GSD Core Configuration Settings and Options Reference

GSD Core stores all project configuration in .planning/config.json. The file is created automatically when you run /gsd-new-project and updated whenever you use the configuration commands. You can edit it directly or use the interactive configuration tools — both approaches produce the same result, and unrelated keys are always preserved on write.

Interactive configuration with /gsd-settings

Run /gsd-settings to open a six-section interactive wizard that walks you through every configurable workflow toggle and model profile setting. Answers are merged into your project’s config.json without overwriting keys you do not touch.

/gsd-settings

The wizard is organized into six sections:

Section breakdown

Section	Settings covered
Planning	Research, Plan Checker, Pattern Mapper, Nyquist, UI Phase, UI Gate, AI Phase
Execution	Verifier, TDD Mode, Code Review, Code Review Depth, UI Review
Docs & Output	Commit Docs, Skip Discuss, Worktrees
Features	Intel, Graphify
Model & Pipeline	Model Profile, Auto-Advance, Branching
Misc	Context Warnings, Research Questions mode

At the end of the session you can optionally save the full settings object to ~/.gsd/defaults.json so future projects start from the same baseline configuration.

Targeted configuration with /gsd-config

Run /gsd-config for a more focused configuration experience. Without flags it covers the most common toggles. Use flags to access power-user settings, integrations, or to switch model profiles with a single command.

/gsd-config                         # Common toggles: model, research, plan_check, verifier, branching
/gsd-config --advanced              # Power-user knobs: timeouts, templates, cross-AI, runtime
/gsd-config --integrations          # API keys, review CLI routing, agent-skill injection
/gsd-config --profile quality       # Switch to quality model profile
/gsd-config --profile balanced      # Switch to balanced model profile
/gsd-config --profile budget        # Switch to budget model profile
/gsd-config --profile inherit       # All agents inherit the session model

To use the adaptive profile, run /gsd-config without flags and select it from the interactive wizard’s Model & Pipeline section.

Core settings

Setting	Options	Default	Description
`mode`	`interactive`, `yolo`	`interactive`	`interactive` confirms decisions at each workflow step. `yolo` auto-approves everything — useful for prototyping where speed matters more than review.
`granularity`	`coarse`, `standard`, `fine`	`standard`	Controls how many tasks the planner generates per phase. `coarse` produces 2–4 tasks, `standard` 4–6, `fine` 6–10.
`model_profile`	`quality`, `balanced`, `budget`, `adaptive`, `inherit`	`balanced`	Model tier assignment for each agent type. See Model Profiles for the full agent-to-tier mapping.
`runtime`	`claude`, `codex`, `gemini`, `qwen`, `opencode`, and others	(none)	Active runtime for runtime-aware profile resolution. When set, profile tiers resolve to runtime-native model IDs.
`context_window`	any integer	`200000`	Context window size in tokens. Set `1000000` for 1M-context models. Values ≥ 500,000 enable adaptive context enrichment.
`response_language`	language code	(none)	Language for all agent responses, e.g. `"pt"`, `"ko"`, `"ja"`. Propagates to every spawned agent for cross-phase consistency.

Workflow toggles

All workflow toggles follow the absent = enabled pattern. If a key is missing from config.json, the feature defaults to true.

Setting	Default	Description
`workflow.research`	`true`	Run domain investigation before planning each phase. Disable with `--skip-research` per run or set `false` to skip globally.
`workflow.plan_check`	`true`	Run the plan verification loop after planning (up to 3 iterations).
`workflow.verifier`	`true`	Run post-execution verification against phase goals before shipping.
`workflow.auto_advance`	`false`	Automatically chain discuss → plan → execute without stopping between steps.
`workflow.tdd_mode`	`false`	Enable TDD pipeline as a first-class execution mode. The planner applies red-green-refactor sequencing to behavior-adding tasks.
`workflow.code_review`	`true`	Enable `/gsd-code-review` and the fix pipeline. Set `false` to gate the command project-wide.
`workflow.security_enforcement`	`true`	Enable threat-model-anchored security verification via `/gsd-secure-phase`.

workflow.auto_advance: false is the safe default. Set it to true only when your requirements are stable and you are comfortable with phases advancing without manual confirmation.

Common configuration combinations

The following combinations of settings are commonly used together:

Scenario	`mode`	`granularity`	`model_profile`	`research`	`plan_check`	`verifier`
Prototyping	`yolo`	`coarse`	`budget`	`false`	`false`	`false`
Normal development	`interactive`	`standard`	`balanced`	`true`	`true`	`true`
Production release	`interactive`	`fine`	`quality`	`true`	`true`	`true`

Global defaults

Save settings as global defaults so every new project starts from the same baseline. GSD reads ~/.gsd/defaults.json when creating a new config.json and merges global defaults as the starting configuration. Per-project settings always override globals.

/gsd-settings       # Offers to save to ~/.gsd/defaults.json at the end of the session

You can also write to the global defaults file directly:

{
  "model_profile": "balanced",
  "granularity": "standard",
  "workflow": {
    "research": true,
    "plan_check": true,
    "verifier": true
  }
}

Example config.json

The following example shows a typical production project configuration:

{
  "mode": "interactive",
  "granularity": "fine",
  "model_profile": "quality",
  "context_window": 200000,
  "response_language": null,
  "workflow": {
    "research": true,
    "plan_check": true,
    "verifier": true,
    "auto_advance": false,
    "tdd_mode": false,
    "code_review": true,
    "code_review_depth": "standard",
    "security_enforcement": true,
    "security_asvs_level": 1,
    "security_block_on": "high"
  },
  "git": {
    "branching_strategy": "phase",
    "base_branch": "main"
  }
}

Get Started

Core Concepts

Workflow Guide

Configuration

Command Reference

GSD Core Configuration Settings and Options Reference

Interactive configuration with /gsd-settings

Targeted configuration with /gsd-config

Core settings

Workflow toggles

Common configuration combinations

Global defaults

Example config.json

​Interactive configuration with /gsd-settings

​Targeted configuration with /gsd-config

​Core settings

​Workflow toggles

​Common configuration combinations

​Global defaults

​Example config.json

Interactive configuration with /gsd-settings

Targeted configuration with /gsd-config

Core settings

Workflow toggles

Common configuration combinations

Global defaults

Example config.json