Settings Reference
Settings live under Settings → Pensum with sub-navigation across six sections: General, AI, Meetings, Agents, Cleanup, Account.
General
Section titled “General”Vault and paths
Section titled “Vault and paths”| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Inbox files | Tasks/Inbox.md | Comma-separated paths to inbox files. Tasks from Quick Add go to the first match. |
| Projects folder | Projects | Where the New Project command creates files. |
| Meetings folder | Meetings | Where meeting notes are created. Year subfolder added automatically. |
| Wiki folder | Wiki | Where wiki entries and stubs are stored. |
Capture defaults
Section titled “Capture defaults”| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Natural language parsing | On | Parse dates, priorities, and project shortcuts from task text. |
| Include source link | On | When capturing from selection, add a wikilink back to the source note. |
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Default view | Today | Which view opens when Pensum activates. Options: Today, Inbox, Calendar, Last used. |
| Completed task visibility | 24 hours | Hours after completion before tasks are hidden. 0 = hide immediately. |
| AI content treatment | Subtle | How AI-generated content is visually marked. |
Templates
Section titled “Templates”Templates live in .pensum/templates/ in your vault. Drop a .md file there and it becomes a command in the command palette. Built-in templates can be reset to defaults from this section.
Master toggle
Section titled “Master toggle”| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Enable AI features | Off | Master toggle. When off, no AI calls are made for any reason. |
Providers
Section titled “Providers”The provider section is plan-aware:
- Free — entire AI section is greyed out; an upgrade banner offers the trial and a link to compare plans.
- Pro BYO — one row per provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Deepgram). Each row takes the secret name (not the key value) used in Obsidian’s keychain via
SecretStorage. A Test button verifies the key. - Pro All-in-One / Trial — shows a Managed by Pensum badge. Provider rows remain available so users who want to override a specific feature with their own key still can.
API keys themselves never live in plugin settings — only the secret name. Set the secret value once in Obsidian’s keychain UI, then reference it from any plugin that needs it.
Per-feature models
Section titled “Per-feature models”One row per AI feature with a dropdown filtered against the model catalog by your plan + configured providers:
| Feature | Used for |
|---|---|
| Smart Capture | Quick Add parsing |
| Smart Triage | Inbox project suggestions |
| Meeting Summary | The summary callout in meeting notes |
| Action Extraction | Pulling action items out of transcripts |
| Stub Expansion | Drafting content for wiki stubs |
| Transcription | Meeting audio → speaker-labelled transcript |
BYO users get a Custom... option at the bottom of each dropdown for power-user model IDs not yet in the catalog.
Pensum does not silently fall back from managed to BYO. If managed fails, you’ll see a notice with a “Try with my key” button — fallback is always user-initiated.
Meetings
Section titled “Meetings”| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Recordings folder | Recordings | Where audio files are written when a meeting is recorded. |
| Audio retention | Keep indefinitely | Choose indefinitely, 90 days, or 30 days. |
Agents
Section titled “Agents”| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Enable MCP server | On | Allow AI agents to access Pensum via MCP. |
| Transport | stdio | stdio is process-trusted (recommended). HTTP exposes the server on localhost with a per-install token. |
| HTTP port | 47821 | Only used when Transport = HTTP. |
| Agent capture review | Required | Tasks from agents go to the Agent Captures view for manual approval before joining the main task list. |
CLI configuration lives in ~/.config/pensum/config.toml. Run pensum config init to bootstrap from your Obsidian vaults.
Cleanup
Section titled “Cleanup”Completed tasks are automatically removed from your markdown files after a retention period. Pensum still remembers them for the Activity view so you can see what you finished, even after the line is gone from the file.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Default cleanup | 7 days | Used when no per-source rule matches. |
| Inbox cleanup | 3 days | Tasks in Inbox files. |
| Project cleanup | 7 days | Tasks in project files. |
| Meeting cleanup | Never | Meeting notes are durable records. |
| Daily note cleanup | Never | Daily notes are journals. |
Override per-note with frontmatter (task_cleanup: 14 or task_cleanup: never) or per-task with the #keep tag.
Account
Section titled “Account”- Plan — Free / Pro BYO / Pro All-in-One / Trial. Trial users see a countdown.
- License key — paste, validate, or copy your key. Stays as plain text in settings (intentionally — you need to see and copy it).
- Manage billing — opens the Polar customer portal in your browser.
- Recent AI activity — the last 10 AI ops with mode, model, and status. Full history lives in the Activity view’s AI tab.