Settings & Preferences
Open settings with Ctrl+, (or Cmd+, on macOS). Settings are organized into seven tabs: Interface, Defaults, Account, Network, Performance, Privacy, and About. Most settings take effect immediately. UI Scale requires clicking Apply, and changes to Processing Threads take effect after restarting the app.
Right-click any control on any tab and choose Revert to Default to restore that single setting to its shipped value. This works on every checkbox, dropdown, and slider in the window. Each tab also has a help icon in its header that opens the matching page of this documentation.
Interface
Section titled “Interface”Visual preferences for the editor, canvas, and display.
| Setting | Default | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Color Scheme | Violet | Emerald, Violet, Ocean, Rose, Amber, Graphite |
| Color Picker | Hue Bar | Hue Bar (vertical strip) or Hue Wheel (circular). Applies to every color picker in the app. |
| UI Scale | 1.0x | Scale the entire interface (0.5x — 2.0x). Requires Apply. On Linux, the detected system scale is shown beneath the slider with an Auto button that matches it. |
Node Graph
Section titled “Node Graph”| Setting | Default | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Wire Style | Curved | Curved, Straight, Rounded, Right Angle |
| Wire Curving | 4 | How much Curved wires bend between pins (0 = straight line, 10 = heavy bend). Disabled when Wire Style is not Curved. |
| Quick-Lock | On | Double-click a node to lock the preview to it; double-click empty canvas to unlock. |
| Snap Mode | Snap to Nodes | How dragged nodes, groups, and sticky notes snap: Snap to Nodes (align edges to nearby nodes with guide lines), Snap to Grid (snap to a fixed grid), or None. Grid snapping is no longer the default. Hold Ctrl while dragging to move freely. |
| Grid Spacing | 16 px | Grid cell size when Snap Mode is Snap to Grid (8 — 64 pixels) |
Display
Section titled “Display”| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Display Color Management | On | Reads your monitor’s ICC profile and applies color correction so previewed colors match exported colors. Zero overhead on sRGB monitors. |
| Show Full Path in Title Bar | Off | Show the complete .arcb file path instead of just the filename. |
| Show Panel Scrollbars | On | Show scrollbars in the node library and properties panels. When off, panels use thin overlay scrollbars that appear only when content overflows. |
| Compact Properties | Off | Put each parameter’s label and control on one line in a tidy two-column form, shortening the Properties panel. Over-long labels keep their own line instead of being clipped. Also toggleable from the View menu. |
| Show Memory Usage | Off | Show RAM, image cache, and VRAM usage in the status bar, each as used of total. The image cache lives in RAM; a separate Spill indicator appears when batch frames overflow to disk. |
| Show Generation Costs | Off | Show session and per-file AI generation costs in the status bar. |
| Show Network Status | Off | Show an Online/Offline dot for the ArcBrush API server in the status bar. |
On Linux under Wayland, Display Color Management is shown disabled. The Wayland compositor manages display color correction, so ArcBrush leaves it to the system rather than applying its own.
Tooltips
Section titled “Tooltips”| Setting | Default | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Show Tooltips | On | Show or hide hover tooltips |
| Tooltip Delay | 0.4 s | Delay before a tooltip appears (0 — 2.0 seconds) |
Animations
Section titled “Animations”| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Animations | On | Smooth motion across the editor: the canvas glides when framing or zooming to nodes, new nodes fade in and deleted ones leave a brief ghost, evaluations and new wires pulse, and modals, the search bar, tooltips, badges, and toasts ease in. Turn off for an instant, static interface. |
You can also middle-mouse drag to scroll in the node library and properties panels.
Defaults
Section titled “Defaults”Project defaults and file behavior.
New Project Defaults
Section titled “New Project Defaults”Default dimensions for new canvases. Existing graphs keep their own canvas size.
| Setting | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Canvas Width | 1024 px | 1 — 8192 (slider), up to 16384 |
| Canvas Height | 1024 px | 1 — 8192 (slider), up to 16384 |
Behavior
Section titled “Behavior”| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Reopen last file on startup | On | Automatically reopen the most recent graph on startup |
Auto-Save
Section titled “Auto-Save”ArcBrush periodically saves a backup of your work. If the app closes unexpectedly, it offers to restore the last auto-saved state on next launch.
| Setting | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Auto-Save | On | Toggle automatic backups |
| Interval | 120 s | How often to save (30 — 600 seconds) |
| Max Snapshots | 5 | Number of rotating backups to keep (1 — 10) |
File Association
Section titled “File Association”Register or remove the .arcb file type association so double-clicking a project file opens ArcBrush. On macOS, registered files show the ArcBrush document icon in Finder.
Preferences Folder
Section titled “Preferences Folder”Opens the per-user folder where ArcBrush stores its settings, logs, and autosaves. You usually don’t need to touch this folder, but it’s useful when you’re attaching logs to a bug report, migrating settings to a new machine, or clearing recovery data.
Default location
Section titled “Default location”| Platform | Path |
|---|---|
| Windows | %APPDATA%\ArcBrush\ (typically C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\ArcBrush\) |
| macOS | ~/Library/Application Support/ArcBrush/ |
| Linux | ~/.config/arcbrush/ |
The folder is created automatically the first time ArcBrush runs.
What’s inside
Section titled “What’s inside”| Item | What it is |
|---|---|
settings.json | Your in-app preferences (theme, default canvas size, AI concurrency, etc.). Saved automatically whenever you change something in Settings & Preferences. |
window.json | The last window position, size, and monitor, used to restore your layout on launch. |
logs/ | Rolling application logs (arcbrush_<timestamp>.log). Attach the most recent file to bug reports. Older logs are pruned automatically. |
generation_log.jsonl | One-line-per-entry history of AI generations, including the model, cost, and timestamp. Powers the Generation Log window. |
autosave/ | Recovery snapshots of open documents, plus an index.json. ArcBrush prompts to restore from here after a crash. |
unsaved_data/ | Image cache for graphs you haven’t saved yet, so unsaved work survives a restart. |
clipboard_images/ | Temporary storage for images copied between graphs. |
arcbrush.cfg | Optional. An INI-style file for advanced overrides (custom proxy URL, performance flags, dev toggles). ArcBrush does not create this for you. Add it only if a setting tells you to. |
Safe to delete
Section titled “Safe to delete”logs/,unsaved_data/, andclipboard_images/regenerate on the next launch.- Deleting
autosave/discards crash-recovery snapshots for documents that haven’t been saved as.arcbfiles. - Deleting
settings.jsonresets ArcBrush to defaults. - Don’t delete the folder while ArcBrush is running.
Account
Section titled “Account”Sign in, view your credit balance, purchase credits, or sign out. AI features require an account, but all non-AI features work without one.
Network
Section titled “Network”Configure how ArcBrush connects to the internet. Most users never need to touch this tab. ArcBrush either connects directly or, on a fresh install, picks up the system proxy automatically. The tab exists for users behind a corporate firewall, VPN, or TLS-inspecting proxy that needs explicit configuration.
Every change on this tab applies immediately to the next request and triggers a connectivity recheck. There is no Apply button.
Status
Section titled “Status”A live indicator at the top of the tab shows the current connection state to the ArcBrush API server:
| Indicator | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Connected (direct) | Reaching the server without a proxy. |
Via proxy host:port | Reaching the server through the resolved proxy. |
| Checking… | A connectivity probe is in flight. |
| Offline | The most recent probe failed. |
The status refreshes whenever you change a setting on this tab, when the Settings window regains focus, and on a periodic background interval.
HTTP Proxy
Section titled “HTTP Proxy”| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| No proxy | Always connect directly. Use this if your network has no proxy and you want to skip system-proxy resolution. |
| Auto-detect (use system proxy) | Resolve the proxy from your operating system: WinHTTP / Internet Options on Windows (including PAC files), CFNetworkCopySystemProxySettings on macOS, and the HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY / ALL_PROXY environment variables on Linux. Default for new installs. Resolved values are cached for 30 seconds. |
| Manual configuration | Use the Proxy URL and Bypass list you provide below. |
Migration note. Existing installs upgrading to a build that includes the Network tab keep their previous behavior (No proxy) so nothing changes unexpectedly. Only fresh installs default to Auto-detect. If you upgraded and now sit behind a corporate proxy, switch the mode to Auto-detect or Manual.
When Manual configuration is selected, the following fields apply:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Proxy URL | A single proxy URL. Examples: http://proxy.corp:8080, https://proxy.corp:8443, socks5://10.0.0.1:1080. Embedded credentials in the URL are not recommended; use the Authentication section instead. |
| Bypass list | Optional comma-separated list of hosts that should skip the proxy. Wildcards are supported. Example: localhost,127.0.0.1,*.internal. |
Authentication
Section titled “Authentication”Available only when Manual configuration is selected. The credentials section is enabled once you choose an Auth method other than None.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Auth method | None, Basic, NTLM, or Negotiate (Kerberos / SPNEGO). Pick what your IT contact specifies for the proxy. |
| Username | The username your proxy expects. For NTLM this can be DOMAIN\user or user@DOMAIN. |
| Password | Stored in your operating system’s credential vault: Windows Credential Manager, macOS Keychain, or libsecret on Linux. The password is never written to settings.json and is loaded into the Settings window only while the Network tab is visible. |
Negotiate requires libcurl built with SPNEGO support. The shipping Windows build includes it; on platforms where it is unavailable the option will fail to connect and Test connection reports the cause.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Use system certificate trust | On | Trust the certificate store managed by your OS (Windows certificate store, macOS Keychain, Linux trust roots). Recommended. Leave this on so corporate root CAs installed by your IT department continue to be trusted. |
| Custom CA bundle | Empty | Optional path to a PEM or CRT file containing one or more root certificates to trust in addition to the system store. Use this when a TLS-intercepting proxy presents certificates signed by a CA that is not yet in your system trust store. Click Browse to pick the file. |
If a configured Custom CA bundle path becomes invalid (file moved or deleted), ArcBrush logs a warning and falls back to the system trust store.
Connectivity
Section titled “Connectivity”The Test connection button runs a four-step diagnostic against the ArcBrush API server using your current Network settings, and prints the result with one line per step into a scrollable panel below the button:
- Resolved proxy. The proxy URL that the current settings produce, or
directif none. - TCP connect. Whether the underlying socket connects to the proxy (or, in direct mode, to the API server).
- TLS handshake or Proxy CONNECT. For direct mode, whether the certificate chain validates; for proxy mode, whether the proxy accepts the CONNECT tunnel. On a TLS verification failure the diagnostic prints the untrusted CA name found in the chain so you know exactly which certificate to ask your IT department for.
- HTTP GET /health. A final round-trip to the server’s health endpoint, with the response status and a body excerpt.
Each failure includes a one-line tip pointing at the field most likely to fix it (set Manual mode, configure auth, load a CA bundle, etc.).
The Copy diagnostics button copies the entire output to the clipboard so you can paste it into a support email.
Privacy. Diagnostics include the API server hostname and the resolved proxy URL but never your username, password, or the contents of your custom CA bundle.
Performance
Section titled “Performance”Hardware and processing settings.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Max Concurrent AI Requests | 3 | Number of AI generations that can run in parallel (1 — 8) |
| Processing Threads | 0 (auto) | Number of CPU threads for node evaluation. 0 = automatic. Requires restart. |
| GPU Acceleration | On (auto-detected) | Use OpenCL and compute shaders for accelerated processing when a compatible GPU is available. Toggling this takes effect in the current session, no restart needed. |
| Batch Concurrency Cap | auto | Maximum batch frames that evaluate in parallel (1 to thread count). Default is max(2, threads / 4). |
| Batch Memory Ceiling | Half of installed RAM | When in-flight batch frames would exceed this limit, frames spill to a temp cache on disk. The default is half your installed RAM and the slider range scales to your machine, so large-memory systems are not throttled and low-memory systems are not overcommitted. |
Privacy
Section titled “Privacy”| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Send anonymous telemetry | On | Send anonymous usage statistics to help improve ArcBrush. No personal data, prompts, images, or file paths are collected. |
| Check for updates on startup | On | Check for new versions when ArcBrush launches. When one is found, Windows and macOS download, install, and relaunch it from inside the app; Linux opens the download page in your browser. |
A short Machine ID preview is shown at the bottom of this tab. It is a hash of a system identifier, never the raw hardware value, used as the anonymous install ID for crash reports and usage stats. Deleting your settings file no longer creates a fresh-looking install in our dashboard because the hash is stable across resets.