singularity-forge/docs/configuration.md

Configuration

GSD preferences live in ~/.gsd/preferences.md (global) or .gsd/preferences.md (project-local). Manage interactively with /gsd prefs.

/gsd prefs Commands

Command	Description
/gsd prefs	Open the global preferences wizard (default)
/gsd prefs global	Interactive wizard for global preferences (~/.gsd/preferences.md)
/gsd prefs project	Interactive wizard for project preferences (.gsd/preferences.md)
/gsd prefs status	Show current preference files, merged values, and skill resolution status
/gsd prefs wizard	Alias for /gsd prefs global
/gsd prefs setup	Alias for /gsd prefs wizard — creates preferences file if missing
/gsd prefs import-claude	Import Claude marketplace plugins and skills as namespaced GSD components
/gsd prefs import-claude global	Import to global scope
/gsd prefs import-claude project	Import to project scope

Preferences File Format

Preferences use YAML frontmatter in a markdown file:

---
version: 1
models:
  research: claude-sonnet-4-6
  planning: claude-opus-4-6
  execution: claude-sonnet-4-6
  completion: claude-sonnet-4-6
skill_discovery: suggest
auto_supervisor:
  soft_timeout_minutes: 20
  idle_timeout_minutes: 10
  hard_timeout_minutes: 30
budget_ceiling: 50.00
token_profile: balanced
---

Global vs Project Preferences

Scope	Path	Applies to
Global	~/.gsd/preferences.md	All projects
Project	.gsd/preferences.md	Current project only

Merge behavior:

• Scalar fields (skill_discovery, budget_ceiling): project wins if defined
• Array fields (always_use_skills, etc.): concatenated (global first, then project)
• Object fields (models, git, auto_supervisor): shallow-merged, project overrides per-key

All Settings

models

Per-phase model selection. Each key accepts a model string or an object with fallbacks.

models:
  research: claude-sonnet-4-6
  planning:
    model: claude-opus-4-6
    fallbacks:
      - openrouter/z-ai/glm-5
  execution: claude-sonnet-4-6
  execution_simple: claude-haiku-4-5-20250414
  completion: claude-sonnet-4-6
  subagent: claude-sonnet-4-6

Phases: research, planning, execution, execution_simple, completion, subagent

• execution_simple — used for tasks classified as "simple" by the complexity router
• subagent — model for delegated subagent tasks (scout, researcher, worker)
• Provider targeting: use provider/model format (e.g., bedrock/claude-sonnet-4-6) or the provider field in object format
• Omit a key to use whatever model is currently active

Custom Model Definitions (models.json)

Define custom models in ~/.gsd/agent/models.json. This lets you add models not included in the default registry — useful for self-hosted endpoints, fine-tuned models, or new releases.

GSD resolves models.json with fallback logic:

1. ~/.gsd/agent/models.json — primary (GSD)
2. ~/.pi/agent/models.json — fallback (Pi)
3. If neither exists, creates ~/.gsd/agent/models.json

With fallbacks:

models:
  planning:
    model: claude-opus-4-6
    fallbacks:
      - openrouter/z-ai/glm-5
      - openrouter/moonshotai/kimi-k2.5
    provider: bedrock    # optional: target a specific provider

When a model fails to switch (provider unavailable, rate limited, credits exhausted), GSD automatically tries the next model in the fallbacks list.

Community Provider Extensions

For providers not built into GSD, community extensions can add full provider support with proper model definitions, thinking format configuration, and interactive API key setup.

Extension	Provider	Models	Install
pi-dashscope	Alibaba DashScope (ModelStudio)	Qwen3, GLM-5, MiniMax M2.5, Kimi K2.5	gsd install npm:pi-dashscope

Community extensions are recommended over the built-in alibaba-coding-plan provider for DashScope models — they use the correct OpenAI-compatible endpoint and include per-model compatibility flags for thinking mode.

token_profile

Coordinates model selection, phase skipping, and context compression. See Token Optimization.

Values: budget, balanced (default), quality

Profile	Behavior
budget	Skips research + reassessment phases, uses cheaper models
balanced	Default behavior — all phases run, standard model selection
quality	All phases run, prefers higher-quality models

phases

Fine-grained control over which phases run in auto mode:

phases:
  skip_research: false        # skip milestone-level research
  skip_reassess: false        # skip roadmap reassessment after each slice
  skip_slice_research: true   # skip per-slice research
  require_slice_discussion: false  # pause auto-mode before each slice for discussion

These are usually set automatically by token_profile, but can be overridden explicitly.

skill_discovery

Controls how GSD finds and applies skills during auto mode.

Value	Behavior
auto	Skills found and applied automatically
suggest	Skills identified during research but not auto-installed (default)
off	Skill discovery disabled

auto_supervisor

Timeout thresholds for auto mode supervision:

auto_supervisor:
  model: claude-sonnet-4-6    # optional: model for supervisor (defaults to active model)
  soft_timeout_minutes: 20    # warn LLM to wrap up
  idle_timeout_minutes: 10    # detect stalls
  hard_timeout_minutes: 30    # pause auto mode

budget_ceiling

Maximum USD to spend during auto mode. No $ sign — just the number.

budget_ceiling: 50.00

budget_enforcement

How the budget ceiling is enforced:

Value	Behavior
warn	Log a warning but continue
pause	Pause auto mode (default when ceiling is set)
halt	Stop auto mode entirely

context_pause_threshold

Context window usage percentage (0-100) at which auto mode pauses for checkpointing. Set to 0 to disable.

context_pause_threshold: 80   # pause at 80% context usage

Default: 0 (disabled)

uat_dispatch

Enable automatic UAT (User Acceptance Test) runs after slice completion:

uat_dispatch: true

Verification (v2.26)

Configure shell commands that run automatically after every task execution. Failures trigger auto-fix retries before advancing.

verification_commands:
  - npm run lint
  - npm run test
verification_auto_fix: true       # auto-retry on failure (default: true)
verification_max_retries: 2       # max retry attempts (default: 2)

Field	Type	Default	Description
verification_commands	string[]	[]	Shell commands to run after task execution
verification_auto_fix	boolean	true	Auto-retry when verification fails
verification_max_retries	number	2	Maximum auto-fix retry attempts

auto_report (v2.26)

Auto-generate HTML reports after milestone completion:

auto_report: true    # default: true

Reports are written to .gsd/reports/ as self-contained HTML files with embedded CSS/JS.

unique_milestone_ids

Generate milestone IDs with a random suffix to avoid collisions in team workflows:

unique_milestone_ids: true
# Produces: M001-eh88as instead of M001

git

Git behavior configuration. All fields optional:

git:
  auto_push: false            # push commits to remote after committing
  push_branches: false        # push milestone branch to remote
  remote: origin              # git remote name
  snapshots: false            # WIP snapshot commits during long tasks
  pre_merge_check: false      # run checks before worktree merge (true/false/"auto")
  commit_type: feat           # override conventional commit prefix
  main_branch: main           # primary branch name
  merge_strategy: squash      # how worktree branches merge: "squash" or "merge"
  isolation: worktree         # git isolation: "worktree", "branch", or "none"
  commit_docs: true           # commit .gsd/ artifacts to git (set false to keep local)
  manage_gitignore: true      # set false to prevent GSD from modifying .gitignore
  worktree_post_create: .gsd/hooks/post-worktree-create  # script to run after worktree creation
  auto_pr: false              # create a PR on milestone completion (requires push_branches)
  pr_target_branch: develop   # target branch for auto-created PRs (default: main branch)

Field	Type	Default	Description
auto_push	boolean	false	Push commits to remote after committing
push_branches	boolean	false	Push milestone branch to remote
remote	string	"origin"	Git remote name
snapshots	boolean	false	WIP snapshot commits during long tasks
pre_merge_check	bool/string	false	Run checks before merge (true/false/"auto")
commit_type	string	(inferred)	Override conventional commit prefix (feat, fix, refactor, docs, test, chore, perf, ci, build, style)
main_branch	string	"main"	Primary branch name
merge_strategy	string	"squash"	How worktree branches merge: "squash" (combine all commits) or "merge" (preserve individual commits)
isolation	string	"worktree"	Auto-mode isolation: "worktree" (separate directory), "branch" (work in project root — useful for submodule-heavy repos), or "none" (no isolation — commits on current branch, no worktree or milestone branch)
commit_docs	boolean	true	Commit .gsd/ planning artifacts to git. Set false to keep local-only
manage_gitignore	boolean	true	When false, GSD will not modify .gitignore at all — no baseline patterns, no self-healing. Use if you manage your own .gitignore
worktree_post_create	string	(none)	Script to run after worktree creation. Receives SOURCE_DIR and WORKTREE_DIR env vars
auto_pr	boolean	false	Automatically create a pull request when a milestone completes. Requires auto_push: true and gh CLI installed and authenticated
pr_target_branch	string	(main branch)	Target branch for auto-created PRs (e.g. develop, qa). Defaults to main_branch if not set

git.worktree_post_create

Script to run after a worktree is created (both auto-mode and manual /worktree). Useful for copying .env files, symlinking asset directories, or running setup commands that worktrees don't inherit from the main tree.

git:
  worktree_post_create: .gsd/hooks/post-worktree-create

The script receives two environment variables:

• SOURCE_DIR — the original project root
• WORKTREE_DIR — the newly created worktree path

Example hook script (.gsd/hooks/post-worktree-create):

#!/bin/bash
# Copy environment files and symlink assets into the new worktree
cp "$SOURCE_DIR/.env" "$WORKTREE_DIR/.env"
cp "$SOURCE_DIR/.env.local" "$WORKTREE_DIR/.env.local" 2>/dev/null || true
ln -sf "$SOURCE_DIR/assets" "$WORKTREE_DIR/assets"

The path can be absolute or relative to the project root. The script runs with a 30-second timeout. Failure is non-fatal — GSD logs a warning and continues.

git.auto_pr

Automatically create a pull request when a milestone completes. Designed for teams using Gitflow or branch-based workflows where work should go through PR review before merging to a target branch.

git:
  auto_push: true
  auto_pr: true
  pr_target_branch: develop  # or qa, staging, etc.

Requirements:

• auto_push: true — the milestone branch must be pushed before a PR can be created
• gh CLI installed and authenticated (gh auth login)

How it works:

1. Milestone completes → GSD squash-merges the worktree to the main branch
2. Pushes the main branch to remote (if auto_push: true)
3. Pushes the milestone branch to remote
4. Creates a PR from the milestone branch to pr_target_branch via gh pr create

If pr_target_branch is not set, the PR targets the main_branch (or auto-detected main branch). PR creation failure is non-fatal — GSD logs and continues.

notifications

Control what notifications GSD sends during auto mode:

notifications:
  enabled: true
  on_complete: true           # notify on unit completion
  on_error: true              # notify on errors
  on_budget: true             # notify on budget thresholds
  on_milestone: true          # notify when milestone finishes
  on_attention: true          # notify when manual attention needed

remote_questions

Route interactive questions to Slack or Discord for headless auto mode:

remote_questions:
  channel: slack              # or discord
  channel_id: "C1234567890"
  timeout_minutes: 15         # question timeout (1-30 minutes)
  poll_interval_seconds: 10   # poll interval (2-30 seconds)

post_unit_hooks

Custom hooks that fire after specific unit types complete:

post_unit_hooks:
  - name: code-review
    after: [execute-task]
    prompt: "Review the code changes for quality and security issues."
    model: claude-opus-4-6          # optional: model override
    max_cycles: 1                   # max fires per trigger (1-10, default: 1)
    artifact: REVIEW.md             # optional: skip if this file exists
    retry_on: NEEDS-REWORK.md       # optional: re-run trigger unit if this file appears
    agent: review-agent             # optional: agent definition to use
    enabled: true                   # optional: disable without removing

Known unit types for after: research-milestone, plan-milestone, research-slice, plan-slice, execute-task, complete-slice, replan-slice, reassess-roadmap, run-uat

Prompt substitutions: {milestoneId}, {sliceId}, {taskId} are replaced with current context values.

pre_dispatch_hooks

Hooks that intercept units before dispatch. Three actions available:

Modify — prepend/append text to the unit prompt:

pre_dispatch_hooks:
  - name: add-standards
    before: [execute-task]
    action: modify
    prepend: "Follow our coding standards document."
    append: "Run linting after changes."

Skip — skip the unit entirely:

pre_dispatch_hooks:
  - name: skip-research
    before: [research-slice]
    action: skip
    skip_if: RESEARCH.md            # optional: only skip if this file exists

Replace — replace the unit prompt entirely:

pre_dispatch_hooks:
  - name: custom-execute
    before: [execute-task]
    action: replace
    prompt: "Execute the task using TDD methodology."
    unit_type: execute-task-tdd     # optional: override unit type label
    model: claude-opus-4-6          # optional: model override

All pre-dispatch hooks support enabled: true/false to toggle without removing.

always_use_skills / prefer_skills / avoid_skills

Skill routing preferences:

always_use_skills:
  - debug-like-expert
prefer_skills:
  - frontend-design
avoid_skills: []

Skills can be bare names (looked up in ~/.gsd/agent/skills/) or absolute paths.

skill_rules

Situational skill routing with human-readable triggers:

skill_rules:
  - when: task involves authentication
    use: [clerk]
  - when: frontend styling work
    prefer: [frontend-design]
  - when: working with legacy code
    avoid: [aggressive-refactor]

custom_instructions

Durable instructions appended to every session:

custom_instructions:
  - "Always use TypeScript strict mode"
  - "Prefer functional patterns over classes"

For project-specific knowledge (patterns, gotchas, lessons learned), use .gsd/KNOWLEDGE.md instead — it's injected into every agent prompt automatically. Add entries with /gsd knowledge rule|pattern|lesson <description>.

dynamic_routing

Complexity-based model routing. See Dynamic Model Routing.

dynamic_routing:
  enabled: true
  tier_models:
    light: claude-haiku-4-5
    standard: claude-sonnet-4-6
    heavy: claude-opus-4-6
  escalate_on_failure: true
  budget_pressure: true
  cross_provider: true

auto_visualize

Show the workflow visualizer automatically after milestone completion:

auto_visualize: true

See Workflow Visualizer.

parallel

Run multiple milestones simultaneously. Disabled by default.

parallel:
  enabled: false            # Master toggle
  max_workers: 2            # Concurrent workers (1-4)
  budget_ceiling: 50.00     # Aggregate cost limit in USD
  merge_strategy: "per-milestone"  # "per-slice" or "per-milestone"
  auto_merge: "confirm"            # "auto", "confirm", or "manual"

See Parallel Orchestration for full documentation.

Full Example

---
version: 1

# Model selection
models:
  research: openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-r1
  planning:
    model: claude-opus-4-6
    fallbacks:
      - openrouter/z-ai/glm-5
  execution: claude-sonnet-4-6
  execution_simple: claude-haiku-4-5-20250414
  completion: claude-sonnet-4-6

# Token optimization
token_profile: balanced

# Dynamic model routing
dynamic_routing:
  enabled: true
  escalate_on_failure: true
  budget_pressure: true

# Budget
budget_ceiling: 25.00
budget_enforcement: pause
context_pause_threshold: 80

# Supervision
auto_supervisor:
  soft_timeout_minutes: 15
  hard_timeout_minutes: 25

# Git
git:
  auto_push: true
  merge_strategy: squash
  isolation: worktree         # "worktree", "branch", or "none"
  commit_docs: true

# Skills
skill_discovery: suggest
skill_staleness_days: 60     # Skills unused for N days get deprioritized (0 = disabled)
always_use_skills:
  - debug-like-expert
skill_rules:
  - when: task involves authentication
    use: [clerk]

# Notifications
notifications:
  on_complete: false
  on_milestone: true
  on_attention: true

# Visualizer
auto_visualize: true

# Hooks
post_unit_hooks:
  - name: code-review
    after: [execute-task]
    prompt: "Review {sliceId}/{taskId} for quality and security."
    artifact: REVIEW.md
---