibility

Note: granularity was renamed from depth in v1.22.3. Existing configs are auto-migrated.

---

Integration Settings

Configured interactively via /gsd-config --integrations. These are connectivity settings — API keys and cross-tool routing — and are intentionally kept separate from /gsd-settings (workflow toggles).

Search API keys

API key fields accept a string value (the key itself). They can also be set to the sentinels true/false/null to override auto-detection from env vars / ~/.gsd/*_api_key files (legacy behavior, see rows above).

Setting	Type	Default	Description
brave_search	string | boolean | null	null	Brave Search API key used for web research. Displayed as ****<last-4> in all UI / config-set output; never echoed plaintext
firecrawl	string | boolean | null	null	Firecrawl API key for deep-crawl scraping. Masked in display
exa_search	string | boolean | null	null	Exa Search API key for semantic search. Masked in display

Masking convention (gsd-core/bin/lib/secrets.cjs): keys 8+ characters render as ****<last-4>; shorter keys render as ****; null/empty renders as (unset). Plaintext is written as-is to .planning/config.json — that file is the security boundary — but the CLI, confirmation tables, logs, and AskUserQuestion descriptions never display the plaintext. This applies to the config-set command output itself: config-set brave_search <key> returns a JSON payload with the value masked.

Code-review CLI routing

review.models.<cli> maps a reviewer flavor to a shell command. The code-review workflow shells out using this command when a matching flavor is requested.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
review.models.claude	string	(session model)	Command for Claude-flavored review. Defaults to the session model when unset
review.models.codex	string	null	Command for Codex review, e.g. "codex exec --model gpt-5"
review.models.gemini	string	null	Command for Gemini review, e.g. "gemini -m gemini-2.5-pro"
review.models.opencode	string	null	Command for OpenCode review, e.g. "opencode run --model claude-sonnet-4"

The <cli> slug is validated against [a-zA-Z0-9_-]+. Empty or path-containing slugs are rejected by config-set.

Reviewer defaults for /gsd-review

Use review.default_reviewers to scope the no-flag /gsd-review run to a subset of detected reviewers.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
review.default_reviewers	string[] | null	null (all detected reviewers)	Optional default subset for no-flag /gsd-review, e.g. ["gemini","codex"]. Precedence is: explicit reviewer flags > --all > review.default_reviewers > all detected. Unknown slugs are ignored with a warning; known-but-undetected slugs are ignored with an info note; empty arrays are rejected by config-set.

Example:

{
  "review": {
    "default_reviewers": ["gemini", "codex"]
  }
}

Agent-skill injection (dynamic)

agent_skills.<agent-type> extends the agent_skills map documented below. Slug is validated against [a-zA-Z0-9_-]+ — no path separators, no whitespace, no shell metacharacters. Configured interactively via /gsd-config --integrations.

---

Workflow Toggles

All workflow toggles follow the absent = enabled pattern. If a key is missing from config, it defaults to true.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
workflow.research	boolean	true	Domain investigation before planning each phase
workflow.plan_check	boolean	true	Plan verification loop (up to 3 iterations)
workflow.verifier	boolean	true	Post-execution verification against phase goals
workflow.auto_advance	boolean	false	Auto-chain discuss → plan → execute without stopping
workflow.nyquist_validation	boolean	true	Test coverage mapping during plan-phase research
workflow.ui_phase	boolean	true	Generate UI design contracts for frontend phases
workflow.ui_safety_gate	boolean	true	Prompt to run /gsd-ui-phase for frontend phases during plan-phase
workflow.ui_review	boolean	true	Run visual quality audit (/gsd-ui-review) after phase execution in autonomous mode. When false, the UI audit step is skipped.
workflow.node_repair	boolean	true	Autonomous task repair on verification failure
workflow.node_repair_budget	number	2	Max repair attempts per failed task
workflow.research_before_questions	boolean	false	Run research before discussion questions instead of after
workflow.discuss_mode	string	'discuss'	Controls how /gsd-discuss-phase gathers context. 'discuss' (default) asks questions one-by-one. 'assumptions' reads the codebase first, generates structured assumptions with confidence levels, and only asks you to correct what's wrong. Added in v1.28
workflow.max_discuss_passes	number	3	Maximum number of question rounds in discuss-phase before the workflow stops asking. Useful in headless/auto mode to prevent infinite discussion loops.
workflow.skip_discuss	boolean	false	When true, /gsd-autonomous bypasses the discuss-phase entirely, writing minimal CONTEXT.md from the ROADMAP phase goal. Useful for projects where developer preferences are fully captured in PROJECT.md/REQUIREMENTS.md. Added in v1.28
workflow.text_mode	boolean	false	Replaces AskUserQuestion TUI menus with plain-text numbered lists. Required for Claude Code remote sessions (/rc mode) where TUI menus don't render. Can also be set per-session with --text flag on discuss-phase. Added in v1.28
workflow.use_worktrees	boolean	true	When false, disables git worktree isolation for parallel execution. Users who prefer sequential execution or whose environment does not support worktrees can disable this. Added in v1.31. Branch-divergence note: when your branch is ahead of origin/HEAD, GSD auto-degrades to sequential and prints a warning. Set worktree.baseRef:"head" in .claude/settings.local.json (run node gsd-tools.cjs worktree set-baseref) to restore parallel execution. See Fix the worktree base-mismatch (exit 42) error.
workflow.worktree_skip_hooks	boolean	false	When true, executor agents in worktree mode pass --no-verify (skipping pre-commit hooks) and post-wave hook validation runs against the merged result instead. Opt-in escape hatch for projects whose hooks cannot run in agent worktrees. Default false runs hooks on every commit (#2924).
workflow.code_review	boolean	true	Enable /gsd-code-review and /gsd-code-review --fix commands. When false, the commands exit with a configuration gate message. Added in v1.34
workflow.code_review_depth	string	standard	Default review depth for /gsd-code-review: quick (pattern-matching only), standard (per-file analysis), or deep (cross-file with import graphs). Can be overridden per-run with --depth=. Added in v1.34
workflow.plan_bounce	boolean	false	Run external validation script against generated plans. When enabled, the plan-phase orchestrator pipes each PLAN.md through the script specified by plan_bounce_script and blocks on non-zero exit. Added in v1.36
workflow.plan_bounce_script	string	(none)	Path to the external script invoked for plan bounce validation. Receives the PLAN.md path as its first argument. Required when plan_bounce is true. Added in v1.36
workflow.plan_bounce_passes	number	2	Number of sequential bounce passes to run. Each pass feeds the previous pass's output back into the validator. Higher values increase rigor at the cost of latency. Added in v1.36
workflow.post_planning_gaps	boolean	true	Unified post-planning gap report (#2493). After all plans are generated and committed, scans REQUIREMENTS.md and CONTEXT.md <decisions> against every PLAN.md in the phase directory, then prints one Source | Item | Status table. Word-boundary matching (REQ-1 vs REQ-10) and natural sort (REQ-02 before REQ-10). Non-blocking — informational report only. Set to false to skip Step 13e of plan-phase.
workflow.plan_review_convergence	boolean	false	Enable the /gsd-plan-review-convergence command. Disabled by default — the command exits with an enable instruction when this key is false. The command automates the manual plan→review→replan loop: it spawns configured reviewers (Codex, Gemini, Claude, OpenCode, Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp), counts unresolved HIGH concerns via the CYCLE_SUMMARY contract, replans with --reviews feedback, and repeats until converged or max cycles reached. Enable with gsd config-set workflow.plan_review_convergence true. Added in v1.39
workflow.plan_chunked	boolean	false	Enable chunked planning mode. When true (or when --chunked flag is passed to /gsd-plan-phase), the orchestrator splits the single long-lived planner Task into a short outline Task followed by N short per-plan Tasks (~3-5 min each). Each plan is committed individually for crash resilience. If a Task hangs and the terminal is force-killed, rerunning with --chunked resumes from the last completed plan. Particularly useful on Windows where long-lived Tasks may hang on stdio. Added in v1.38
workflow.code_review_command	string	(none)	Shell command for external code review integration in /gsd-ship. Receives changed file paths via stdin. Non-zero exit blocks the ship workflow. Added in v1.36
workflow.tdd_mode	boolean	false	Enable TDD pipeline as a first-class execution mode. When true, the planner aggressively applies type: tdd to eligible tasks (business logic, APIs, validations, algorithms) and the executor enforces RED/GREEN/REFACTOR gate sequence. An end-of-phase collaborative review checkpoint verifies gate compliance. Added in v1.36
workflow.human_verify_mode	string	'end-of-phase'	Controls human verification checkpoints. 'end-of-phase' (default since #3309) suppresses checkpoint:human-verify tasks and embeds checks into <verify><human-check> blocks for end-of-phase review. 'mid-flight' restores blocking checkpoint tasks. checkpoint:decision and checkpoint:human-action are unaffected. See Checkpoints Reference.
workflow.cross_ai_execution	boolean	false	Delegate phase execution to an external AI CLI instead of spawning local executor agents. Useful for leveraging a different model's strengths for specific phases. Added in v1.36
workflow.cross_ai_command	string	(none)	Shell command template for cross-AI execution. Receives the phase prompt via stdin. Must produce SUMMARY.md-compatible output. Required when cross_ai_execution is true. Added in v1.36
workflow.cross_ai_timeout	number	300	Timeout in seconds for cross-AI execution commands. Prevents runaway external processes. Added in v1.36
workflow.ai_integration_phase	boolean	true	Enable the /gsd-ai-integration-phase command. When false, the command exits with a configuration gate message
workflow.auto_prune_state	boolean	false	When true, automatically prune stale entries from STATE.md at phase boundaries instead of prompting
workflow.pattern_mapper	boolean	true	Run the gsd-pattern-mapper agent between research and planning to map new files to existing codebase analogs
workflow.subagent_timeout	number	600	Timeout in seconds for individual subagent invocations. Increase for long-running research or execution phases
executor.stall_detect_interval_minutes	number	5	Minutes between executor stall checks while an executor agent is active. The execute-phase orchestrator uses this cadence to inspect recent commits and avoid waiting forever on a silent agent.
executor.stall_threshold_minutes	number	10	Minutes without executor completion or expected-branch commit activity before execute-phase offers recovery choices for a possible stalled executor.
workflow.inline_plan_threshold	number	3	Maximum number of tasks in a phase before the planner generates a separate PLAN.md file instead of inlining tasks in the prompt
workflow.drift_threshold	number	3	Minimum number of new structural elements (new directories, barrel exports, migrations, route modules) introduced during a phase before the post-execute codebase-drift gate takes action. See #2003. Added in v1.39
workflow.drift_action	string	warn	What to do when workflow.drift_threshold is exceeded after /gsd-execute-phase. warn prints a message suggesting /gsd-map-codebase --paths …; auto-remap spawns gsd-codebase-mapper scoped to the affected paths. Added in v1.39
workflow.build_command	string	(none)	Shell command to build the project in the post-merge build gate (Step A of step 5.6 in execute-phase). When unset, the gate auto-detects: Xcode (.xcodeproj present) → xcodebuild build, Makefile with build: target → make build, Justfile → just build, Cargo.toml → cargo build, go.mod → go build ./..., Python → python -m py_compile, package.json with build script → npm run build. Runs with a 5-minute timeout; failure increments WAVE_FAILURE_COUNT. Added in v1.39
workflow.test_command	string	(none)	Shell command to run the project's test suite in the post-merge test gate (Step B of step 5.6 in execute-phase) and the regression gate. When unset, the gate auto-detects: Xcode (.xcodeproj present) → xcodebuild test, Makefile with test: target → make test, Justfile → just test, package.json → npm test, Cargo.toml → cargo test, go.mod → go test ./..., Python → python -m pytest. Runs with a 5-minute timeout; failure increments WAVE_FAILURE_COUNT. Added in v1.39

Code Quality Settings

The code_quality.* namespace gates optional structural-analysis tooling that augments /gsd-code-review. Settings are additive: each tool is independently opt-in and off by default.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
code_quality.fallow.enabled	boolean	false	Enables fallow structural pre-pass for /gsd-code-review. When false, no fallow binary probe or JSON artifact is produced.
code_quality.fallow.scope	string	phase	Scope for fallow analysis: phase (current review file scope) or repo (entire repository).
code_quality.fallow.profile	string	standard	Fallow profile selector passed to the pre-pass runner (minimal, standard, strict).
code_quality.fallow.mcp	boolean	false	Reserved — not yet implemented. When true, enables MCP-backed structural findings mode for runtimes that support MCP server routing. Setting this to true is currently a no-op and emits a runtime warning.

Ship Settings

ship.pr_body_sections adds additional PR body sections for project-specific PRD/PR body content in /gsd-ship without editing gsd-core/workflows/ship.md.

For a user guide with onboarding examples and troubleshooting, see Custom PR Body Sections.

This list is append-only: configured entries are added after the core Summary, Changes, Requirements Addressed, Verification, and Key Decisions sections. They cannot replace, remove, or reorder required sections.

Recommended lean/agile PRD uses include user stories, acceptance criteria, Definition of Done or release criteria, risks and dependencies, success metrics, and stakeholder review notes. Keep these sections short and evidence-oriented so the PR body remains a living release artifact rather than a static requirements dump.

Each entry supports:

Field	Type	Default	Description
heading	string	required	Markdown section heading rendered as ## {heading}. Must be a single line.
enabled	boolean	true	When false, onboarding can keep a candidate section in config without rendering it in generated PR bodies.
source	string	(none)	Optional fallback chain of planning artifact headings, such as PLAN.md ## Risks || VERIFICATION.md ## Manual Checks. Allowed artifacts are ROADMAP.md, PLAN.md, SUMMARY.md, VERIFICATION.md, STATE.md, REQUIREMENTS.md, and CONTEXT.md.
template	string	(none)	Literal Markdown with closed tokens: {phase_number}, {phase_name}, {phase_dir}, {base_branch}, {padded_phase}.
fallback	string	(none)	Literal Markdown used when source yields no content and no template is provided.

At least one of source, template, or fallback is required for each section. The default is [], so existing projects keep their current /gsd-ship output until onboarding adds enabled entries.

Example:

{
  "ship": {
    "pr_body_sections": [
      {
        "heading": "User Stories & Acceptance Criteria",
        "enabled": true,
        "source": "REQUIREMENTS.md ## User Stories || REQUIREMENTS.md ## Acceptance Criteria",
        "fallback": "- Acceptance criteria are covered by the linked requirements and verification evidence."
      },
      {
        "heading": "Risks & Rollback",
        "enabled": true,
        "source": "PLAN.md ## Risks || PLAN.md ## Rollback",
        "fallback": "- Rollback: revert this PR."
      },
      {
        "heading": "Stakeholder Sign-off",
        "enabled": false,
        "template": "- Product owner: pending for {phase_name}"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Common Setting Combinations

The following combinations of mode, granularity, model_profile, and workflow toggles are commonly used together. See Configure model profiles for setup guidance.

Scenario	mode	granularity	profile	research	plan_check	verifier
Prototyping	yolo	coarse	budget	false	false	false
Normal development	interactive	standard	balanced	true	true	true
Production release	interactive	fine	quality	true	true	true

---

Planning Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
planning.commit_docs	boolean	true	Whether .planning/ files are committed to git
planning.search_gitignored	boolean	false	Add --no-ignore to broad searches to include .planning/
planning.sub_repos	array of strings	[]	Paths of nested sub-repos relative to the project root. When set, GSD-aware tooling scopes phase-lookup, path-resolution, and commit operations per sub-repo instead of treating the outer repo as a monorepo

Project-Root Resolution in Multi-Repo Workspaces

When sub_repos is set and gsd-tools.cjs or gsd-tools query is invoked from inside a listed child repo, both CLIs walk up to the parent workspace that owns .planning/ before dispatching handlers. Resolution order (checked at each ancestor up to 10 levels, never above $HOME):

1. If the starting directory already has its own .planning/, it is the project root (no walk-up).
2. Parent has .planning/config.json listing the starting directory's top-level segment in sub_repos (or the legacy planning.sub_repos shape).
3. Parent has .planning/config.json with legacy multiRepo: true and the starting directory is inside a git repo.
4. Parent has .planning/ and an ancestor up to the candidate parent contains .git (heuristic fallback).

If none match, the starting directory is returned unchanged. Explicit --project-dir /path/to/workspace is idempotent under this resolution.

Auto-Detection

If .planning/ is in .gitignore, commit_docs is automatically false regardless of config.json. This prevents git errors.

---

Hook Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
hooks.context_warnings	boolean	true	Show context window usage warnings via context monitor hook
hooks.workflow_guard	boolean	false	Warn when file edits happen outside GSD workflow context (advises using /gsd-quick or /gsd-fast)
statusline.show_last_command	boolean	false	Append last: /<cmd> suffix to the statusline showing the most recently invoked slash command. Opt-in; reads the active session transcript to extract the latest <command-name> tag (closes #2538)
statusline.context_position	string	"end"	Position of the context-window meter. "end" (default) renders at line tail; "front" renders immediately after the model name so the meter stays visible in narrow terminals. Closes #2937

The prompt injection guard hook (gsd-prompt-guard.js) is always active and cannot be disabled — it's a security feature, not a workflow toggle.

Private Planning Setup

When planning.commit_docs is false and .planning/ is listed in .gitignore, GSD treats planning artefacts as local-only. planning.search_gitignored: true ensures broad searches still include the .planning/ directory in this configuration. See Configure private planning for setup steps.

---

Agent Skills Injection

Inject custom skill files into GSD subagent prompts. Skills are read by agents at spawn time, giving them project-specific instructions beyond what CLAUDE.md provides.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
agent_skills	object	{}	Map of agent types to skill directory paths
agent_skills_security.trusted_global_roots	array of strings	[]	Opt-in allowlist of additional trusted directories for global: skills. See Trusted global skill roots

Configuration

Add an agent_skills section to .planning/config.json mapping agent types to arrays of skill directory paths (relative to project root):

{
  "agent_skills": {
    "gsd-executor": ["skills/testing-standards", "skills/api-conventions"],
    "gsd-planner": ["skills/architecture-rules"],
    "gsd-verifier": ["skills/acceptance-criteria"]
  }
}

Each path must be a directory containing a SKILL.md file. Paths are validated for safety (no traversal outside project root).

Supported Agent Types

Any GSD agent type can receive skills. Common types:

• gsd-executor -- executes implementation plans
• gsd-planner -- creates phase plans
• gsd-checker -- verifies plan quality
• gsd-verifier -- post-execution verification
• gsd-researcher -- phase research
• gsd-project-researcher -- new-project research
• gsd-debugger -- diagnostic agents
• gsd-codebase-mapper -- codebase analysis
• gsd-advisor -- discuss-phase advisors
• gsd-ui-researcher -- UI design contract creation
• gsd-ui-checker -- UI spec verification
• gsd-roadmapper -- roadmap creation
• gsd-synthesizer -- research synthesis

How It Works

At spawn time, workflows call gsd-tools query agent-skills <type> (or legacy node gsd-tools.cjs agent-skills <type>) to load configured skills. If skills exist for the agent type, they are injected as an <agent_skills> block in the Task() prompt:

<agent_skills>
Read these user-configured skills:
- @skills/testing-standards/SKILL.md
- @skills/api-conventions/SKILL.md
</agent_skills>

If no skills are configured, the block is omitted (zero overhead).

CLI

Set skills via the CLI:

gsd-tools query config-set agent_skills.gsd-executor '["skills/my-skill"]'

---

Trusted Global Skill Roots (agent_skills_security.trusted_global_roots)

Widen the symlink-safety boundary for global: skills by declaring additional trusted root directories.

Purpose

By default, a global:<name> skill whose SKILL.md real path (after resolving symlinks) escapes the runtime's global skills directory (e.g. ~/.claude/skills/) is rejected as a symlink-escape. agent_skills_security.trusted_global_roots lets you declare additional trusted root directories so symlinked skills whose real target lives under one of them are accepted.

Common use case: a single source-of-truth skills directory elsewhere on disk (e.g. ~/shared/skills) symlinked into ~/.claude/skills/ so git pull or rsync keeps a team's skills up to date without maintaining copies.

Configuration

{
  "agent_skills_security": {
    "trusted_global_roots": [
      "~/shared/skills",
      "/opt/shared-skills"
    ]
  }
}

How It Works

• Default [] — behavior is byte-identical to omitting the option entirely: only skills whose real SKILL.md path resolves inside the default global skills directory are accepted.
• Absolute or tilde-prefixed paths only. Each entry must be an absolute path (/opt/shared-skills) or a ~/~/-prefixed path (tilde expands to your home directory). Project-relative paths are rejected, so an untrusted repo's .planning/config.json cannot point trust at a directory inside itself.
• realpathSync at load time. Each declared root is resolved with realpathSync on every run, so trust follows the real target and cannot silently drift if a root itself later becomes a symlink. Non-existent or unreadable roots are dropped without error.
• Dangerously broad roots are refused. The filesystem root (/), drive or UNC roots, and your home directory itself cannot be declared as trusted roots — these would make the allowlist meaningless.
• Acceptance rule. A skill is accepted if and only if its real SKILL.md path lies inside the default global skills directory OR inside one of the resolved trusted roots. Skills resolving outside all of these are still rejected.
• Audit note. When a skill is accepted via a trusted root rather than the default global skills directory, a [agent-skills] NOTE: line is written to stderr so the widened boundary remains visible.

Security note: trusted_global_roots is read from the project-local .planning/config.json. Only add roots you control and trust. Declaring a broad shared directory widens which symlinked global skills will load for every agent in this project.

CLI

gsd config-set agent_skills_security.trusted_global_roots '["~/shared/skills"]'

Setting the parent object (agent_skills_security) directly is not supported; use the dot-notation leaf form shown above.

---

Feature Flags

Toggle optional capabilities via the features.* config namespace. Feature flags default to false (disabled) — enabling a flag opts into new behavior without affecting existing workflows.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
features.thinking_partner	boolean	false	Enable thinking partner analysis at workflow decision points
features.global_learnings	boolean	false	Enable cross-project learnings pipeline (auto-copy at phase completion, planner injection)
learnings.max_inject	number	10	Maximum number of cross-project learnings injected into each planner prompt. Lower values reduce prompt size; higher values provide broader historical context
intel.enabled	boolean	false	Enable queryable codebase intelligence system. When true, /gsd-map-codebase --query commands build and query a JSON index in .planning/intel/. Added in v1.34

Plan Review Settings

The plan_review.* namespace controls the plan drift guard, which verifies that symbols cited in generated plans (decorators, classes, functions, CLI flags) actually exist in your source code at review time. This catches hallucinated names before execution begins.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
plan_review.source_grounding	boolean	true	Enable the plan drift guard. When true (the default), plan review resolves every symbol reference cited in a PLAN.md against the live source tree. Plans that cite a non-existent function, class, decorator, or CLI flag produce a needs-acknowledgement notice before the plan is approved. Disable with false to skip symbol verification entirely. Toggle during setup (/gsd:new-project) or at any time via /gsd:settings.
plan_review.source_grounding_authority	enum	grep	Selects the resolver adapter used to verify symbol existence. Allowed values: grep (default — ripgrep/grep search of source files, works in any project without additional tooling), intel (query the .planning/intel/api-map.json index built by /gsd:map-codebase; requires intel.enabled: true), treesitter (reserved for future tree-sitter adapter), lsp (reserved for future LSP adapter), scip (reserved for future SCIP/LSIF adapter). Use intel when you have run /gsd:map-codebase and want the faster, pre-indexed lookup. All other values beyond grep and intel are reserved and have no effect in the current release.

Graphify Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
graphify.enabled	boolean	false	Enable the project knowledge graph. When true, /gsd-graphify builds and queries a graph in .planning/graphs/. Added in v1.36
graphify.build_timeout	number (seconds)	300	Maximum seconds allowed for a /gsd-graphify build run before it aborts. Added in v1.36
graphify.auto_update	boolean	false	Opt-in (issue #3347). When true (and graphify.enabled is also true), the bundled PostToolUse hook hooks/gsd-graphify-update.sh auto-rebuilds the project knowledge graph in a detached background process after git commit/merge/pull/rebase --continue/cherry-pick on the default branch (git.base_branch override, else main/master/trunk). Hook returns instantly; the rebuild updates .planning/graphs/{graph.json,graph.html,GRAPH_REPORT.md} and writes .planning/graphs/.last-build-status.json ({ts, status: "running"|"ok"|"failed", exit_code, duration_ms, head_at_build}). PID-locked, CI-aware ($CI env suppresses), bails silently if graphify is not on PATH. Default false so existing behaviour is unchanged after upgrade.

Multi-developer setup

When multiple developers rebuild the graph in the same repository, graphify hook install (run once per clone) installs a git merge driver that union-merges concurrent graph.json writes, eliminating conflict markers. It also registers the post-commit rebuild hook, writes .gitattributes, and adds graphify merge-driver to .git/config. Solo projects may skip this step. Introduced upstream in graphify v0.7.0 alongside the built_at_commit freshness signal surfaced by /gsd-graphify status.

Commit-based staleness

/gsd-graphify status reports two orthogonal staleness signals:

• stale (mtime-based, 24-hour window) — when the graph file was last written. Useful when graphify isn't run automatically.
• commit_stale (commit-based, requires graphify v0.7+) — whether the graph was built against the current git HEAD. Trustworthy when present. Tri-state: true / false / null. null means the signal is unavailable (pre-v0.7 graph, no git, or unreachable commit) — fall back to the mtime flag.

A CI-built graph rebuilt minutes ago against an old checkout will read as fresh on mtime but commit_stale: true. Surface both when answering architecture questions.

Usage

# Enable a feature
gsd-tools query config-set features.global_learnings true

# Disable a feature
gsd-tools query config-set features.thinking_partner false

The features.* namespace is a dynamic key pattern — new feature flags can be added without modifying VALID_CONFIG_KEYS. Any key matching features.<name> is accepted by the config system.

---

Parallelization Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
parallelization	boolean	true	Shorthand for parallelization.enabled. Setting parallelization false disables parallel execution without changing other sub-keys
parallelization.enabled	boolean	true	Run independent plans simultaneously
parallelization.plan_level	boolean	true	Parallelize at plan level
parallelization.task_level	boolean	false	Parallelize tasks within a plan
parallelization.skip_checkpoints	boolean	true	Skip checkpoints during parallel execution
parallelization.max_concurrent_agents	number	3	Maximum simultaneous agents
parallelization.min_plans_for_parallel	number	2	Minimum plans to trigger parallel execution

Pre-commit hooks and parallel execution: When parallelization is enabled, executor agents commit with --no-verify to avoid build lock contention (e.g., cargo lock fights in Rust projects). The orchestrator validates hooks once after each wave completes. STATE.md writes are protected by file-level locking to prevent concurrent write corruption. If you need hooks to run per-commit, set parallelization.enabled: false.

---

STATE.md Frontmatter (Phase Lifecycle)

STATE.md carries YAML frontmatter that the status-line hook reads on every render. v1.40 adds four optional phase-lifecycle fields read by parseStateMd() and rendered by formatGsdState():

Field	Type	Purpose
active_phase	string (e.g. "4.5")	Phase number when an orchestrator command is in flight
next_action	string	Recommended next command when idle (discuss-phase / plan-phase / execute-phase / verify-phase)
next_phases	YAML flow array	Phases the next_action applies to (e.g. ["4.5"])
progress	block	Nested total_phases / completed_phases / percent for the milestone progress bar

All four fields are optional and additive — STATE.md files without them keep rendering exactly as in v1.38.x. See STATE.md schema for the full field reference, parser constraints, and rendering scenes.

---

Git Branching

Setting	Type	Default	Description
git.branching_strategy	enum	none	none, phase, or milestone
git.base_branch	string	main	The integration branch that phase/milestone branches are created from and merged back into. Override when your repo uses master or a release branch
git.create_tag	boolean	true	Create a git tag (v[X.Y]) on milestone completion. Set to false for projects with their own release flow
git.phase_branch_template	string	gsd/phase-{phase}-{slug}	Branch name template for phase strategy
git.milestone_branch_template	string	gsd/{milestone}-{slug}	Branch name template for milestone strategy
git.quick_branch_template	string or null	null	Optional branch name template for /gsd-quick tasks

Strategy Comparison

Strategy	Creates Branch	Scope	Merge Point	Best For
none	Never	N/A	N/A	Solo development, simple projects
phase	At execute-phase start	One phase	User merges after phase	Code review per phase, granular rollback
milestone	At first execute-phase	All phases in milestone	At complete-milestone	Release branches, PR per version

Template Variables

Variable	Available In	Example
{phase}	phase_branch_template	03 (zero-padded)
{slug}	Both templates	user-authentication (lowercase, hyphenated)
{milestone}	milestone_branch_template	v1.0
{num} / {quick}	quick_branch_template	260317-abc (quick task ID)

Example quick-task branching:

"git": {
  "quick_branch_template": "gsd/quick-{num}-{slug}"
}

Merge Options at Milestone Completion

Option	Git Command	Result
Squash merge (recommended)	git merge --squash	Single clean commit per branch
Merge with history	git merge --no-ff	Preserves all individual commits
Delete without merging	git branch -D	Discard branch work
Keep branches	(none)	Manual handling later

---

Gate Settings

Control confirmation prompts during workflows.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
gates.confirm_project	boolean	true	Confirm project details before finalizing
gates.confirm_phases	boolean	true	Confirm phase breakdown
gates.confirm_roadmap	boolean	true	Confirm roadmap before proceeding
gates.confirm_breakdown	boolean	true	Confirm task breakdown
gates.confirm_plan	boolean	true	Confirm each plan before execution
gates.execute_next_plan	boolean	true	Confirm before executing next plan
gates.issues_review	boolean	true	Review issues before creating fix plans
gates.confirm_transition	boolean	true	Confirm phase transition

---

Safety Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
safety.always_confirm_destructive	boolean	true	Confirm destructive operations (deletes, overwrites)
safety.always_confirm_external_services	boolean	true	Confirm external service interactions

---

Security Settings

Settings for the security enforcement feature (v1.31). All follow the absent = enabled pattern. These keys live under workflow.* in .planning/config.json — matching the shipped template and the runtime reads in workflows/plan-phase.md, workflows/execute-phase.md, workflows/secure-phase.md, and workflows/verify-work.md.

These keys live under workflow.* — that is where the workflows and installer write and read them. Setting them at the top level of config.json is silently ignored.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
workflow.security_enforcement	boolean	true	Enable threat-model-anchored security verification via /gsd-secure-phase. When false, security checks are skipped entirely
workflow.security_asvs_level	number (1-3)	1	OWASP ASVS verification level. Level 1 = opportunistic, Level 2 = standard, Level 3 = comprehensive
workflow.security_block_on	string	"high"	Minimum severity that blocks phase advancement. Options: "high", "medium", "low"

---

Decision Coverage Gates (workflow.context_coverage_gate)

When discuss-phase writes implementation decisions into CONTEXT.md <decisions>, two gates ensure those decisions survive the trip into plans and shipped code (issue #2492).

Setting	Type	Default	Description
workflow.context_coverage_gate	boolean	true	Toggle for both decision-coverage gates. When false, both the plan-phase translation gate and the verify-phase validation gate skip silently.

What the gates do

Plan-phase translation gate (BLOCKING). Runs immediately after the existing requirements coverage gate, before plans are committed. For each trackable decision in <decisions>, it checks that the decision id (D-NN) or its text appears in at least one plan's must_haves, truths, or body. A miss surfaces the missing decision by id and refuses to mark the phase planned.

Verify-phase validation gate (NON-BLOCKING). Runs alongside the other verify steps. Searches every shipped artifact (PLAN.md, SUMMARY.md, files modified, recent commit subjects) for each trackable decision. Misses are written to VERIFICATION.md as a warning section but do not flip the overall verification status. The asymmetry is deliberate — by verify time the work is done, and a fuzzy substring miss should not fail an otherwise green phase.

How to write decisions the gates accept

The discuss-phase template already produces D-NN-numbered decisions. The gate is happiest when:

1. Every plan that implements a decision cites the id somewhere — must_haves.truths: ["D-12: bit offsets exposed"] or a D-12: mention in the plan body. Strict id match is the cheapest, deterministic path.
2. Soft phrase matching is a fallback for paraphrases — if a 6+-word slice of the decision text appears verbatim in a plan/summary, it counts.

Opt-outs

A decision is not subject to the gates when any of the following apply:

• It lives under the ### Claude's Discretion heading inside <decisions>.
• It is tagged [informational], [folded], or [deferred] in its bullet (e.g., - **D-08 [informational]:** Naming style for internal helpers).

Use these escape hatches when a decision genuinely doesn't need plan coverage — implementation discretion, future ideas captured for the record, or items already deferred to a later phase.

---

Review Settings

Configure per-CLI model selection for /gsd-review. When set, overrides the CLI's default model for that reviewer.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
review.models.gemini	string	(CLI default)	Model used when --gemini reviewer is invoked
review.models.claude	string	(CLI default)	Model used when --claude reviewer is invoked
review.models.codex	string	(CLI default)	Model used when --codex reviewer is invoked
review.models.opencode	string	(CLI default)	Model used when --opencode reviewer is invoked
review.models.qwen	string	(CLI default)	Model used when --qwen reviewer is invoked
review.models.cursor	string	(CLI default)	Model used when --cursor reviewer is invoked
review.models.ollama	string	(server default)	Model name passed to Ollama when --ollama reviewer is invoked. If unset, the first available model reported by the server is used (e.g. llama3). Set to a specific tag: gsd config-set review.models.ollama codellama
review.models.lm_studio	string	(server default)	Model name passed to LM Studio when --lm-studio reviewer is invoked. If unset, the first available model reported by the server is used.
review.models.llama_cpp	string	(server default)	Model name passed to llama.cpp when --llama-cpp reviewer is invoked. If unset, the first model reported by /v1/models is used.
review.default_reviewers	string[] | null	(all detected reviewers)	Default reviewer subset for no-flag /gsd-review. Example: ["gemini","codex"]. Explicit flags and --all override this setting.
review.max_prompt_tokens	number|null	null	Default maximum estimated tokens for the assembled review prompt. When set, the prompt is deterministically trimmed before being sent to each reviewer. Per-reviewer overrides via review.max_prompt_tokens_per_reviewer take precedence. null = no trim (current behavior).
review.max_prompt_tokens_per_reviewer	object	{}	Per-reviewer token budget overrides. Keys are reviewer slugs (ollama, llama_cpp, lm_studio, gemini, claude, codex, opencode, qwen, cursor). Values override review.max_prompt_tokens for that reviewer. Recommended for local model servers.
review.ollama_host	string	http://localhost:11434	Base URL of the Ollama server. Override when running Ollama on a non-default port or remote host: gsd config-set review.ollama_host http://192.168.1.10:11434
review.lm_studio_host	string	http://localhost:1234	Base URL of the LM Studio local server. Override when using a non-default port.
review.llama_cpp_host	string	http://localhost:8080	Base URL of the llama.cpp server (llama-server). Override when using a non-default port.

Prompt budgets for small-context reviewers

Local model servers (Ollama, llama.cpp, LM Studio) typically accept far fewer tokens than cloud APIs. Setting review.max_prompt_tokens_per_reviewer (or the global review.max_prompt_tokens fallback) triggers deterministic prompt trimming before the prompt is sent to that reviewer: CONTEXT is dropped first, then RESEARCH, then REQUIREMENTS; PROJECT.md is head-shrunk to the first 40 lines; PLANs are tail-truncated proportionally — instructions and roadmap are always preserved. When a reviewer is trimmed, a disclosure note is injected at the top of the prompt and trim metadata (budget, omitted sections, truncation percentage) is recorded in the REVIEWS.md frontmatter under trimmed_reviewers. If even the minimum review set (instructions + roadmap + plan stubs) exceeds the budget, the reviewer is skipped with a warning rather than sending a truncated prompt that would produce misleading feedback.

Example

{
  "review": {
    "models": {
      "gemini": "gemini-2.5-pro",
      "qwen": "qwen-max"
    }
  }
}

Falls back to each CLI's configured default when a key is absent. Added in v1.35.0 (#1849).

---

Manager Passthrough Flags

Configure per-step flags that /gsd-manager appends to each dispatched command. This allows customizing how the manager runs discuss, plan, and execute steps without manual flag entry.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
manager.flags.discuss	string	(none)	Flags appended to discuss-phase commands (e.g., "--auto")
manager.flags.plan	string	(none)	Flags appended to plan-phase commands (e.g., "--skip-research")
manager.flags.execute	string	(none)	Flags appended to execute-phase commands (e.g., "--validate")

Example:

{
  "manager": {
    "flags": {
      "discuss": "--auto",
      "plan": "--skip-research",
      "execute": "--validate"
    }
  }
}

Invalid flag tokens are sanitized and logged as warnings. Only recognized GSD flags are passed through.

---

Model Profiles

Profile Definitions

Agent	quality	balanced	budget	adaptive	inherit
gsd-planner	Opus	Opus	Sonnet	Opus	Inherit
gsd-roadmapper	Opus	Sonnet	Sonnet	Opus	Inherit
gsd-executor	Opus	Sonnet	Sonnet	Sonnet	Inherit
gsd-phase-researcher	Opus	Sonnet	Haiku	Sonnet	Inherit
gsd-project-researcher	Opus	Sonnet	Haiku	Sonnet	Inherit
gsd-research-synthesizer	Sonnet	Sonnet	Haiku	Haiku	Inherit
gsd-debugger	Opus	Sonnet	Sonnet	Opus	Inherit
gsd-codebase-mapper	Sonnet	Haiku	Haiku	Haiku	Inherit
gsd-verifier	Sonnet	Sonnet	Haiku	Sonnet	Inherit
gsd-plan-checker	Sonnet	Sonnet	Haiku	Haiku	Inherit
gsd-integration-checker	Sonnet	Sonnet	Haiku	Haiku	Inherit
gsd-nyquist-auditor	Sonnet	Sonnet	Haiku	Haiku	Inherit
gsd-pattern-mapper	Sonnet	Sonnet	Haiku	Haiku	Inherit
gsd-ui-researcher	Opus	Sonnet	Haiku	Sonnet	Inherit
gsd-ui-checker	Sonnet	Sonnet	Haiku	Haiku	Inherit
gsd-ui-auditor	Sonnet	Sonnet	Haiku	Haiku	Inherit
gsd-doc-writer	Opus	Sonnet	Haiku	Sonnet	Inherit
gsd-doc-verifier	Sonnet	Sonnet	Haiku	Haiku	Inherit

All 33 shipped agents have explicit per-profile tier assignments in the catalog (sdk/shared/model-catalog.json). The table above shows a representative subset of the most-used agents. For agents not listed here, model_overrides accepts any shipped agent name. The authoritative profile data is derived from sdk/shared/model-catalog.json via gsd-core/bin/lib/model-catalog.cjs and sdk/src/model-catalog.ts.

Per-Agent Overrides

Override specific agents without changing the entire profile:

{
  "model_profile": "balanced",
  "model_overrides": {
    "gsd-executor": "opus",
    "gsd-planner": "haiku"
  }
}

Valid override values: opus, sonnet, haiku, inherit, or any fully-qualified model ID (e.g., "openai/o3", "google/gemini-2.5-pro").

model_overrides can be set in either .planning/config.json (per-project) or ~/.gsd/defaults.json (global). Per-project entries win on conflict and non-conflicting global entries are preserved, so you can tune a single agent's model in one repo without re-setting global defaults. This applies uniformly across Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Kilo, and the other supported runtimes. On Codex and OpenCode, the resolved model is embedded into each agent's static config at install time — spawn_agent and OpenCode's task interface do not accept an inline model parameter, so running gsd install <runtime> after editing model_overrides is required for the change to take effect. See issue #2256.

Per-Phase-Type Models (models) — added in v1.41

Express tuning at the phase level (planning, research, execution, verification) without learning the agent taxonomy. Added in #3023.

model_overrides is per-agent (precise but verbose; you have to know that gsd-codebase-mapper is research and gsd-doc-writer is execution). The models block lets you say "Opus for planning and execution, Sonnet for the rest" in two lines:

{
  "model_profile": "balanced",
  "models": {
    "planning": "opus",
    "discuss": "opus",
    "research": "sonnet",
    "execution": "opus",
    "verification": "sonnet",
    "completion": "sonnet"
  },
  "model_overrides": {
    "gsd-codebase-mapper": "haiku"
  }
}

Phase-type → agent mapping

Phase type	Agents
planning	gsd-planner, gsd-roadmapper, gsd-pattern-mapper
discuss	(reserved — no subagent today)
research	gsd-phase-researcher, gsd-project-researcher, gsd-research-synthesizer, gsd-codebase-mapper, gsd-ui-researcher
execution	gsd-executor, gsd-debugger, gsd-doc-writer
verification	gsd-verifier, gsd-plan-checker, gsd-integration-checker, gsd-nyquist-auditor, gsd-ui-checker, gsd-ui-auditor, gsd-doc-verifier
completion	(reserved — no subagent today)

discuss and completion are accepted by the schema for forward compatibility; setting them today is a no-op until a subagent maps to them.

Resolution precedence (highest → lowest)

1. model_overrides[<agent>]              ← per-agent; full IDs; targeted exception
2. dynamic_routing.tier_models[<tier>]   ← when enabled (see §Dynamic Routing)
3. models[<phase_type>]                  ← coarse phase-level tier (this section)
4. model_profile (per-agent col)         ← global tier strategy
5. Runtime default                       ← when nothing else applies

The five layers compose top-down: model_profile is the base tier, models[<phase_type>] overrides at the phase level, dynamic_routing (when enabled) escalates per-attempt on soft failure, model_overrides[<agent>] carves per-agent exceptions at the top, and the runtime default applies when nothing else does. In the example above, all five research agents resolve to sonnet except gsd-codebase-mapper, which the per-agent override pins to haiku. dynamic_routing is disabled by default — when off (enabled: false or block omitted), this section's behavior is unchanged from today.

Accepted values

models.<phase_type> accepts only tier aliases:

Value	Effect
"opus" / "sonnet" / "haiku"	Standard tier — runtime resolution maps to the active runtime's model for that tier
"inherit"	Agents in this phase follow the session model (same semantics as model_profile: "inherit")

If you need a fully-qualified model ID ("openai/gpt-5", "google/gemini-2.5-pro"), use model_overrides per agent instead. models.* is intentionally tier-only so the runtime-aware mapping stays correct on Codex / OpenCode / Gemini CLI installs.

When to use which

You want	Use
One global tier strategy ("balanced everywhere")	model_profile
Coarse phase-level tuning ("Opus for planning")	models.<phase_type>
Per-agent precision ("force haiku on the codebase mapper")	model_overrides[<agent>]
Full model ID for a specific agent	model_overrides[<agent>]: "openai/gpt-5"

Mix freely — the precedence rule above resolves any overlap deterministically.

Validation

config-set rejects unknown phase-types:

$ gsd config-set models.deployment opus
Error: 'models.deployment' is not a valid config key

# Valid:
$ gsd config-set models.research sonnet

Direct edits to .planning/config.json are looser — the resolver simply ignores values it doesn't recognize and falls through to the profile tier — so a typo doesn't silently break tier resolution.

Dynamic Routing with Failure-Tier Escalation (dynamic_routing) — added in v1.41

Start cheap, escalate only when the agent fails the gate. Added in #3024.

dynamic_routing lets you pay for the cheap tier by default and only escalate to the more expensive tier when the orchestrator detects a soft failure (verification inconclusive, plan-check FLAG, etc.).

{
  "dynamic_routing": {
    "enabled": true,
    "tier_models": {
      "light":    "haiku",
      "standard": "sonnet",
      "heavy":    "opus"
    },
    "escalate_on_failure": true,
    "max_escalations": 1
  }
}

Agent default tiers

Each agent in MODEL_PROFILES declares one of three default tiers. The resolver picks tier_models[default_tier] for the first attempt.

Tier	Agents	Use case
light	gsd-codebase-mapper, gsd-doc-classifier, gsd-doc-verifier, gsd-integration-checker, gsd-intel-updater, gsd-nyquist-auditor, gsd-pattern-mapper, gsd-plan-checker, gsd-research-synthesizer, gsd-ui-auditor, gsd-ui-checker	Cheap/fast — pure mappers, scanners, low-stakes audits
standard	gsd-advisor-researcher, gsd-ai-researcher, gsd-code-fixer, gsd-code-reviewer, gsd-doc-synthesizer, gsd-doc-writer, gsd-domain-researcher, gsd-eval-auditor, gsd-executor, gsd-phase-researcher, gsd-project-researcher, gsd-ui-researcher, gsd-verifier	Default workhorse — research, writing, primary verification
heavy	gsd-assumptions-analyzer, gsd-debug-session-manager, gsd-debugger, gsd-eval-planner, gsd-framework-selector, gsd-planner, gsd-roadmapper, gsd-security-auditor, gsd-user-profiler	Deep reasoning — already at top, can't escalate further

Escalation flow

1. Orchestrator spawns agent → resolver returns tier_models[default_tier]
2. Soft failure?
   ├─ no → ✓ done (cheap path)
   └─ yes → orchestrator re-spawns at attempt+1
            → resolver returns tier_models[next_tier_up]
            → cap at max_escalations
3. Hard failure (exception/crash) → bypass escalation, surface immediately

If dynamic_routing.escalate_on_failure: false, soft failures do not advance the tier — every respawn keeps using tier_models[default_tier] regardless of the attempt counter. The kill-switch overrides the soft-failure branch above.

light → standard → heavy → heavy (heavy stays at heavy; can't go further).

Resolution precedence (highest → lowest)

1. model_overrides[<agent>] — full IDs accepted; targeted exception
2. dynamic_routing.tier_models[<tier>] (when enabled: true)
3. models[<phase_type>] — coarse phase-level (#3023)
4. model_profile — per-agent column from active profile
5. Runtime default

The dynamic_routing block is disabled by default — enabled: false (or omitting the block) preserves today's static resolution exactly.

Settings

Key	Type	Default	Description
dynamic_routing.enabled	boolean	false	Master switch. When true, the dynamic-routing resolver is used for tier selection.
dynamic_routing.tier_models.light	enum	(none)	Tier alias for the light tier. Typically haiku.
dynamic_routing.tier_models.standard	enum	(none)	Tier alias for standard. Typically sonnet.
dynamic_routing.tier_models.heavy	enum	(none)	Tier alias for heavy. Typically opus.
dynamic_routing.escalate_on_failure	boolean	true	When false, escalation is disabled (every attempt uses the default tier).
dynamic_routing.max_escalations	integer	1	Hard cap on retries per agent invocation. Prevents runaway loops.

When to use which

You want	Use
One tier strategy across all agents	model_profile
Coarse phase-level tuning	models.<phase_type>
Per-agent precision (full IDs)	model_overrides
Cheap-by-default, escalate only on failure	dynamic_routing

dynamic_routing is structurally a cost lever: you pay Opus rates only for the hard cases that warrant Opus. Compose with model_overrides for per-agent exceptions (override always wins).

---

Effort Control (effort) — added in v1.42

Unified cross-provider effort knob. Added in #443.

Control the reasoning effort of agent invocations with a single config. The universal ladder is:

minimal < low < medium < high < xhigh < max

Effort is rendered per-runtime: output_config.effort for Claude (Claude Code subagent effort frontmatter / CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL env), model_reasoning_effort for Codex (Responses API reasoning.effort).

Cross-provider clamping: max is Anthropic-only — it clamps to xhigh on Codex. minimal is Codex-only — it clamps to low on Claude.

The model-catalog's reasoning_effort per-tier hint is a legacy field kept for reference; effort is now config-driven.

Precedence (highest → lowest):

1. Invocation override (e.g. --effort flag on resolve-execution)
2. effort.agent_overrides[<agent-id>]
3. effort.routing_tier_defaults[<light|standard|heavy>]
4. effort.default
5. "high" (Anthropic Opus 4.8 universal default)

{
  "effort": {
    "default": "high",
    "routing_tier_defaults": {
      "light":    "low",
      "standard": "high",
      "heavy":    "xhigh"
    },
    "agent_overrides": {
      "gsd-planner": "max"
    }
  }
}

Settings

Key	Type	Default	Description
effort.default	enum	"high"	Global fallback effort level. Applies when no tier or agent override matches.
effort.routing_tier_defaults.light	enum	"low"	Effort for light-tier agents (fast mappers/scanners).
effort.routing_tier_defaults.standard	enum	"high"	Effort for standard-tier agents (workhorse agents).
effort.routing_tier_defaults.heavy	enum	"xhigh"	Effort for heavy-tier agents (deep reasoning).
effort.agent_overrides.<agent-id>	enum	(none)	Per-agent effort override. Beats tier defaults.

Valid effort values: minimal, low, medium, high, xhigh, max.

---

Fast Mode (fast_mode) — added in v1.42

Per-agent fast_mode propagation knob. Added in #443.

Control whether fast_mode is propagated to agent invocations. Only accepts real booleans — string "true" is rejected.

Note: fast_mode is only propagatable via API runtimes (api speed:"fast"). Claude Code has no per-subagent fast-mode mechanism — /fast is session-level only, so emitting a fast_mode frontmatter key on a Claude subagent is a silent no-op. fast_mode_supported in resolve-execution output tells you if the configured runtime supports it.

Precedence (highest → lowest):

1. Invocation override (e.g. --fast-mode flag on resolve-execution)
2. fast_mode.agent_overrides[<agent-id>] (boolean)
3. fast_mode.routing_tier_defaults[<light|standard|heavy>] (boolean)
4. fast_mode.enabled (boolean)
5. false

{
  "fast_mode": {
    "enabled": false,
    "routing_tier_defaults": {
      "light":    true,
      "standard": false,
      "heavy":    false
    },
    "agent_overrides": {}
  }
}

Settings

Key	Type	Default	Description
fast_mode.enabled	boolean	false	Global fast_mode flag. Only honored when no tier/agent override matches.
fast_mode.routing_tier_defaults.light	boolean	true	Fast mode for light-tier agents.
fast_mode.routing_tier_defaults.standard	boolean	false	Fast mode for standard-tier agents.
fast_mode.routing_tier_defaults.heavy	boolean	false	Fast mode for heavy-tier agents.
fast_mode.agent_overrides.<agent-id>	boolean	(none)	Per-agent fast_mode override.

---

Execution Query (resolve-execution)

Use node gsd-tools.cjs resolve-execution <agent-type> [--effort <level>] [--fast-mode <true|false>] [--attempt <n>] to get the full resolved execution context for an agent:

{
  "model":             "opus",
  "profile":           "balanced",
  "effort":            "xhigh",
  "effort_rendered":   "xhigh",
  "effort_param":      "output_config.effort",
  "effort_propagation": "frontmatter",
  "fast_mode":         false,
  "fast_mode_supported": false
}

effort_param tells you which runtime parameter to set. fast_mode_supported tells you whether the configured runtime supports per-agent fast_mode propagation.

---

Non-Claude Runtimes (Codex, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, Kilo)

Codex CLI minimum supported version: 0.130.0 (issue #3562).

Codex CLI 0.130.0 (released 2026-05-08) removed extra-skills-roots discovery via openai/codex#21485. From this version forward, Codex CLI only scans ~/.codex/skills/<name>/SKILL.md, <project>/.codex/skills/, and registered plugin roots for invocable skills. GSD installs the $gsd-* surface as ~/.codex/skills/gsd-<name>/SKILL.md so commands resolve after a Codex restart. Earlier Codex CLI versions can show a duplicate listing (the legacy extra-roots scan plus the user-root copies) — restart Codex and either upgrade to ≥ 0.130.0 or accept the duplicates until you do.

When GSD is installed for a non-Claude runtime, the installer automatically sets resolve_model_ids: "omit" in ~/.gsd/defaults.json. This causes GSD to return an empty model parameter for all agents, so each agent uses whatever model the runtime is configured with. No additional setup is needed for the default case.

If you want different agents to use different models, use model_overrides with fully-qualified model IDs that your runtime recognizes:

{
  "resolve_model_ids": "omit",
  "model_overrides": {
    "gsd-planner": "o3",
    "gsd-executor": "o4-mini",
    "gsd-debugger": "o3",
    "gsd-codebase-mapper": "o4-mini"
  }
}

The intent is the same as the Claude profile tiers -- use a stronger model for planning and debugging (where reasoning quality matters most), and a cheaper model for execution and mapping (where the plan already contains the reasoning).

When to use which approach:

Scenario	Setting	Effect
Non-Claude runtime, single model	resolve_model_ids: "omit" (installer default)	All agents use the runtime's default model
Non-Claude runtime, tiered models	resolve_model_ids: "omit" + model_overrides	Named agents use specific models, others use runtime default
Claude Code with OpenRouter/local provider	model_profile: "inherit"	All agents follow the session model
Claude Code with OpenRouter, tiered	model_profile: "inherit" + model_overrides	Named agents use specific models, others inherit

resolve_model_ids values:

Value	Behavior	Use When
false (default)	Returns Claude aliases (opus, sonnet, haiku)	Claude Code with native Anthropic API
true	Maps aliases to full Claude model IDs (claude-opus-4-8)	Claude Code with API that requires full IDs
"omit"	Returns empty string (runtime picks its default)	Non-Claude runtimes (Codex, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, Kilo)

Runtime-Aware Profiles (#2517)

When runtime is set, profile tiers (opus/sonnet/haiku) resolve to runtime-native model IDs instead of Claude aliases. This lets a single shared .planning/config.json work cleanly across Claude and Codex.

resolve-model JSON output includes reasoning_effort when the runtime tier resolved for the agent (after phase-type overrides) defines a reasoning_effort. Runtime adapters may pass that value to child-agent launch calls that support it; runtimes without explicit support omit it.

Built-in tier maps:

Runtime	opus	sonnet	haiku	reasoning_effort
claude	claude-opus-4-8	claude-sonnet-4-6	claude-haiku-4-5	(not used)
codex	gpt-5.5	gpt-5.3-codex	gpt-5.4-mini	xhigh / medium / medium
gemini	gemini-3-pro	gemini-3-flash	gemini-2.5-flash-lite	(not used)
qwen	qwen3-max-2026-01-23	qwen3-coder-plus	qwen3-coder-next	(not used)
opencode	anthropic/claude-opus-4-8	anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6	anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5	(not used)
copilot	claude-opus-4-8	claude-sonnet-4-6	claude-haiku-4-5	(not used)
hermes	anthropic/claude-opus-4-8	anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6	anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5	(not used)
Group B (kilo, cline, cursor, windsurf, augment, trae, codebuddy, antigravity)	(no built-in default — your runtime handles model selection)

Codex example — one config, tiered models, no large model_overrides block:

{
  "runtime": "codex",
  "model_profile": "balanced"
}

This resolves gsd-planner → gpt-5.5 (xhigh), gsd-executor → gpt-5.3-codex (medium), gsd-codebase-mapper → gpt-5.4-mini (medium). The Codex installer embeds model = "..." and model_reasoning_effort = "..." in each generated agent TOML.

Claude example — explicit opt-in resolves to full Claude IDs (no resolve_model_ids: true needed):

{
  "runtime": "claude",
  "model_profile": "quality"
}

Per-runtime overrides — replace one or more tier defaults:

{
  "runtime": "codex",
  "model_profile": "quality",
  "model_profile_overrides": {
    "codex": {
      "opus": "gpt-5-pro",
      "haiku": { "model": "gpt-5-nano", "reasoning_effort": "low" }
    }
  }
}

Precedence (highest to lowest):

1. model_overrides[<agent>] — explicit per-agent ID always wins.
2. Runtime-aware tier resolution (this section) — when runtime is set and profile is not inherit.
3. resolve_model_ids: "omit" — returns empty string when no runtime is set.
4. Claude-native default — model_profile tier as alias (current default).
5. inherit — propagates literal inherit for Task(model="inherit") semantics.

Backwards compatibility. Setups without runtime set see zero behavior change — every existing config continues to work identically. Codex installs that auto-set resolve_model_ids: "omit" continue to omit the model field unless the user opts in by setting runtime: "codex".

Unknown runtimes. If runtime is set to a value with no built-in tier map and no model_profile_overrides[<runtime>], GSD falls back to the Claude-alias safe default rather than emit a model ID the runtime cannot accept. To support a new runtime, populate model_profile_overrides.<runtime>.{opus,sonnet,haiku} with valid IDs.

Profile Philosophy

Profile	Philosophy	When to Use
quality	Opus for all decision-making, Sonnet for verification	Quota available, critical architecture work
balanced	Opus for planning only, Sonnet for everything else	Normal development (default)
budget	Sonnet for code-writing, Haiku for research/verification	High-volume work, less critical phases
inherit	All agents use current session model	Dynamic model switching, non-Anthropic providers (OpenRouter, local models)

---

Model Policy Presets (model_policy) — Added in v1.42

#49 — provider-neutral model policy config surface. Resolves before legacy model_profile_overrides.

model_policy provides a simpler, provider-neutral way to configure model tiers across runtimes. It is the preferred surface for non-Anthropic runtimes where model_profile_overrides would require manually knowing the right model IDs. Configure it via /gsd:settings → Section 8 (Model Policy).

Known provider preset

Choose a provider and budget level via the settings workflow; GSD writes the canonical model IDs for that provider/budget combination:

{
  "runtime": "codex",
  "model_policy": {
    "provider": "openai",
    "budget": "medium",
    "high":   "gpt-5.5",
    "medium": "gpt-5.3-codex",
    "low":    "gpt-5.4-mini"
  }
}

Known providers: openai, anthropic, google, qwen. Budget levels: high, medium, low.

For advanced per-runtime control, runtime_tiers accepts explicit entries using the internal profile tier names (opus, sonnet, haiku):

{
  "runtime": "codex",
  "model_policy": {
    "provider": "openai",
    "runtime_tiers": {
      "codex": {
        "opus":   { "model": "gpt-5.5",        "reasoning_effort": "high" },
        "sonnet": { "model": "gpt-5.3-codex",  "reasoning_effort": "medium" },
        "haiku":  { "model": "gpt-5.4-mini",   "reasoning_effort": "low" }
      }
    }
  }
}

Generic provider (escape hatch)

Use provider: "generic" (or "custom") for OpenRouter, LiteLLM, local gateways, or any runtime where you supply exact model IDs. GSD treats model IDs as opaque strings — no prefix inference, no provider-specific defaults:

{
  "runtime": "opencode",
  "model_policy": {
    "provider": "generic",
    "high":   "openrouter/anthropic/claude-opus-4-5",
    "medium": "openrouter/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5",
    "low":    "openrouter/anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5"
  }
}

Reasoning effort gating

reasoning_effort within a runtime_tiers entry is forwarded only to runtimes that declare support for it (currently: codex). Any runtime not on the allowlist receives the tier entry without the reasoning_effort field — it is silently stripped, never leaked.

Precedence

model_policy resolution sits above model_profile_overrides in the resolver:

1. model_overrides[<agent>] — per-agent explicit ID (highest)
2. model_policy.runtime_tiers[<runtime>][<tier>] — explicit runtime/tier entry
3. model_policy flat high/medium/low keys — for generic/custom provider
4. model_profile_overrides[<runtime>][<tier>] — legacy per-runtime override
5. Built-in runtime catalog default
6. model_profile tier alias

Backwards compatibility. Configs without model_policy are unaffected. Existing model_profile_overrides blocks continue to work exactly as before.

---

Environment Variables

Variable	Purpose
CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR	Override default config directory (~/.claude/)
GEMINI_API_KEY	Detected by context monitor to switch hook event name
GSD_AUDIT	Set to 1 to enable the dispatch audit file (.planning/.gsd-trace.jsonl)
GSD_AUDIT_ARGS	Set to 1 to include command args in audit/error events (omitted by default)
GSD_PROJECT	Override project root for multi-project workspace support (v1.32)
GSD_SKIP_SCHEMA_CHECK	Skip schema drift detection during execute-phase (v1.31)
WSL_DISTRO_NAME	Detected by installer for WSL path handling

---

Global Defaults

Save settings as global defaults for future projects:

Location: ~/.gsd/defaults.json

When /gsd-new-project creates a new config.json, it reads global defaults and merges them as the starting configuration. Per-project settings always override globals.

---

Observability

The Command Routing Hub emits a structured DispatchEvent after every dispatch. Default behaviour is silent on success and one structured JSON line to stderr on error.

Stderr error format

When a dispatch fails, one JSON line is emitted to stderr:

{ "kind": "HandlerFailure", "traceId": "...", "command": "plan", "timestamp": "...", "message": "..." }

The kind field matches one of the Hub's error variants: UnknownCommand, InvalidArgs, HandlerRefusal, or HandlerFailure. Args are omitted by default (privacy); see GSD_AUDIT_ARGS below.

Audit trail (opt-in)

Enable the append-only audit file to record every dispatch (success and error):

Via environment variable:

GSD_AUDIT=1 gsd plan

Via config (config.audit.enabled):

{
  "audit": {
    "enabled": true
  }
}

Audit file location: .planning/.gsd-trace.jsonl (gitignored)

Each line is a full DispatchEvent JSON object containing both traceId (a unique UUID v4 per dispatch) and parentTraceId (present when a caller passes req.parentTraceId into Hub.dispatch). A future init-composer (Phase 2) will wire parentTraceId automatically so that all child dispatches of a single top-level invocation share a common parent; until then, leaf dispatches emit parentTraceId: undefined. You can correlate child events to a parent by filtering the audit file on parentTraceId === <rootTraceId>. The file is append-only and never truncated; rotate or remove it manually when desired. parentTraceId must be a canonical UUID v4 (RFC 4122, format xxxxxxxx-xxxx-4xxx-[89ab]xxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx); values that do not match this format are silently dropped from the emitted event and will not appear in audit output.

Args redaction

By default, command args are omitted from all emitted events (both stderr errors and the audit file). To include args verbatim:

GSD_AUDIT_ARGS=1 GSD_AUDIT=1 gsd plan --tdd

GSD_AUDIT_ARGS applies to both the stderr error line and the audit file simultaneously.

---

Related

• Commands
• Configure model profiles
• STATE.md schema
• Docs index