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Honcho’s reasoning can be configured at multiple levels to control how it processes messages, generates conclusions, creates summaries, and builds peer representations. Configuration follows a hierarchy: message > session > workspace > global defaults. Settings at lower levels override those at higher levels, giving you fine-grained control over behavior.

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Configuration Hierarchy

Honcho uses a hierarchical configuration system where more specific settings override more general ones:
  1. Global Defaults: Built-in system defaults
  2. Workspace Configuration: Settings that apply to all sessions in a workspace
  3. Session Configuration: Settings that apply to all messages in a session
  4. Message Configuration: Settings that apply to a specific message
Separately, you can configure the reasoning status of a peer. This overrides defaults and workspace configuration, but not session or message configuration.
All configuration fields are optional. If not specified, the value is inherited from the next level up in the hierarchy.

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Configuration Options

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Reasoning Configuration

Controls whether the system should reason over messages.
FieldTypeDescription
enabledboolWhether to enable reasoning functionality. When disabled, no facts or representations are generated.
from honcho import Honcho

honcho = Honcho()

# Disable reasoning at session level
session = honcho.session("private-session", config={
    "reasoning": {"enabled": False}
})

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Peer Card Configuration

Controls how peer cards (containing key biographical information) are generated and used.
FieldTypeDescription
useboolWhether to use peer cards during the reasoning process.
createboolWhether to generate and update peer cards based on message content.
# Disable peer card generation but still use existing cards
session = honcho.session("my-session", config={
    "peer_card": {"create": False, "use": True}
})

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Summary Configuration

Controls automatic conversation summarization. Available at workspace and session levels only.
FieldTypeDescription
enabledboolWhether to enable summary functionality.
messages_per_short_summaryintNumber of messages between short summaries. Must be ≥ 10.
messages_per_long_summaryintNumber of messages between long summaries. Must be ≥ 20 and greater than messages_per_short_summary.
# Customize summary frequency
session = honcho.session("verbose-session", config={
    "summary": {
        "enabled": True,
        "messages_per_short_summary": 15,
        "messages_per_long_summary": 45
    }
})

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Dream Configuration

Controls the “dreaming” process that consolidates and refines representations. Available at workspace and session levels only.
FieldTypeDescription
enabledboolWhether to enable dream functionality. Automatically disabled if reasoning is disabled.
# Disable dreams for a workspace
honcho.set_config({
    "dream": {
        "enabled": False
    }
})

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Peer Configuration

By default, all peers are “observed” by Honcho. This means that Honcho will reason over messages sent by the peer and generate a representation of them. In most cases, this is why you use Honcho! However, sometimes an application requires a peer that should not be observed: for example, an assistant or game NPC that your program will never need to access advanced reasoning for. You may therefore disable observation of a peer by setting the observe_me flag in their configuration to false. If the peer has a session-level configuration, it will override this configuration. If the flag is not set, or is set to true, the peer will be observed.
For session-level observation controls and local representations (where peers build separate models of each other), see Representation Scopes.
from honcho import Honcho

# Initialize client
honcho = Honcho()

# Create peer with configuration
peer = honcho.peer("my-peer", config={"observe_me": False})

# Change peer's configuration
peer.set_config({"observe_me": True})

# Note: creating the same peer again will also replace the configuration
peer = honcho.peer("my-peer", config={"observe_me": False})

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Session Configuration

Sessions support the full configuration schema. You can disable reasoning entirely for a session, customize summary behavior, or adjust peer card settings. 
from honcho import Honcho

# Initialize client
honcho = Honcho()

# Create session with reasoning disabled
session = honcho.session("my-session", config={
    "reasoning": {"enabled": False}
})

# Create session with custom summary settings
session = honcho.session("detailed-session", config={
    "summary": {
        "messages_per_short_summary": 10,
        "messages_per_long_summary": 30
    }
})

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Message Configuration

Individual messages can override session and workspace configuration for fine-grained control. This is useful for excluding specific messages from processing or adjusting behavior on a per-message basis. 
from honcho import Honcho

honcho = Honcho()
session = honcho.session("my-session")
user = honcho.peer("user")

# Create a message that skips the reasoning process
session.add_messages([
    user.message("This message won't be analyzed", config={
        "reasoning": {"enabled": False}
    })
])

# Create a message with custom peer card settings
session.add_messages([
    user.message("Use existing card but don't update it", config={
        "peer_card": {"use": True, "create": False}
    })
])

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Full Configuration Schema Reference

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Workspace & Session Configuration

{
  "reasoning": {
    "enabled": true
  },
  "peer_card": {
    "use": true,
    "create": true
  },
  "summary": {
    "enabled": true,
    "messages_per_short_summary": 20,
    "messages_per_long_summary": 60
  },
  "dream": {
    "enabled": true
  }
}

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Message Configuration

{
  "reasoning": {
    "enabled": true
  },
  "peer_card": {
    "use": true,
    "create": true
  }
}
Message configuration only supports reasoning and peer_card settings. Summary and dream configurations are session/workspace-level only.