Settings

Open Settings at the bottom of the left rail. Changes on the Sites tab are kept when you click Save changes at the bottom; Discard drops them. Everything else applies as you change it.

Sites#

• Sites folder: where new sites are created. Changing it doesn’t move the sites you already have.
• New site defaults: the WordPress version, Language, Admin username and Admin email filled in when you create a site. You can still change them for each site. You choose the admin password when you create the site.
• PHP errors and Developer tools: the WordPress debug switches new sites start with. To change them for a site you already have, use its Theme → Debug tab. See Theme.

Accounts#

• VX account: the account new sites are activated with. Connect VX account or Disconnect, and Manage licenses to see your licenses on vxframework.com. Sites already activated keep working if you disconnect. See VX Framework Pro.
• Git: shows Installed when Git is on this computer. Otherwise click Install Git. On a Mac, Apple’s installer window opens: click Install there, and Shader notices when it’s done. On Windows, allow the changes when your computer asks. Where Shader can’t install it, Download Git opens the Git website.
• GitHub account: click Connect GitHub. Shader shows a short code: click Open GitHub, sign in, type the code and approve. Neither Claude nor Codex ever sees your sign-in. Disconnect signs Shader out on this computer; to take its access back on GitHub too, remove Shader under Applications in GitHub’s settings.

With Git and GitHub set up, ask in the chat, for example “put my theme on GitHub”, “save a version”, “share my changes” or “get the latest”. The chat asks before each one, as it does for other changes. To let someone else work on the theme, ask “invite @their-username”; once they accept GitHub’s email, they make a site from the repository in New site. Pages and posts don’t go through GitHub: share them with Push and Pull content in Deploy.

Assistant#

• Shader Assistant: the switch for the chat, on Claude and Codex alike. While it’s off, Shader runs neither and Chat leaves the left rail. Turning it off stops every chat, so Shader asks first; your saved chats stay.
• Notifications: a system notification when A chat needs you, A chat finishes, or A chat stops with an error. They show while Shader isn’t the window in front.
• Sounds: for the same moments, Always, When away or Off, plus sounds when you send a message or press Stop. “When away” plays unless you’re looking at that chat, or when a reply took more than 30 seconds.
• Playful messages: a fun line while a chat works, or a plain word.

Claude#

Signs in Claude chats, when Shader Assistant is on:

• Sign in with: Claude subscription or API key. See Chat.
• Reasoning effort: how much Claude thinks before answering, from Low to Max. High is a good default. It applies to every Claude chat right away.
• Connectors: the connectors you added to your Claude account on claude.ai, each with a switch. They’re off until you switch one on, only those load in chats, and Claude asks before using one. After adding one on claude.ai, click Refresh. They need the Claude subscription sign-in.

Codex#

Signs in Codex chats, when Shader Assistant is on:

• Sign in with: ChatGPT account to use your ChatGPT plan, or API key for your own OpenAI API key, billed per token. Codex holds one sign-in at a time, so switching replaces the other. Once Codex is signed in, a new chat can be a Codex chat. See Chat.
• Reasoning effort: how much Codex thinks before answering. Default lets each Codex model pick, usually Low or Medium; or choose from Low to Extra high, and Ultra where a Codex model offers it. It applies to every Codex chat right away, and it’s the same setting as the effort in a Codex chat’s model menu.
• Connectors: the apps you connected to your ChatGPT account, such as Google Drive, each with a switch. They’re off until you switch one on, only those load in Codex chats, and Codex asks before using one. Open chats switch over at their next message. After connecting one in ChatGPT, click Refresh. They need the ChatGPT account sign-in.

Guide#

This guide. The search above the topics looks through every page; click a result to open its page at that section. Escape clears the search.

About#

• Version: the version of Shader you have.
• Updates: Shader checks for new versions when it opens and every few hours, and downloads them in the background. When one is ready, a notice says so: Restart now installs it and reopens Shader, or keep working and it installs when you quit Shader. If a chat is working, a push or pull is running, or a site is being created, Shader asks first. Check for updates looks now. On a Mac, Shader can only update itself from the Applications folder, and asks once to move there; a copy that can’t update itself offers Download instead.
• Get early versions: also get release candidates of the next version, before everyone else. They’re tested, but may still have problems.
• What’s new: View changelog opens getshader.com/changelog, which lists what changed in each version.
• Logs: what Shader did and any errors it hit. When something goes wrong, click Copy log and email it to [email protected] with what you were doing. Show in Finder (Open folder on Windows and Linux) opens the logs folder. Logs don’t include passwords or your content. If Shader closed by itself, the logs folder also holds crash reports: send those files too. They may include parts of what Shader had in memory.
• App data: where Shader keeps your site list and settings.
• Download cache: WordPress and database files Shader reuses when you create a site. Clear cache frees disk space; they download again next time.
• Data from removed sites: what the preview saved for sites you’ve removed, such as cached pages and logins. Removing a site empties its cache straight away; Clear deletes what’s left, and says how much space it freed. Your sites aren’t touched.