Change settings

Find the config file

Your settings live in ~/.codewhale/config.toml. Print the exact path, or open the file in your editor:

codewhale config path
codewhale config edit

To use a different file, pass --config <path> or set CODEWHALE_CONFIG_PATH; the flag wins when both are set. Codewhale was once called DeepSeek-TUI: if only an old ~/.deepseek/ folder exists, it is still read, and new settings are always written to ~/.codewhale/.

Change a setting

Inside a session, /config opens the settings editor and /settings opens the settings screen. /config audit lists which settings can change in this session, which can be saved, and which only take effect after a restart — check it before editing by hand.

From the shell:

codewhale config get tools
codewhale config set telemetry false
codewhale config unset telemetry
codewhale config dump       # the settings in effect, secrets redacted
codewhale config doctor     # unknown keys, empty secrets, malformed URLs

config set handles its named keys; for anything else it tells you which TOML table to edit instead of guessing.

Try a setting for one run

--set KEY=VALUE changes a setting for one launch and saves nothing. It accepts provider, model, verbosity, approval_policy, sandbox_mode, and telemetry, and can be repeated.

codewhale --set model=deepseek-v4-pro --set sandbox_mode=read-only

Share settings with a repository

A repository can include .codewhale/config.toml to suggest settings to everyone who works in it. Only a few keys are honored, and safety settings can only get stricter:

model

The default model for this repository.

reasoning_effort

For example "high" for a complex codebase.

approval_policy, sandbox_mode

Only values stricter than yours.

allow_shell

false turns shell commands off; true is ignored.

max_subagents

Fewer parallel sub-agents, from 1 to 128.

notes_path

Keep notes in the repository.

Keys, endpoints, provider choice, MCP servers, hooks, skills, and extra instruction files always come from your own config, so a cloned repository cannot point Codewhale at its own server or files. Start with --no-project-config to ignore a repository's file for one launch.

Project instructions — how an agent should work in this repository — belong in AGENTS.md instead. Run /init to create one.

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