Influxx Settings, Keybindings, Appearance, and Privacy Controls
Influxx is built so the same cockpit that runs your agents also adapts to how you work: which CLIs launch by default, which chords move you through worktrees, how dark or dense the chrome feels, and whether anonymous product signals leave your machine at all. This guide is the full product map of Settings, keyboard shortcuts, appearance, agent overrides, quick commands, MCP and skills, workspace setup hooks, and privacy controls — so you can make Influxx feel like home without guessing where a switch lives.
What This Guide Covers
You will learn how first launch seeds defaults, how the Settings sidebar is grouped today, how to open and search settings instantly, how to remap shortcuts (and where the keybindings file lives), how appearance and editor chrome work, how to override agent launch commands, how quick commands and MCP configs speed daily loops, how setup hooks automate new worktrees, and how privacy, telemetry, diagnostics, and macOS permissions keep you in control.
Everything below is grounded in shipped Influxx desktop surfaces. Preferences apply to your local app profile (or the active remote runtime when you are connected elsewhere). They do not invent cloud-only dashboards: the same panes you open with a shortcut are the source of truth for agents, terminals, browser tabs, and notes.
Your cockpit should match your hands and your risk tolerance — remap the chords, pick the chrome, keep anonymous sharing opt-in, and automate only the setup scripts you trust.
First Launch: Defaults That Stick
On first open, Influxx walks you through a short onboarding flow so you are not dumped into a blank cockpit. The path is intentionally practical: pick a default agent, make the app feel like home, set notification expectations, and optionally connect GitHub tasks before you add your first project.
- Default agent: Choose any CLI agent Influxx knows — Claude Code, Codex, Grok, Cursor Agent, OpenCode, and many more. This becomes the default for Run-on-note and new agent tabs until you change it in Settings.
- Theme and appearance: Set the look early so dark/light preference and basic chrome match your environment before deep work starts.
- Windows-only shell steps: On Windows, onboarding can set the default terminal shell and right-click behavior so terminals open the way you expect.
- Notifications: Opt into knowing when an agent finishes or needs attention, so long runs do not require babysitting the window.
- GitHub tasks (optional): Install or wire the GitHub CLI path for in-app PRs and issues if that is part of your loop.
- First project: Add a project from the notifications step footer or later from the sidebar — projects are git repos or folder workspaces Influxx tracks.
Privacy is called out during first launch for a reason: anonymous usage sharing is opt-in under Settings → Telemetry (Privacy group). You can always reverse the choice later, and you can hard-disable transmission with environment variables if your machine or CI policy requires it. New installs follow the product default for developer tools; certain existing-user cohorts may also see a one-time notice until they resolve it. Either way, the Privacy pane remains the durable control surface after onboarding ends.
How to Open Settings
Press ⌘, on macOS or Ctrl+, on Windows and Linux to open Settings. You can also reach the same dialog from the app menu and from deep links that jump straight to a pane (for example Appearance or Commands). A search field at the top of Settings filters every pane and most individual rows, so you rarely need to memorize the sidebar order — type “telemetry,” “zoom,” “MCP,” or an agent name and jump.
Settings Map: Groups and Panes
The left rail is organized into presentation groups. Group titles are for navigation only; pane identities stay stable so search, badges, and deep links keep working when labels evolve. Use this map as a mental model of where product surfaces live today.
- General: Account (profile, subscription, billing); Get started (setup checklist); App (workspace defaults, startup, CLI registration, maintenance); Integrations (GitHub, GitLab, Linear, and other providers); Mobile (pair the companion for terminals and agents on your phone).
- Agents: Coding agents (defaults, enable CLIs, launch command overrides); Notes (project notes under .influxx/notes and the default CLI for Run); Chat archive; Providers (optional account switching and usage setup for Claude, Codex, Gemini, OpenCode Go, MiniMax, Grok, and similar); Multi-agent (orchestration skill and coordination); Computer use (desktop UI control, desktop only); Voice (dictation model and speech settings, desktop only).
- Desktop: Appearance (theme, zoom, fonts, sidebars, status bar, terminal themes); Input (selection and editing behavior); Notifications (native desktop alerts); Shortcuts (full keybinding editor); Usage (token and subscription usage across agents).
- Tools: Git (branch naming, base refs, attribution, AI commit helpers); Tasks (which task providers appear); Terminal (shells, renderer, sessions); Commands (saved terminal quick commands); Browser (home page, link routing, session cookies); Emulator (mobile emulator support for agents); Floating window (global terminal, browser, and markdown tabs).
- Remote: SSH (files, terminals, Git, and workspaces on existing machines); Cloud runtimes (beta pairing for persistent sessions and mobile handoff).
- Privacy: Permissions on macOS (developer tool and computer-use access); Telemetry (anonymous usage toggle and diagnostics bundles).
- Advanced / Labs: Low-level compatibility and troubleshooting (Advanced); experimental toggles such as native chat experiments and ephemeral VM labs where enabled (Labs).
Older documentation may still list groups as “AI Capabilities,” “Set Up,” “Workflows,” “Interface,” or “Privacy & Security.” Those were presentation labels for the same underlying panes. If a tutorial says Settings → Agents or Settings → Shortcuts, open Coding agents or Shortcuts in the current rail — the behavior matches.
Get Started Checklist After Onboarding
After the first-run flow, Settings → Get started (also reachable from the sidebar Setup guide entry) tracks real progress against core workflows: create a non-main worktree, open a page in the embedded browser, enable agent-complete notifications, choose your default agent, install the Influxx CLI and related skills, connect integrations, automate workspace setup with per-repo hooks, and register more than one project. Treat the checklist as a progress map, not a gate — every item is optional, but completing “Automate workspace setup” is how you discover setup hooks if you skipped repository settings earlier.
Keybindings: Defaults, Remaps, and the Keybindings File
Keyboard shortcuts are first-class product surface, not an afterthought. Defaults use Mod for the platform primary modifier: ⌘ on macOS and Ctrl on Windows and Linux. Open Settings → Shortcuts anytime to browse by group, filter, search, record a new chord, add alternate bindings, disable an action, or reset an override.
While a row is recording, Influxx suspends global shortcut dispatch so the chord lands in the editor instead of firing the old action. Conflict detection highlights when two actions share a binding. You can keep multiple bindings on one action when you want both a muscle-memory chord and a discoverable alternative. Terminal shortcut policy (for example whether Influxx or the terminal claims certain keys first) lives alongside terminal settings and is respected by the shortcut editor.
- New markdown: Mod+Shift+M
- Open markdown: Mod+Shift+O
- Markdown preview: Mod+Shift+V
- Create worktree / new workspace: Mod+N
- Dictation: Mod+E
- Focus worktree list: Mod+0
- Select workspace 1–9: Mod+1 through Mod+9
- Open Settings: Mod+,
There is no dedicated global shortcut solely for “New Sidebar Note” or “Run note” today. Create notes from the Notes sidebar control or with the New markdown shortcut, and run notes from the sidebar Run control on the note row. Browser guest shortcuts (reload, hard reload, find, back/forward, address bar focus, tab navigation) honor your customized keybindings when focus is inside embedded browser tabs. Recent-tab switching chords and double-tap modifier designs are part of the same keybinding system when enabled for your platform.
Editing keybindings.json
Customizations persist in your user keybindings file under ~/.influxx/keybindings.json. From Settings → Shortcuts you can ensure the file exists, open it in an editor, or reveal it in the file manager. Once the file exists, it is the source of truth for overrides. Prefer the in-app recorder for day-to-day remaps; use the file when you want to copy a bindings set between machines or review the full JSON document. Invalid entries are sanitized on load, and platform-specific sections can refine common bindings when you need macOS and Windows to diverge.
Appearance: Theme, Zoom, Fonts, and Chrome
Settings → Appearance is where Influxx stops looking generic. Theme choices cover dark, light, and system-following modes so the app window matches the rest of your desktop. UI Zoom scales the entire interface in controlled steps — useful on high-DPI displays or when pairing to a shared screen. IDE Font picks the typeface used by the Influxx interface chrome (separate from terminal font choices in terminal appearance).
- Language: Choose the language used by the Influxx interface (system default or a specific locale when available).
- Sidebar chrome: Control left sidebar presentation, density, and related explorer behavior such as whether git-ignored files are shown dimmed in the file explorer.
- Status bar toggles: Show or hide usage and agent-related status indicators so the bottom chrome matches what you actually monitor.
- Terminal themes: Style terminal coloring independently; on desktop you can import Warp themes as Influxx terminal themes from YAML theme folders or a chosen checkout.
- App icon: Where the platform supports it, pick an app icon variant that fits your dock or taskbar aesthetic.
- Editor comfort: Related editor preferences — minimap, word wrap, autosave delay, rich markdown spellcheck — live in appearance/general editor sections so writing notes and reviewing markdown stays comfortable for long sessions.
Appearance changes apply live so you can judge contrast and density immediately. If you live in terminals all day, pair Appearance theme with Terminal pane scrollback, font, and renderer choices under Tools → Terminal. Floating window behavior (global terminal, browser, and markdown tabs) is configured under Tools → Floating window rather than Appearance, even though it affects how chrome feels on multi-monitor setups.
Agents and Command Overrides
Settings → Coding agents is the control plane for which CLIs Influxx offers, which one is default, and how each one launches. Use this pane when your Claude, Codex, or other agent binary is non-standard, lives off PATH, or needs extra flags every run.
- Default agent: Sets which TUI or CLI opens for new agent sessions and for Run-on-note unless a note mapping overrides it.
- Enable / disable / hide: Detected agents can be shown or suppressed so the picker stays short. Not-on-PATH rows can offer enable/install paths when the product supports guided setup for that agent.
- Launch command overrides: Replace or extend the default launch command per agent — the right place for wrappers, version managers, and extra CLI flags you refuse to retype.
- Related TUI options: Permission styles, agent awake behavior, generated tab titles, status hooks, cache timers, and similar session comfort toggles live with agents so runtime behavior stays next to launch configuration.
- Windows agent runtime: On Windows terminal hosts, choose whether agents are detected and launched on Windows or in WSL by default so PATH and binary locations match reality.
- Providers pane: Optional account switching and usage setup for major providers when you juggle multiple logins; marked optional because BYO CLIs work without it.
- Notes pane: Project notes live under .influxx/notes in the repo; configure the default CLI agent used when you Run a note from the sidebar.
Multi-agent (orchestration) and Computer use appear in the same Agents group because they extend what a session can do, often via installable skills. Orchestration coordinates multiple coding agents in one workspace. Computer use lets agents operate desktop apps and visible UI when a workflow needs real interaction — pair it with macOS Permissions when Accessibility access is required. Voice holds dictation model and companion speech settings for hands-free prompting.
Quick Commands: Saved Terminal Recipes
Settings → Commands (Quick Commands) stores terminal commands you reuse constantly — bootstrap scripts, test runners, formatters, deploy stubs, and agent launchers. Each command can be scoped globally (available everywhere) or to a specific project/repo so a monorepo’s pnpm scripts never pollute a different product’s tab strip.
How to use Quick Commands day to day
Open Settings → Commands to add, edit, or delete entries. From a workspace tab strip, open the Quick Commands menu to run a saved command into the appropriate terminal context without retyping. Scope filters in the settings list let you focus on global commands, the active project, or a custom selection of repos. Deep links can open the pane with an “add command” intent so other product surfaces can send you straight into creating a new recipe.
Quick Commands are ordinary saved strings and metadata owned by your settings profile — they are not remote macros and they do not execute until you invoke them. Keep secrets out of the command text when a repo is shared; prefer env files or secret managers that setup hooks or shell profiles load instead.
MCP Configs and Agent Skills
Modern coding agents increasingly consume Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and skill packs. Influxx surfaces both without forcing a single vendor layout: MCP is inspected per repository, and skills install through agent skill setup UI tied to the active project runtime.
MCP Configs in repository settings
Open the repository’s settings pane for the project you care about and find MCP Configs. Influxx inspects known workspace config candidates (for example .mcp.json at the worktree root and nested layouts such as .cursor/mcp.json) and reports which files exist, which are invalid, which servers they declare, and when inspection is unavailable (for example on some remote paths). You can open a config in the editor, refresh inspection, and create a starter workspace MCP JSON when none is present so agents that read MCP have a predictable place to start.
- Inspect before you trust: Treat MCP server definitions as executable capability. Only keep servers you understand, especially if they can reach the network or local filesystem.
- Per-worktree roots: Inspection follows the active or main worktree path for that repo so feature branches with different config files are visible in context.
- Starter configs: When no config is detected, creating a starter file is a convenience — edit the servers list to match tools your agents actually need.
Agent skills
Skills are installable instruction packs that teach agents how to drive Influxx-specific workflows: the Influxx CLI surface, Computer Use, Orchestration, Linear, mobile emulator control, per-workspace environment patterns, and similar packs. Install and verify them through the Agent Skill setup panels that appear on the relevant Settings panes (for example Multi-agent and Computer use show install status in the nav). Skills are product setup surfaces for users; developers working from source may also see packs under a repo skills/ tree, but day-to-day installation should go through the app so discovery matches the active runtime (local, WSL, or remote host).
After installing skills that depend on the CLI, confirm Settings → App (or the CLI section) has the Influxx CLI registered on PATH. Skills that call influxx from agent sessions assume the launcher resolves cleanly on the machine or distro where the agent runs.
Setup Hooks: Automate New Worktrees
Per-repo setup hooks run when a worktree is created so every feature branch can bootstrap itself — install dependencies, copy env templates, generate local config, or warm caches. Configure them under the project/repository settings hooks section. The Getting started checklist item “Automate workspace setup” tracks whether you have engaged this path.
Configuring hooks
Repository hooks support scripted setup and archive lifecycle steps, optional YAML hook files in the repo, and policies for when setup runs and how agent startup interacts with setup. A typical pattern is a setup script that runs package installs for the monorepo and an archive script that cleans temporary artifacts before a worktree is removed. You can also maintain local command overrides and issue-command templates that reference artifact URLs when a workflow needs a structured prompt after setup.
- Setup script: Runs as part of worktree creation so agents do not start on a cold, uninstalled tree.
- Archive script: Optional cleanup before a worktree is archived or removed.
- Run policies: Control whether setup always runs, runs when needed, or follows your team’s preferred automation level.
- Command source policy: Choose how hook commands are resolved when both local settings and repo-managed YAML exist.
- Trust boundary: Hooks execute in your environment with your credentials. Only enable scripts from repositories you trust, the same way you would treat a post-checkout git hook.
Automation should remove toil, not surprise you — setup hooks and MCP servers are power tools, and power tools deserve review before they run on every new worktree.
Privacy Controls and Local-First Defaults
Influxx is designed around a local-first execution model: primary work happens on your machine or on SSH/WSL hosts you configure. Sidebar notes are ordinary files under .influxx/notes and leave the device only if you commit, sync, or export them. Review notes stay in local worktree metadata until you send them into an agent session. Managed chat, when you use it, is the credits path; bring-your-own CLI agents do not route through a managed gateway.
Telemetry: Share anonymous usage data
Open Settings → Telemetry in the Privacy group. The primary control is Share anonymous usage data. It is opt-in product analytics: anonymous counts of which features you use and where things break, described in-product as never including your source code. Toggle it on if you want to help shape the roadmap; leave it off if you prefer silence. A Privacy policy link sits next to the control for the formal statement.
- UI toggle: Settings → Telemetry → Share anonymous usage data.
- DO_NOT_TRACK: When this environment variable is set, telemetry is hard-disabled; unset it and restart to re-enable the UI path.
- INFLUXX_TELEMETRY_DISABLED: Influxx-specific hard disable with the same restart requirement.
- CI: Continuous integration environments disable telemetry automatically so automated runs do not phone home; unset CI-style variables and restart if you are testing the toggle on a CI-like shell.
- Blocked helper text: When an environment variable owns the decision, the Privacy pane explains which variable is in effect and disables the switch so policy cannot be accidentally overridden from the UI alone.
Diagnostics bundles for support
Below the usage toggle, Privacy diagnostics lets you collect a reviewable diagnostics bundle when you choose to share a bug report. The flow is deliberate: collect a review file, open the preview, and only then upload or discard. Ticket identifiers from a successful share can be copied for support conversations. Nothing in this path should feel like silent exfiltration — you create, review, and decide.
Permissions and Related Trust Surfaces
On macOS, Settings → Permissions covers privacy access that terminal-launched developer tools and Computer Use may need (for example Accessibility). Grant only what workflows require; the pane is the product map back into system Privacy & Security settings. Notifications permission is separate under Desktop → Notifications for agent-complete alerts. Notebooks that execute local Python should only be run when you trust the notebook folder. Browser automation treats page content as untrusted data when it is forwarded into agent prompts. Remote pairing uses pairing codes — prefer private networks for headless servers.
Privacy is not only a toggle. It is the sum of where code runs (local, SSH, WSL), which agents you enable, which MCP servers you load, which hooks you automate, and what you choose to put in commits. Settings gives you explicit controls for the product-owned pieces; repository files and agent CLIs remain under your normal development trust model.
Practical Customization Paths
Use these recipes when you know the outcome but not the pane name.
- Make the UI denser or larger: Settings → Appearance → UI Zoom and IDE Font; adjust terminal font under Tools → Terminal if glyphs feel mismatched.
- Switch default coding agent: Settings → Coding agents → set default; confirm Notes → Run still maps where you expect.
- Fix a missing binary: Coding agents → command override or PATH install; on Windows check agent runtime (Windows vs WSL).
- Remap a painful shortcut: Settings → Shortcuts → record; if conflicts appear, clear the other action or add an alternate chord.
- Stop all telemetry regardless of UI: Export DO_NOT_TRACK or INFLUXX_TELEMETRY_DISABLED in the environment that launches Influxx, then restart.
- Share a bug safely: Settings → Telemetry → collect diagnostics, open the review file, upload only after inspection.
- Bootstrap every new worktree: Repository settings → setup hooks → setup script; tick Automate workspace setup on the Get started checklist when done.
- Expose tools to agents via MCP: Repository MCP Configs → inspect or create .mcp.json → edit servers → re-run agents that read MCP.
- Install orchestration or computer-use skills: Open Multi-agent or Computer use and follow the skill install status in the nav/setup panel; register the CLI if skills call it.
- Save a one-liner you run daily: Settings → Commands → add global or per-project command → invoke from the tab strip Quick Commands menu.
Input, Notifications, and Usage (Nearby Desktop Controls)
Next to Appearance and Shortcuts, Desktop → Input tunes selection and editing behavior for people who care about caret and multi-cursor feel. Notifications configures native desktop alerts for agent and terminal events, including sound choices where available — pair this with first-launch notification setup so long agent runs can finish in the background. Usage shows token and subscription usage across coding agents so cost visibility lives beside the chrome that displays status indicators.
These panes are not “privacy” in the telemetry sense, but they affect how much the app interrupts you and what status data is emphasized. If your goal is a calm cockpit, turn off noisy notification categories, hide status bar meters you do not watch, and keep Usage available when you are actively managing quotas.
Remote Hosts and Where Settings Apply
SSH hosts and cloud runtimes expand where work happens without abandoning the same Settings model. SSH (Remote group) attaches existing machines for files, terminals, Git, and workspaces with reconnect and port-forward workflows. Cloud runtimes (beta) pair remote runtimes for persistent sessions and mobile handoff. Some desktop-only panes hide in pure web clients; when you are on desktop, expect Computer use, Voice, Browser, Emulator, Notifications, SSH, and Advanced to appear. Always confirm the active runtime when overriding agent launch commands or installing skills so binaries resolve on the host that will execute them.
Search as Navigation
Settings search is intentionally deep. It indexes pane titles, descriptions, and row-level keywords (theme, zoom, MCP, DO_NOT_TRACK, Warp, dictation, worktree, and agent names from the catalog). When documentation or a teammate cites a label that drifted, search the concept. When you deep-link from another surface — add quick command, jump to appearance subsection, open a repo pane — Influxx mounts the target section and scrolls to the subsection when needed.
Closing Settings discards nothing you already saved; most controls persist as you change them. Shortcut escape behavior may ask for confirmation when a recording session is active so you do not lose an in-progress remap. If a settings mutation feels stuck, re-open the pane or restart after environment variable changes that only apply on process launch.
The best Influxx setup is the one you stop thinking about — defaults for agents, chords under your fingers, chrome that matches the room, hooks that bootstrap without drama, and privacy switches that reflect a choice you actually made.
Related Topics in the Help Center
For install and first project paths, see getting started materials for Influxx desktop. For agent workflows, notes, and Run-as-agent behavior, pair this guide with notes and agent documentation. For CLI installation and binary names, use the CLI guides after registering the launcher from Settings → App. For broader privacy posture and local-first storage of notes, cross-check privacy articles that describe what stays on disk versus what you explicitly export.
Quick Reference Checklist
Keep this short list near your dock until the muscle memory sticks.
- Open Settings: Mod+, then search if you do not know the pane.
- Remap keys: Desktop → Shortcuts; file at ~/.influxx/keybindings.json.
- Look and feel: Desktop → Appearance (theme, zoom, fonts, status bar, Warp import).
- Default agent and overrides: Agents → Coding agents.
- Saved shell recipes: Tools → Commands; run from tab strip Quick Commands.
- MCP: Repository settings → MCP Configs.
- Skills: Multi-agent, Computer use, and related setup panels.
- Setup hooks: Repository hooks; tracked by Get started → Automate workspace setup.
- Telemetry: Privacy → Telemetry → Share anonymous usage data (opt-in); env hard-disable supported.
- Diagnostics: Privacy → collect, review, then share or discard.
- macOS access: Privacy → Permissions for developer tools and computer use.
When something still feels missing, remember Influxx separates product settings (this guide) from repository-owned files (hooks YAML, MCP JSON, notes under .influxx/notes) and from agent CLIs you install yourself. Configure the product so the cockpit is yours; configure the repo so the team shares automation; configure agents so the intelligence layer matches your accounts and risk posture. That three-layer model is intentional — and Settings is the layer that puts the cockpit in your hands.
