Decide what Floatboat can do on its own

Floatboat does real work on your computer. It reads your files, writes new ones, and sometimes runs commands. You decide how much of that it can do without stopping to check with you first.

When a task needs your OK, Floatboat shows a Permission Required panel right in the task. That panel is covered in Work on a task with Floatboat. This page is about the settings behind it: where to change how often Floatboat asks, where your Remember choices end up, and what you can control about your data.

To open Settings, click your name at the bottom left of the sidebar and choose Settings. Settings fills the whole window, with a list of sections on the left.

Choose how often Floatboat checks with youCopy Anchor Link

Here's what each one means and who it suits:

• Ask Every Time is marked recommended. It's the most careful of the three: before a step that changes things on your computer, like writing a file or running a command, Floatboat may stop and wait for you. Reading files usually goes ahead. Good when you're just getting started, or when the files can't afford a mistake, like a teacher's exam papers or a quote that's about to go to a client.
• Auto-approve Edits lets Floatboat write and change files without asking. It still asks before running commands. Good once you're comfortable with how it handles your documents. Say a student lets it turn 40 reading notes into one summary table, or a marketer has it rewrite ten drafts of a social post.
• Auto-approve All has a red CAUTION tag. Floatboat no longer checks with you before anything. Only use it in a folder that holds nothing you'd mind losing, and look over the results afterward.

Alex, who runs a small online shop, started with Ask Every Time and checked each step while Floatboat wrote the weekly sales report. After a few weeks of reports coming out right, Alex switched to Auto-approve Edits. Now the report gets written without a click on Approve every time.

Once you've picked something other than the default, a Reset to default link appears at the top right of the section. Click it to go back. A new Floatboat is usually set to Ask Every Time, but whichever option is highlighted in your Settings is the one in effect.

See and take back "Remember" choicesCopy Anchor Link

When Floatboat asks for your OK, you can check Remember before clicking Approve. Floatboat then saves a rule: this kind of step, like writing a file, goes ahead without asking, in every task. All of these rules live in Settings under Whitelist, so that's where you go to take one back.

Each rule under Allow Rules (Whitelist) reads like this:

• The name says what kind of step it covers. write_file is writing files, edit_file is changing files, read_file is reading files, and a name with command in it means running commands.
• Pattern shows *, which means every step of that kind counts, whichever file or command it is.
• User approved means you saved it with Remember.

To take one back:

Rules can't be edited. If you change your mind later, check Remember again the next time Floatboat asks.

There's also an Add Rule button for adding a rule by hand. It's meant for people who know exactly which kind of step they want to let through. For most people, Remember does the same job with less fuss.

Below your own rules is Bash Command Blacklist. Floatboat puts these few rules there to deal with dangerous commands, like ones that wipe or format a disk. You don't need to touch them.

Choose whether to share usage dataCopy Anchor Link

In Settings, click Privacy in the list on the left.

• Product Analytics sends usage data, such as which features get used, to help improve Floatboat. The data is anonymized, and no personal content is collected. It's on by default. Click the switch to turn it off.
• Data Region is where that data is stored. Leave it on Auto-detect.

When your computer asks for permissionCopy Anchor Link

Some features need your computer's permission as well as Floatboat's settings. The first time you use one, your computer asks once. Allow it, and Floatboat can go on.

Having trouble?Copy Anchor Link

• The three modes are grayed out, with a lock and "Controlled by server". This setting is managed by Floatboat for now, so you can't change it yourself.
• I switched back to Ask Every Time, but one task still doesn't ask. That's probably the task where you clicked Auto-Approve All. Start a new task, or quit Floatboat and open it again.
• I checked Remember by mistake. Go to Whitelist and delete that rule, as shown above.
• I can't find a setting. Type a word like "whitelist" into the search box at the top of the Settings list.
• The Files panel says Cannot access this folder. Your Mac is blocking Floatboat from that folder. Follow the steps under When your computer asks for permission.

What's nextCopy Anchor Link