Configuration

Initial setup

Configuration is produced by ingest-profile during onboarding. You do not hand-edit the config files directly during setup — the agent interviews you and writes the files via validated CLI helpers.

Changing settings later

To change any setting after onboarding without re-running the full interview:

change a setting / update my comp floor / add an excluded company turn on browser automation / change my writing style

The agent routes to configure, which:

1. Shows your current state (careerrat doctor, careerrat modes status, careerrat automation status).
2. Routes each change to the canonical validated CLI helper (careerrat gate, careerrat modes, careerrat automation) or the owning skill.
3. Confirms before writing consequential changes.

configure never becomes a separate mutation path — it routes through the same validated tools that the skills use.

Paul quality and thinking depth

The app stores AI preferences locally in Profile. They use the same choices with Claude Code and OpenAI Codex, so selecting a provider never means accepting a weaker CareerRat workflow.

• Paul quality: Automatic, Faster, Balanced, or Best. Automatic chooses by task: Paul and high-stakes judgment stay strong, while web search, extraction, and small helpers use the efficient level suited to their work. The other choices set one overall quality preference.

• Thinking depth: Automatic, Low, Medium, or High. Automatic chooses by task. The other choices set how much time the selected runtime spends reasoning.

The controls are provider-neutral product settings, not raw model selectors. They affect new replies and tasks only. Work already running keeps the frozen plan it started with, so changing Settings cannot move a search or application task to another runtime halfway through.

Gate files and the gate helper

When you state a new constraint mid-flow ("never that company", "below $190K is a no"), the agent writes it to the canonical config file so all other skills inherit it immediately. It uses careerrat gate:

careerrat gate exclude-company "Acme Corp"           # dry-run
careerrat gate exclude-company "Acme Corp" --write   # commit
careerrat gate comp-floor 180000 --write
careerrat gate cut-signal "requires >25% travel" --write

Gate types: exclude-company, cut-signal, keep-signal, comp-floor, comp-annual-floor, comp-target, comp-expected, do-not-claim, do-not-fabricate.

Mode switches

.careerrat/candidate/modes.yml (optional) controls operational posture. If absent, defaults are standard usage, balanced application mode, and standard voice.

careerrat modes status                              # current values
careerrat modes set usage lean --write             # change usage mode
careerrat modes set application high-volume --write

Browser automation switches

careerrat automation status                         # the live matrix
careerrat automation consent linkedin --write       # record ToS consent
careerrat automation enable profile_optimize linkedin --write
careerrat automation session auto --write           # recommended provider

See Browser Automation for the full capability list and consent model.

Config files reference