AI & Voice Settings

This page covers the AI and voice settings available in Settings. All AI and voice features require an active Talk plan or higher.

AI Settings

Context Window Override

By default, Atlas uses a 200K token context window (matching Claude Haiku 4.5). You can override this value if needed.

Set the value to 0 (the default) to use automatic detection. Most users should leave this at the default.

Web Search

Default: Enabled

When enabled, Atlas can search the web and fetch web pages to answer questions it can’t find in your vault or its own knowledge. Atlas will always ask before searching — it never searches the web automatically.

Turn this off if you prefer Atlas to only use your vault and its built-in knowledge, or if you’re working offline and don’t want web search attempts.

Clear Chat History

Click Clear Chat History to reset your current conversation. This starts a fresh context — useful if the conversation has gotten long or you want to change topics completely.

This only clears the active conversation in the UI. Your session transcripts and memory files in the vault are not affected.

For more detail on how context is assembled and managed, see How Context Works.

Voice Settings

FFmpeg Status

Before anything else, check that FFmpeg is installed — it appears as a status indicator at the top of the Voice settings section. FFmpeg is required for recording, chunking, and processing audio.

If FFmpeg is not detected, voice features won’t work. See Voice Not Working for installation instructions.

Wake Word Enabled

Toggles “Hey Atlas” detection on or off. When enabled, you can say “Hey Atlas” to activate voice input hands-free.

Wake Word Sensitivity

Range: 0.3 – 0.8 | Default: 0.5

Controls how easily Atlas triggers on “Hey Atlas”.

Lower values (0.3 – 0.4): Fewer false activations, but you may need to speak more clearly or loudly
Higher values (0.6 – 0.8): Triggers more easily, but may activate on similar-sounding words or background speech

If Atlas activates unexpectedly, lower the sensitivity. If it consistently misses your wake word, raise it.

Voice Auto-Stop

These settings control how Atlas detects when you’ve finished speaking during push-to-talk, conversation mode, and wake word interactions. Atlas uses silence detection — when you stop talking for long enough, it automatically ends the recording.

Silence Threshold

Range: 0.01 – 0.15 | Default: 0.05

Sets the audio level below which Atlas considers the input to be “silence.” Lower values mean only very quiet audio counts as silence; higher values are more aggressive about cutting off.

Lower values (0.01 – 0.03): Better for quiet environments — Atlas waits for near-total silence before stopping. Use this if Atlas cuts you off while you’re pausing to think.
Higher values (0.08 – 0.15): Better for noisy environments — Atlas stops more readily. Use this if Atlas keeps recording background noise after you’ve finished speaking.

Silence Duration

Range: 500 – 5000ms | Default: 1500ms

How long Atlas waits in silence before it stops recording. This is the pause length that signals “I’m done talking.”

500ms: Very responsive — stops almost immediately when you pause. Good for short commands.
1500ms (default): Natural conversational pace — allows brief pauses between sentences without cutting off.
3000 – 5000ms: Very patient — lets you take long pauses to think. Good for dictation or brainstorming where you need time between thoughts.

Speech Speed

Range: 0.5 – 2.0 | Default: 1.0

Controls how fast Atlas speaks when reading responses aloud.

0.5: Half speed — noticeably slow, useful for accessibility or careful listening
1.0: Normal speed
1.5: Comfortably faster for experienced listeners
2.0: Very fast — takes getting used to, but saves time

For a walkthrough of using voice to send messages and record voice notes, see Push-to-Talk and Conversation Mode.