# Settings & providers

Open **Settings** with the gear at the bottom of the sidebar, beside the
project name (or **Axon → Settings…** on a Mac). Its sections are listed on
the left: **General**, **Connectors**, **Branding**, **Language**, **Search**,
**LLM**, and **Licence** where a licence applies.

## What runs where

Axon ships with local models — chat, embeddings, and OCR (for scanned
documents) — that run **inside the app, on your machine**, covered by the
~3.8 GB download from first launch. Axon picks the size of chat model that
fits your machine. GPU acceleration is automatic where available (Metal on
Apple Silicon; Vulkan or CUDA on other machines when the build includes it),
and falls back to CPU otherwise. Nothing about the local models ever leaves
your machine.

You're never required to add anything beyond that. Everything below is
optional.

## Providers

Under **Settings → LLM**, Axon supports:

- **Local** — the bundled model, sized to your machine. **On this machine**
  shows the local chat model, whether the models are downloaded, and the GPUs
  it uses.
- **Ollama** — your own Ollama server, if you run one. The **Ollama** section
  shows whether it's installed and running, with **Start Ollama** or **Get
  Ollama**; once it's running, its models appear in the model picker
  automatically. It's not required. See [How to: Connect Axon to your own
  Ollama server](https://exaflux.io/docs/axon/how-to/connect-axon-to-your-own-ollama-server).

Both run on hardware you control and need no account or key: Axon has no
cloud model providers, so your conversations and documents are never sent to
one. Choose which model answers with the model picker in the composer — it's
not a project setting, so different chats can use different models.

## Models

**Settings → LLM → Models** shows the models behind search and indexing:

- **Embedding Model** builds your search index. Changing it is a bigger
  decision than it looks: everything already indexed was embedded with the
  old model, so the affected projects are re-indexed — once, in the
  background — after a change like this.
- **OCR Model** reads scanned PDFs and images.
- **Summary model** writes each document's summary at index time — **Same as
  chat model** unless you choose another.
- **Context window (local models)** — how much the local model can read at
  once. **Automatic** sizes it to your machine.
- **Evidence limit** — how close a passage must be to your question to be
  used as evidence. Lower refuses more and answers less.

## General

- **Appearance** — **Theme** (light or dark), and **Show skills**, which adds
  the **Skills** section to the sidebar (see [Skills](https://exaflux.io/docs/axon/skills)).
- **Projects** — where new projects are created. See [How to: Change where new
  projects are created](https://exaflux.io/docs/axon/how-to/change-where-new-projects-are-created).
- **Setup** — **Setup assistant → Open** reopens the first-run setup, to
  download or re-download the local models.

## Language

**Interface language** sets the language of Axon's own buttons and labels, and
**Response language** the language the assistant replies in. **Dictation**
chooses the **Speech model** for voice input and the **Spoken language**.

## Search (connectors)

The composer's **Web** search is separate from chat — it's how you find pages
to review and add as sources, not something the model reaches for
mid-answer. Choose a search engine (Brave Search API, or DuckDuckGo without a
key, though DuckDuckGo often refuses automated requests), and switch on free
academic and reference sources, under **Settings → Search**. See [How to: Set
up web search for connectors](https://exaflux.io/docs/axon/how-to/set-up-web-search-for-connectors).

## Connectors

Under **Settings → Connectors** you connect the accounts a chat can search:
**OneDrive** today, with **Google Drive** and **SharePoint** marked *Coming
soon*. Connecting an account is global — once it's connected, every project
can search it. In a chat, choose it under **Search** in the composer's `+`
menu; results come back for you to review, and nothing becomes a source until
you **Add to sources**. **Web** is always there and needs no account.
Searching a cloud drive is a Pro feature; web search is not.

## Branding

Under **Settings → Branding** you set the letterhead your documents carry:
your logo, firm name, an accent colour and a footer line. You can fill it in
on any plan; documents carry it once Pro is active. See [Artifacts &
documents](https://exaflux.io/docs/axon/artifacts-and-documents) for what each kind of file gets.

## Licence

**Settings → Licence** is where you get and activate Pro. Without it, **Get
Pro** opens the plans on exaflux.io. Once you've bought it, **Connect this
computer** opens exaflux.io in your browser — sign in and approve the code
shown in Axon; there's no key to copy. Each computer is connected
separately. Under **Pro includes** it lists what a licence adds:

- **Sharing on your network** — sharing a project with another computer and
  keeping it in sync. The computer that takes the copy needs no licence.
- **Cloud-drive search** — searching OneDrive (and Google Drive and
  SharePoint, once available) from a chat.
- **Branded exports** — your letterhead on Word, PDF, PowerPoint and Excel
  files.

Everything else — the local models and Ollama, web search, citations, audit
records and every export — works on any plan. A Pro badge anywhere in the app
leads to this tab.

## Where things live

Settings and your projects list all live in files on your machine — nothing
is tied to an account beyond an optional Pro licence. **Help → Show Logs**
and **Copy details** in the About window are the fastest way to get
diagnostic information; see [Troubleshooting](https://exaflux.io/docs/axon/troubleshooting).