Select models and thinking levels
Defaults and conversation selection
Section titled “Defaults and conversation selection”Settings stores a global default model/thinking level and remembers the last selection. Each conversation can change its model from the composer. A change during a run applies to the next provider request.
A model scope narrows the picker. Empty scope means every authenticated model; a nonempty list filters it. Stale scope entries remain in Settings as unavailable and are ignored until the model returns or the entry is removed.
Explore sub-agents have their own default model and thinking selection because parallel codebase research can benefit from a different cost/latency profile.
Catalog limits
Section titled “Catalog limits”Nerve combines built-in and custom definitions. Current runtime resolution exposes complete catalogs for selected provider families; other providers can be limited to the first eight models. A missing compatible model can be added manually.
The public model record includes reasoning/thinking support, context window, and maximum output. Custom definitions can hold richer cost and input-modality metadata, but not every field reaches the model picker.
Thinking levels
Section titled “Thinking levels”The full vocabulary is:
off · minimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · max
Concrete support comes from model metadata and provider mappings. xhigh and max are only meaningful for selected model families. Runtime resolution clamps unsupported requests.
Choosing well
Section titled “Choosing well”Use a fast model for small, well-scoped changes and a deeper supported thinking level for architecture or difficult debugging. Context size is not a quality score. Review provider price/terms rather than relying only on Nerve’s cumulative cost display.