OpenSpace/openspace/config

🔧 Configuration Guide

1. LLM Credentials (.env)

Note

Create openspace/.env from ../.env.example and set at least one LLM API key.

Resolution priority (first match wins):

Priority	Source	Example
Tier 1	OPENSPACE_LLM_* env vars	OPENSPACE_LLM_API_KEY=sk-xxx
Tier 2	Provider-native env vars	OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-xxx
Tier 3	Host agent config	~/.nanobot/config.json / ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

Important

Tier 2 blocks Tier 3 — if .env has a provider key, host agent config is skipped.

# Provider-native — litellm reads automatically
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-xxx

# Or: OpenSpace-native — higher priority, same effect
OPENSPACE_LLM_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-xxx

2. Environment Variables

Set via .env, MCP config env block, or system environment.

Set OPENSPACE_SKIP_DOTENV=1 in the process environment before startup to ignore local .env files; it cannot be enabled from .env itself.

Variable	Description	Default
OPENSPACE_MODEL	LLM model	openrouter/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
OPENSPACE_SKIP_DOTENV	Disable automatic openspace/.env and CWD .env loading	false
OPENSPACE_LLM_API_KEY	LLM API key (Tier 1 override)	—
OPENSPACE_LLM_API_BASE	LLM API base URL	—
OLLAMA_API_BASE	Local Ollama endpoint for ollama/* models	http://127.0.0.1:11434
OLLAMA_API_KEY	Placeholder key for Ollama-compatible clients	ollama
OPENSPACE_LLM_EXTRA_HEADERS	Extra LLM headers (JSON)	—
OPENSPACE_LLM_CONFIG	Arbitrary litellm kwargs (JSON)	—
OPENSPACE_CLOUD_MODE	Cloud mode, either off or live	off
OPENSPACE_CLOUD_BASE_URL	Cloud service root URL; do not include /api, /api/v1, or /api/v2	https://open-space.cloud
OPENSPACE_CLOUD_API_KEY	Cloud agent API key (X-API-Key)	—
OPENSPACE_CLOUD_TELEMETRY_MODE	Cloud telemetry mode, either off or outbox	off
OPENSPACE_MAX_ITERATIONS	Max agent iterations per task	20
OPENSPACE_BACKEND_SCOPE	Enabled backends (comma-separated)	shell,mcp,meta
OPENSPACE_HOST_SKILL_DIRS	Agent skill directories (comma-separated)	—
OPENSPACE_CAPTURE_SKILL_DIR	Directory where CAPTURED evolution writes newly authored skills; falls back to the first host skill dir, then <workspace>/.openspace/skills	—
OPENSPACE_WORKSPACE	Project root for logs/workspace	—
OPENSPACE_SHELL_CONDA_ENV	Conda env for shell backend	—

Provision cloud credentials with openspace-cloud-auth bootstrap-agent-key --email you@example.com --agent-name openspace-local-agent. The command writes OPENSPACE_CLOUD_MODE=live, OPENSPACE_CLOUD_BASE_URL, and OPENSPACE_CLOUD_API_KEY locally without printing the raw key. | OPENSPACE_SHELL_WORKING_DIR | Working dir for shell backend | — | | OPENSPACE_CONFIG_PATH | Custom grounding config JSON | — | | OPENSPACE_MCP_SERVERS_JSON | MCP server definitions (JSON) | — | | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | Optional Anthropic key for web_search server-side search | — | | TAVILY_API_KEY / BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY / SERPAPI_API_KEY | Optional fallback search provider keys | — | | OPENSPACE_WEB_FETCH_MODEL | Optional model override for applying prompts to fetched pages | — | | OPENSPACE_ENABLE_RECORDING | Record execution traces | true | | OPENSPACE_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS_RECOVERY_LIMIT | Number of no-tool max-output recovery nudges before stopping a turn | 3 | | OPENSPACE_FORCE_TOOL_ON_MAX_OUTPUT_RECOVERY | Force tool_choice=required on max-output recovery calls when tools are available | false | | OPENSPACE_DISABLE_REASONING_ON_REQUIRED_TOOL_CHOICE | Suppress provider reasoning controls only on required-tool calls | false | | OPENSPACE_OPENROUTER_DISABLE_REASONING_ON_REQUIRED_TOOL_CHOICE | OpenRouter-specific version of required-tool reasoning suppression | false | | OPENSPACE_BENCH_FINALIZE_NUDGE_ENABLED | Enable a benchmark-only best-artifact finalization nudge during long single-task runs | false | | OPENSPACE_BENCH_FINALIZE_NUDGE_AFTER_SEC | Seconds before the benchmark finalization nudge may be injected; 0 disables time-based triggering | 0 | | OPENSPACE_BENCH_FINALIZE_NUDGE_AFTER_ITERATION | Model iteration before the benchmark finalization nudge may be injected; 0 disables iteration-based triggering | 0 | | OPENSPACE_BENCH_FINALIZE_NUDGE_MAX | Maximum benchmark finalization nudges per turn | 1 | | OPENSPACE_BENCH_FINALIZE_STOP_AFTER_ITERATIONS | Stop a benchmark turn this many iterations after a finalization nudge so external verifiers can score the best artifact; 0 disables | 0 | | OPENSPACE_BENCH_FINALIZE_STOP_AFTER_SEC | Stop a benchmark turn this many seconds after a finalization nudge; 0 disables | 0 | | OPENSPACE_BENCH_STRICT_NO_TOOL_FINAL | After a benchmark finalization nudge, require a later tool action before accepting a no-tool final response; retry with the configured fallback model when available | false | | OPENSPACE_BENCH_NO_TOOL_FINAL_MAX_NUDGES | Number of tool-backed finalization nudges before switching to fallback model or stopping as unresolved | 2 | | OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_STORAGE_ROOT | Root used to resolve .openspace/openspace.db, .openspace/evidence.db, staging, and backups | workspace | | OPENSPACE_SKILL_STORE_DB_PATH | Explicit SkillStore SQLite path; also anchors the evolution storage root when no storage root is set | — | | OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_EVIDENCE_DB_PATH | Explicit evidence SQLite path; takes precedence over storage-root resolution for evidence | — | | OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_EVIDENCE_ENABLED | Enable durable evolution evidence collection | true | | OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_TRIGGERS_ENABLED | Enable durable TriggerJob creation from evidence checkpoints; set false to keep evidence ingest but pause trigger jobs | true | | OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_ENGINE_ENABLED | Enable TriggerJob processing through decision, admission, staged authoring, validation, and commit | true | | OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_MODE | Evolution mode: audit_only audits only, fix_only commits explicit direct FIX only, autonomous allows all validated admitted actions | autonomous | | OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_ALLOW_SINGLE_OBSERVATION_CAPTURE | Allow a validated CAPTURED proposal, and DERIVED proposal with clear divergence, to persist as a provisional skill from its origin observation. When disabled, automatic proposals remain audit-only candidates; recurrence never promotes them | true | | OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_CAPTURE_SEMANTIC_VALIDATION_ENABLED | Run one independent semantic review per staged CAPTURED proposal; approval requires exact validation-ref binding, no unsupported executable claims, reusable scope, and no incomplete high-impact safeguard | true | | OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_CAPTURE_SEMANTIC_VALIDATION_MAX_TOKENS | Maximum output tokens for the independent CAPTURED semantic review | 2048 | | OPENSPACE_SKILL_TRUST_PROMOTION_MIN_INDEPENDENT_SUCCESSES | Independent successful observations required to promote a provisional skill to trusted; a CAPTURED origin counts only when its source-validation contract passes admission | 2 | | OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_FINAL_DRAIN_LIMIT | Number of open post-execution evolution jobs to retry before a short-lived runtime exits; 0 disables the extra drain | 0 |

3. Task Runtime Context Defaults

These are OpenSpaceConfig / JSON config fields rather than environment variables. They are useful for benchmark adapters that need a narrower task-solving surface while keeping normal interactive OpenSpace defaults unchanged.

Field	Description	Default
active_tool_names	Optional hard allowlist of tool names exposed to the agent for a turn	—
capture_skill_dir	Directory where post-execution CAPTURED skills should be staged and committed for this runtime	—
execution_analyzer_max_tokens	Optional ExecutionAnalyzer-only output budget; OPENSPACE_EXECUTION_ANALYZER_MAX_TOKENS provides the equivalent environment override	inherit LLM default
skill_evolver_max_tokens	Optional SkillEvolver-only output budget; OPENSPACE_SKILL_EVOLVER_MAX_TOKENS provides the equivalent environment override	inherit LLM default
policy_deferred_tool_names	Optional tool names kept behind tool_search; use [] to avoid deferred-tool discovery	—
skills_disabled	Hide Skill Protocol tools and skill prompt guidance from the task-solving agent	false
memory_mode	Optional memory mode override for the task context	—
OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_FINAL_DRAIN_ROUNDS	Maximum final-drain rounds to run	1
OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_FINAL_DRAIN_TIMEOUT_S	Per-round timeout for the final evolution drain; 0 disables the timeout wrapper	0
OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_STARTUP_RETRYABLE_DRAIN_LIMIT	Number of persisted failed_retryable evolution jobs to explicitly retry during startup after stale-job recovery; 0 disables startup retryable drain	0
OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_STARTUP_RETRYABLE_DRAIN_ROUNDS	Maximum startup retryable-drain rounds to run	1
OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_STARTUP_RETRYABLE_DRAIN_TIMEOUT_S	Per-round timeout for startup retryable drain; 0 disables the timeout wrapper	0
OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_STARTUP_RETRYABLE_DRAIN_STATUSES	Comma-separated TriggerJob statuses eligible for startup drain, useful for controlled replay runs that should continue copied pending jobs	failed_retryable
OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_RECOVERY_STALE_JOB_TIMEOUT_S	Age in seconds before startup recovery resets a running TriggerJob to retryable/failed; lower it when intentionally replaying a freshly interrupted evidence DB	1800
OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_BEHAVIOR_EVAL_REQUIRE_REPLAY_RUNNER	Require an external replay runner before behavior eval can approve replay-backed skill changes. Keep enabled for strict autonomous evolution; set false in harnesses that only have deterministic/routing eval available	true
OPENSPACE_POST_EXECUTION_TIMEOUT_S	Hard timeout for inline/background post-execution analysis and evolution drain; 0 disables the timeout. If a claimed evolution job is cancelled by this timeout, it is marked retryable instead of being left running	0
OPENSPACE_EVOLUTION_ALLOWED_READ_ROOTS	Extra evidence file-read roots, separated by the platform path separator	—
OPENSPACE_DEFAULT_MAX_RESULT_SIZE_CHARS	Per-tool result size threshold before persisting large outputs to disk	50000
OPENSPACE_MAX_TOOL_RESULTS_PER_MESSAGE_CHARS	Aggregate tool-result text budget kept in the model conversation before replacing large old results with persisted-output previews	200000
OPENSPACE_TOOL_RESULT_PREVIEW_CHARS	Preview size included in persisted-output wrappers	2000
OPENSPACE_LOG_LEVEL	Log level	INFO

3. User Settings (settings.json)

Use user/project settings for runtime preferences that should persist across runs. These are separate from openspace/config/*.json, which configures backend implementation details.

Load order, later entries override earlier ones:

Source	Path	Use for
User settings	~/.openspace/settings.json or $OPENSPACE_CONFIG_HOME/settings.json	Personal defaults
Project settings	<project>/.openspace/settings.json	Team/project defaults that may be committed
Local settings	<project>/.openspace/settings.local.json	Machine-local overrides, gitignored
Environment	OPENSPACE_*	CI, temporary overrides, deployment
Runtime	CLI/TUI updates	Current session state

Settings are grouped by stability:

Group	Keys
Stable engine	model, alwaysThinkingEnabled, autoCompactEnabled, autoMemoryEnabled, autoDream.*, memory.*, permissions.*, todoFeatureEnabled, fileCheckpointingEnabled, language
Stable UI	theme, editorMode, verbose, preferredNotifChannel, showTurnDuration, terminalProgressBarEnabled
Experimental	teammateMode, outputStyle, attachments.todoReminderEnabled

Example:

{
  "model": "openrouter/qwen/qwen3.6-plus",
  "alwaysThinkingEnabled": true,
  "autoCompactEnabled": true,
  "permissions": {
    "defaultMode": "default",
    "allow": ["Bash(git status:*)"]
  },
  "autoDream": {
    "enabled": true,
    "minHours": 12,
    "minSessions": 3
  },
  "memory": {
    "mode": "daily_log"
  },
  "theme": "dark",
  "attachments": {
    "todoReminderEnabled": true
  }
}

Notes:

• Use autoDream.enabled; the old autoDreamEnabled alias is not part of the runtime settings schema.
• Only attachments.todoReminderEnabled is currently public. Future attachment gates will be added only when the runtime feature is actually wired.
• OpenSpace does not currently expose flagSettings or policySettings; enterprise policy sources will be modeled only when there is a real backend.
• There is no published SchemaStore URL yet, so do not add $schema: "https://json.schemastore.org/openspace-settings.json".

You can inspect or update settings with slash commands:

/settings
/settings model openrouter/qwen/qwen3.6-plus
/settings autoDream.enabled true
/settings permissions.defaultMode plan

4. MCP Servers (config_mcp.json)

Register external MCP servers that OpenSpace connects to as a client (e.g. GitHub, Slack, databases):

cp openspace/config/config_mcp.json.example openspace/config/config_mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": { "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "${GITHUB_TOKEN}" }
    }
  }
}

For an HTTP MCP server with free, keyless web search and page fetching, see the runnable Parallel Search example. Merge its server entry into your configuration to keep existing MCP servers.

5. Execution Mode

The shell backend supports only local execution. This keeps Bash sandbox decisions, foreground/background tasks, TaskGet, and TaskStop in one process-level runtime. The GUI backend still supports local and server modes.

Backend	Supported Modes	Notes
shell	"local" only	asyncio.subprocess in-process with runtime task lifecycle
gui	"local" or "server"	Server mode uses the private local_server transport

Tip

Do not set shell.mode to "server". The HTTP local server does not expose the shell spawn/status/tail/kill contract required by the runtime.

6. Config Files (openspace/config/)

Layered system — later files override earlier ones:

File	Purpose
config_grounding.json	Backend settings, smart tool retrieval, tool quality, skill discovery
config_agents.json	Agent definitions, backend scope, max iterations
config_mcp.json	MCP servers OpenSpace connects to as a client
config_security.json	Security policies, blocked commands, sandboxing
config_dev.json	Dev overrides — copy from config_dev.json.example (highest priority)
config_communication.json	Communication gateway settings for WhatsApp and Feishu. Use agent for per-message OpenSpace execution and sessions for queue/history limits. LLM model stays in openspace/.env.

Agent config (config_agents.json)

{ "agents": [{ "name": "GroundingAgent", "backend_scope": ["shell", "mcp", "web"], "max_iterations": 30 }] }

Field	Description	Default
backend_scope	Enabled backends	["gui", "shell", "mcp", "meta", "web"]
max_iterations	Max execution cycles	20

Backend & tool config (config_grounding.json)

Section	Key Fields	Description
shell	mode, timeout, conda_env, working_dir	"local" only, command timeout (default: 60s)
web.search	search_model, search_api_key, search_base_url, max_searches_per_call, fallback_search_provider	Web search settings; uses provider server-side search when configured, then provider fallback
web.fetch	summarize_model, max_content_length, request_timeout, user_agent, preapproved_domains	Web fetch settings; fetches URLs locally and applies a secondary model when needed
gui	mode, timeout, driver_type, screenshot_on_error, enable_visual_analysis, visual_analysis_mode, visual_analysis_timeout, visual_analysis_model	Local/server mode, automation driver, GUI visual analysis fallback policy
mcp	timeout, sandbox, eager_sessions	Request timeout (30s), E2B sandbox, lazy/eager server init
tool_search	search_mode, max_tools, enable_llm_filter	"hybrid" (semantic + LLM), max tools to return (40), embedding cache
tool_quality	enabled, enable_persistence, enable_quality_ranking	Quality tracking for ranking and reporting
skills	enabled, skill_dirs, listing_enabled, discovery_enabled, discovery_max_results, post_tool_query_builder_*	Skill exposure uses lightweight listing/discovery plus explicit Skill invocation.

Security config (config_security.json)

Field	Description	Default
allow_shell_commands	Enable shell execution	true
blocked_commands	Platform-specific blacklists (common/linux/darwin/windows)	rm -rf, shutdown, dd, etc.
sandbox_enabled	Enable sandboxing for all operations	false
Per-backend overrides	Shell, MCP, GUI, Web each have independent security policies	Inherit global

7. Communication Gateway

The tracked communication config is safe-by-default: loopback-only, channels disabled, and deny-by-default access control. Copy the example config, fill in credentials and allowed_users, then explicitly enable the channels you want. The gateway model is not configured here; it inherits OPENSPACE_MODEL from openspace/.env.

config_communication.json accepts only the canonical top-level agent and sessions sections for execution and queue/history settings. The old openspace and runtime root keys are rejected instead of being mapped silently.

cp openspace/config/config_communication.json.example openspace/config/config_communication.json

Install the Feishu SDK extra when you need Feishu support:

pip install -e '.[communication]'

Start the gateway:

openspace-gateway --config openspace/config/config_communication.json

Check health:

openspace-gateway health --config openspace/config/config_communication.json

Notes:

• The tracked config_communication.json now stays local-only and deny-by-default. Keep credentials out of git and populate them from a private working copy or environment variables.
• Set server.host to 0.0.0.0 only when Feishu needs to reach the webhook from outside the machine, and pair that with a populated allowlist plus webhook verification secrets.
• Feishu now supports both webhook and websocket modes. websocket matches nanobot's long-connection setup and does not require a public webhook URL.
• WhatsApp requires Node.js and npm. The bundled bridge installs its dependencies on first start when auto_install_dependencies is enabled.
• Set feishu.bot_open_id if you want strict group mention gating and automatic bot identity discovery is unavailable in your deployment.
• Group chats are gated by group_policy. reply_or_mention is the default and only accepts messages that mention the bot or reply to a prior assistant message.
• allowed_users is enforced when allow_all_users is false. The secure default is deny-by-default until you populate the allowlist.
• Attachment caching is limited by sessions.max_attachment_bytes and sessions.max_session_attachment_bytes to bound disk usage per file and per session.