Model, effort and mode

Under the message box sits a row of quiet chips: the Claude profile, the model, the effort and the permission mode. They show only the value (“Personal”, “Opus 4.5”, “Medium”, “Auto”); hover one for its full meaning, such as “Effort: Medium”. The same row is in New session, in the command palette’s New session step and in every session.

Where to find it

• In New session, under the message box. The chips start from the project’s defaults.
• In a session, under its message box. Changes apply while the session runs.
• In the command palette, with a session open: Change model…, Change effort… and Change permission mode….

Click a chip to open its menu above it. The image and attach buttons come first in the row, then a thin line, then the chips.

Profile

With more than one Claude profile, the first chip is the profile, as its colour dot and name. In New session you can pick another profile for one session; the menu marks the project’s own as “(project)” and the default as “(default)”.

A running session keeps its profile. Its chip shows the profile and links to Manage profiles…; start a new session to use another one. With a single profile the chip is hidden.

Model

The model chip lists Default model (what Claude Code would pick) and the models your Claude Code offers, each with a short description. The chip shows the name without “Claude”, such as “Opus 4.5”.

Effort

How much Claude thinks before it answers. The chip shows three bars that fill with the level:

Choice	Bars
Default	What Claude Code would pick
Low	one
Medium	two
High	three
Extra high	three, in the accent colour
Max	three, in the accent colour

In a session the effort chip shows only when the model has an effort setting.

Permission mode

The mode decides when Claude stops to ask before it acts. The menu, under the heading Permissions, offers four modes:

Mode	Chip	What it means
Ask before edits	Ask first	Approve every edit and command. The default.
Accept edits	Accept edits	File edits apply, commands still ask.
Plan mode	Plan	Claude reads and plans, and makes no changes. It shows you the plan to approve.
Auto mode	Auto	Claude only asks when it matters.

Each mode has a dot in the chip: green for Ask first, blue for Accept edits, grey for Plan and yellow for Auto. A session started in another mode elsewhere (such as bypassing permissions) shows that mode in the menu too, but Switchboard never offers it.

Press Shift, Tab⇧⇥Shift, TabShiftTab in the message box to switch mode. Like the Claude Code CLI, it cycles through Ask before edits, Accept edits and Plan mode. Pick Auto mode from the menu.

What the cards look like when Claude asks: Permissions and questions.

Note

Some starts never use a mode that skips prompts (Auto mode or bypassing permissions). A session started by a switchboard:// link with autostart=1 uses the project’s own default mode, or Ask before edits. A quick question starts in the mode you last picked for one, or Ask before edits when that was such a mode. Pick it again each time you want it.

In a narrow window

When the row runs out of room, it never cuts a chip off. It steps through fixed levels instead:

1. Effort and mode show only their icon (the bars and the dot).
2. The model drops its version (“Opus” instead of “Opus 4.5”).
3. The profile shows only its dot.

The label and tooltip keep the full value at every level. This happens in narrow windows and when two sessions are side by side.

Project defaults

New session starts from the project’s defaults for model, effort and mode, and from the choices you made last in New session for whatever the project leaves unset. A change in New session applies to that one session.

To keep your choices for the project, choose Save as project default in the Where menu of the route strip, or run Save as project default in the command palette. You can also set them on the project’s Settings tab. Quick questions keep their own choices, apart from your projects.

Settings

The defaults live on each project’s Settings tab. Profiles are in Settings → Claude profiles.