# Settings

> Configure the app: your AI key, notifications, look and feel, accessibility, and account tools. One tab per section.

*Source: https://tradelabs.org/docs/using-the-app/settings*

The **Settings** page holds everything you configure about the app, organized into tabs down the side. Press **Ctrl/⌘ + F** while on the Settings page and type a setting's name to jump straight to it. (Ctrl/⌘ + K opens the global command palette, which jumps you to a whole settings tab.)

![The Settings page](/docs-assets/app-settings.png)
*The Settings page and its tabs*

## General

Startup behavior and app-wide preferences:

* **Landing page**: which page opens when TradeLabs starts (Overview, Strategies, Trade, Portfolio, or Brokers).
* **Language**: interface language.
* **Automatic updates**: let new versions download in the background and install on their own once no trades are running. Turn it off to install updates yourself.
* **Backup & restore**: export everything (broker logins, API keys, signal sources, proxies, and preferences) to one password-protected file, then import it on another computer. Strategies sync through your account, so they come over on their own.
* **About**: your version, build variant, and settings schema, handy when contacting support.

![The General settings tab](/docs-assets/app-settings-general.png)
*General*

## Signal Parser

Where your **AI key** lives. Discord and Telegram messages are read by AI, and this tab sets that up. Choose a **Provider** (OpenAI or Google Gemini), paste your **API key** (OpenAI keys start with `sk-`, Gemini keys start with `AIza`), **Save**, then use **Test** to confirm the key works. Pick a **Model** last (gpt-4o-mini is the recommended default for OpenAI).

> **Note**
>
> Your key is stored on your device and only sent to the provider's own API. Leave it empty and Discord and Telegram cannot read messages.

![The Signal Parser settings tab](/docs-assets/app-settings-parser.png)
*Signal Parser*

Step-by-step for getting a key: [Create an AI key](/docs/reference/how-to/creating-an-ai-key/).

## Appearance

Control how the app looks: **Theme** (Dark, Light, System, or Auto, which switches to light at 7am and back to dark at 8pm your local time), **Density**, **Motion**, **Corner radius**, **Font size**, and an **Accent color** (nine swatches plus a custom color picker).

![The Appearance settings tab](/docs-assets/app-settings-appearance.png)
*Appearance*

## Notifications

In-app alerts, the bell-icon center, and an optional Discord webhook for remote alerts. Three parts:

* **In-app**: toggle **Toasts** (bottom-right pop-ups for trade outcomes and settings writes) and **Sound** (a soft chime on each notable event).
* **Discord webhook**: paste a **Webhook URL** to mirror events to a Discord channel, then **Send test** to confirm it works. Leave it empty to disable the mirror. Trade fills and failures are posted directly by each broker, so they are *not* mirrored here and you never get duplicates.
* **What sends a notification**: click a pill to toggle it. Filled pills fire a toast (and the webhook, if set); empty pills stay silent. Events are grouped into **Signals** (off by default, noisy but useful for debugging), **Brokers** (session expiry), and **System** (breakage and lifecycle, on by default). Each group has **Enable all** / **Disable all**.

![The Notifications settings tab](/docs-assets/app-settings-notifications.png)
*Notifications*

## Customization

Three sections:

* **Overview widgets**: drag a card by its handle to reorder it, move it between columns, or toggle its visibility. Changes apply live.
* **Pinned palette commands**: pinned commands surface in their own group at the top of the command palette and as icon buttons in the topbar.
* **Keyboard shortcuts**: click a shortcut to remap it, then press a new combination.

## Accessibility

Contrast and color options: **High contrast** (thicker borders, whiter text, stronger separation) and **Color-blind safe** (status dots get shape cues in addition to color). Density, motion, and text size live on the Appearance tab.

## Advanced

Migration, diagnostics, and destructive actions:

* **Import from a previous install**: bring your brokers, strategies, OpenAI key, and Discord webhook over from an older TradeLabs Companion on the same computer. Safe to run any time; it only fills in things you have not already set up.
* **Diagnostics**: open the activity-files folder, or re-run the onboarding wizard.
* **Danger zone**: **Reset settings to defaults**, which clears your theme, strategies, broker accounts, and signal sources. This cannot be undone.

![The Advanced settings tab](/docs-assets/app-settings-advanced.png)
*Advanced*

> **Important**
>
> Reset settings to defaults is irreversible. Only use it if you want a clean slate.

## Account

Sign in with the account you use on dashboard.tradelabs.org. This tab shows your **TradeLabs account** (email, tier, live license verdict, and sign out), cloud sync status, and your **Hardware ID**, which support may ask for if your license needs to be re-bound to this machine.

![The Account settings tab](/docs-assets/app-settings-account.png)
*Account*

## Support

Read the guides, then send a day of activity if you need a hand. **Recent activity** lists your daily activity files; **Send** attaches one to a support ticket, with an optional note describing what went wrong.