Settings and flags

Settings is where the platform is configured. Changes take effect without a restart; most reach families within a minute.

#At a glance

The six cards at the top say whether the important things are working. Each has a colour, the state in a few words and one sentence on what to do:

• Green, Working: nothing to do.
• Amber, Needs a look: fine for now, or fine for the beta, but worth knowing. For example Payments: Off during the beta.
• Red, Needs action: something is not working for families. For example Email: Not set up, which means parents never get consent links.

A card that needs a fix has a link, for example Set up email, that jumps to the right section.

#Find a setting

Type in Search settings to show only the settings whose name, explanation or technical name matches, for example budget, email or voice. The buttons under it jump to a section.

#How a setting reads

Each setting has:

• A plain label and a sentence on what it does for families, then what happens when you change it.
• A real control: a switch, a dollar amount, a list to choose from, or a slider.
• Where the value comes from, under the explanation:
  • Default: nobody has set it, so the built-in value applies. The default is shown, for example Default: On.
  • Set here · changed by mustafa@… on …: someone saved it on this page, and who and when.
  • From server environment: it is set on the server itself. A value saved here takes over from it.
• A small Technical name, for example whiteboard_enabled. You only need it when talking to engineering.

Some settings say Only matters while "Whiteboard lessons" is on: they do nothing while that other switch is off. Careful marks a setting worth thinking twice about, Legacy one the Models page has replaced.

#Change settings: one review, one reason

1. Change as many settings as you like. Each one you change is tinted and marked Changed, with Undo change under it. Nothing is saved yet.

2. A bar at the bottom of the screen counts them: 3 unsaved changes, with Discard and Review & save.

   

3. Select Review & save. The box lists every change as before → after, for example $25.00 → $40.00.

4. Write one reason for all of them (at least 20 characters), then select Save.

Each change is saved and written to the Audit log as its own entry, with your reason, and (for settings that are not keys) the old and new values. If the server refuses one, for example an amount that is not a number, the box says which one and why; the others are saved, and the refused one stays changed on the page so you can fix it and try again.

• Discard throws every unsaved change away. A message offers Undo for a few seconds.
• Reset to default (under a setting saved here) removes the saved value, so the default, or the server's own value, applies again. It is a change like any other: it goes through the review.
• Leaving the page, or closing the tab, with unsaved changes asks you first.

The page checks values before the review: an amount below zero or a port that is not a number shows the problem under the setting, and the bar says fix 1 problem first.

#Learning features

Voices and speed are also on Models, under Narration voices, which has Preview voice.

#Spending limits

Safety replies always work, whatever the limits.

#Sign-up & beta access

#Email

Email carries parental-consent links, safety alerts and the budget alert. Until it is set up, emails are only written to the server log and the Email card is red.

1. Under Your provider, pick Postmark, Amazon SES or Custom. A preset fills in the mail server, port 587 and encryption (STARTTLS) for you. For Amazon SES, change us-east-1 in the mail server to your region.
2. Fill in Username and Password. For Postmark both are your Server API token; for SES, the SMTP credentials SES generates.
3. Fill in From address, for example TutorCat <cat@example.com>. It must be verified with your provider.
4. Review and save.
5. Select Send test email. One short message goes to your own admin address, through the settings now in force, and is noted in the audit log. If the mail server refuses it, its error is shown.

All or nothing: email works only when the mail server and from address are filled in, plus the username and password together if your provider uses them. A half-filled setup stops every email until it is complete. The section's badge says Not set up, Incomplete (with what is missing) or Complete.

#Connections

Keys are write-only: after you save one it is never shown again, not even to you. A key shows Saved or Not set yet, who changed it and when, or Set in the server environment.

• Add or Replace opens a box to paste the key. It becomes an unsaved change like any other.
• Clear removes the key saved here (it goes through the review too). A key set in the server environment cannot be cleared here.

The audit log records only whether a key is set, never the key.

#Safety & privacy

The two switches with legal weight sit in their own red section. Turning either on asks you to type a word first (VOICE or ERASE); that only adds it to your unsaved changes, and it still needs the review and a reason. Turning them off needs no word.

#Advanced

Collapsed by default; select Show. It opens by itself when you search for something inside it or have an unsaved change there.

• Read replies aloud automatically, per grade band: grades 3 to 5 (default on), 6 to 9 and 10 to 12 (default off). Parents can still change it per child.
• Teaching model and Summary model (Legacy): replaced by the per-job chains on Models.
• Speech-to-text model: the transcription model. Easier on AI and usage.
• Model price overrides (Legacy): easier on AI & Usage → Model prices, which saves the whole table safely.
• Any setting the server has that this page has no description for yet is listed here by its technical name.

#Dev flags

Development shortcuts set in the server's environment are listed on the Dev flags card. They cannot be changed from the console: engineering removes them on the server and restarts.

#The safe beta posture, in one line

Who can sign up: Invite only, Everyone gets Family features: On, Payments open: Off, Erase unconsented child accounts: Off, Voice input under the consent age: Not allowed, and a daily budget you have chosen on purpose.