Settings Reference
This is the complete high-level map of the current Settings surface. Labs-gated sections appear only when the required feature is enabled.
Appearance
Section titled “Appearance”| Setting | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Layout | Horizontal, Vertical, or experimental Purist |
| Theme | Dark, Dim, Light, System |
| Force dark mode on websites | Best-effort dark styling for web content |
| Background | Base chrome visual style |
| Accent color | Primary interface highlight |
| Secondary accent | Supporting highlight |
| Background tint | Main background tone |
| Surface tint | Panel/surface tone |
| Sidebar density | Comfortable or compact spacing |
| Sidebar mode | Auto, docked, or Pinned over page |
| Sidebar width | Sidebar width |
| Sidebar labels | Show/hide labels |
| Corner radius | Interface roundness |
| Glassiness | Translucency effect strength |
| Blur | Backdrop blur strength |
| Glow | Highlight bloom |
| Borders | Surface outline strength |
| Shadow depth | Elevation strength |
| Gradients | Gradient intensity |
| Panel opacity | Side/local panel opacity |
| Chrome opacity | Browser-chrome opacity |
| Saturation | Interface color intensity |
| Animations | General motion |
| Opening animation | Startup animation |
| Opening sound | Startup audio volume |
| Bookmarks bar | Bar visibility |
| Show bookmarks bar only on New Tab | Restrict bar to New Tab |
Advanced
Section titled “Advanced”| Setting | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Compact UI density | Tighten general controls |
| Memory target (best effort) | Resource-management target |
| Hibernate after minutes | When inactive tabs enter sleep |
| Discard after minutes | When inactive tabs can unload more aggressively |
| Keep pinned tabs awake | Exempt pinned tabs from normal inactivity unloading |
| Confirm before closing many tabs | Bulk-close guardrail |
| Confirm before deleting workspace | Workspace-deletion guardrail |
| Show advanced More actions | Reveal deeper browser actions |
| Show internal pages in Command Palette | Include vast:// destinations in search |
| Experimental features | Enable experimental UI such as Purist |
| Developer Mode | Enable development/troubleshooting controls |
The sidebar visibility button is beside the address bar. Its pin control switches between docked and pinned-over-page behavior; only a pinned sidebar can be dragged. The position is saved locally.
Individual switches exist for Video & Audio, Network Devices, Automation, Advanced Diagnostics, and Spoofing tools. Fresh onboarding selects individual Labs through DEFAULT_DATA; the generic DEFAULT_SETTINGS fallback is fail closed. Global labs.enabled does not gate individual features. The built-in Password Manager is retired in 0.5.0.
Network
Section titled “Network”| Setting | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Enable Network Devices | Enable local discovery capability |
| Allow local scans | Remember scan confirmation preference |
| Passive mDNS / SSDP discovery | Use passive local discovery |
| Active local probing | Allow optional local host/service probes |
| Remember devices | Persist discovered-device metadata |
| Show raw metadata | Expose deeper discovery details |
| Probe timeout | Per-probe waiting limit |
| Probe concurrency | Parallel probing level |
| Include VPN adapters | Include eligible VPN interfaces in discovery scope |
| Open Network Devices | Navigate to the device inventory |
| Clear network cache | Forget cached discovery state |
Developer
Section titled “Developer”Developer Mode, tab DevTools, active-webview reload, application-chrome reload, debug-report copying, Diagnostics access, diagnostic copying, and runtime version information for Vast, Electron, Chromium, and Node.
Privacy
Section titled “Privacy”Built-in common-tracker blocking, tracking-parameter cleaning, optional affiliate-parameter removal, third-party cookie blocking, cookie/login exceptions, fingerprinting protection and exceptions, WebRTC policy and exceptions, leak-test shortcut, fake history, clear-on-exit, temporary-workspace default, history disable, Recently Closed disable, page-text capture disable, favicon disable, and site-data clearing.
The native ad-block engine and its filter-list controls were removed in 0.3.0. Configure filter lists, custom ad-block rules, and ad-block allowlists in the optional Adblocker for Vast extension. The privacy page groups normal controls in two columns and longer exception inputs below; narrower windows use the available width.
Spoofing
Section titled “Spoofing”Enable switch, browser profile, languages, timezone, Do Not Track, custom user agent, CPU cores, device memory, touch points, WebGL vendor, WebGL renderer, location mode, latitude, longitude, accuracy, reset, and the convenience Warsaw profile.
Security
Section titled “Security”HTTPS-only mode, external-link confirmation, dangerous-download warnings, reset security settings, and permission defaults for camera, microphone, location, notifications, clipboard, and fullscreen.
Site Data
Section titled “Site Data”Diagnostics/Site Data entry point, cached-site-data clearing, global permission defaults, per-site overrides, and revoke controls.
Search
Section titled “Search”Default search engine, startup behavior, New Tab mode, compact dashboard cards, individual New Tab sections, restore previous session, hibernate inactive tabs, and default-browser integration.
Automation
Section titled “Automation”Automation page entry point, macro status/count, first-run convenience actions, and the local visible-action model.
Workspaces
Section titled “Workspaces”Create, rename, customize, delete, session identity, network route, proxy URL, and proxy bypass rules.
Shortcuts
Section titled “Shortcuts”Edit the keyboard map or reset all shortcuts.
Active Vast data directory, open folder, change directory, clear history, Session Timeline, full .vastbackup export/import, local JSON restore point, and backup/migration status reporting.