Views, Settings, and Where Everything Lives
Switch between the three views and find any setting by name.
Follow the bold button names and numbered steps. Technical names are included only when you need to recognize a model or file inside the app.
Local Waifu has three views and one settings drawer. Almost every “where is that option” question is answered by the second half of this chapter.
Switch views
| View | What it is |
|---|---|
| Full view | The complete interface: sidebar, chat stream, profile panel |
| Mini view | A compact always-available window with the conversation and composer |
| Menu bar view (macOS) or tray view (Windows) | A small popover opened from the menu bar or system tray |
Steps
- Use
Command/Ctrl+Shift+1for Full view. - Use
Command/Ctrl+Shift+2for Mini view. - Use
Command/Ctrl+Shift+3for Menu bar/tray view.
Expected result
The window changes shape and keeps the same conversation. Returning to Full view restores the sidebar and profile panel.
If something goes wrong
- If a shortcut does nothing, an operating-system shortcut may already own it. Check the system keyboard settings for a conflict.
- If the window seems to have vanished, use the menu bar icon (macOS) or tray icon (Windows) to bring a view back.
Open Settings
Press Command/Ctrl+,, or use the settings control in the interface. The drawer opens over the chat and closes with Escape.
Find a setting by tab
The drawer has twelve tabs. This is the map.
| Tab | What it controls |
|---|---|
| General | Interface language, start at login, notifications, hide to tray, blur on background, auto update check, and the Updates row |
| Characters | Create, select, export, and delete characters. Portraits, persona override, and character voice choice also start here |
| Growth | The relationship dashboard: stage, days known, what she has stored, your writing style, and the story timeline |
| Lorebook | Keyword-triggered backstory entries that only enter the prompt when they are relevant |
| Appearance & Chat | Background theme, text size, Markdown rendering, and whether Enter sends |
| Hardware | Compute device, runtime status, storage, context window, deeper thinking, low power mode, network and proxy |
| Models | Three segments in one tab: Chat Models, Image Models, and Voice Model. Model installs, embeddings, image weights, speech recognition, and voices |
| Cloud AI | Cloud provider keys and connected accounts, one row per provider |
| Telegram | Bot token, start and stop, reply mode, pinned owner, and the command list |
| Advanced | Privacy toggles, app logs, diagnostics report, reset, backup, and conversation export |
| License | Activation, deactivation, and device count. Absent in the Store/Unlocked edition |
| About | Version, edition clues, licences, and credits |
If something goes wrong
- A tab that exists in this table but not in your app belongs to an edition you are not running. License is the clearest example: it is intentionally missing in the Store/Unlocked build.
- Two other tabs exist in the code but are not shown in the shipped drawer. They are unfinished and not part of 1.7.3 features.
Choose a background theme
Goal
Change the dashboard background without changing the conversation.
Steps
- Open Settings → Appearance & Chat.
- Pick one of the eight themes: Plum (default), Ocean, Forest, Sunset, Cyberpunk, Mocha, Midnight OLED, or Snow.
- Look at the chat stream: the change is immediate.
Expected result
The background changes and the conversation stays exactly as it was. Midnight OLED is the darkest option, and it is the one to pick on an OLED screen or in a dark room.
If something goes wrong
If the background looks washed out, another display profile or an operating-system accessibility setting may be altering colours. Return to Plum, which is what the screenshots and this guide were written against.
Tune the chat itself
Open Settings → Appearance & Chat and adjust:
- Text size: small, normal, or large. This affects message text only.
- Markdown: render formatting in replies, or show the raw characters where you prefer plain text.
- Send on Enter: on sends with Enter and adds a new line with Shift+Enter; off makes Enter a new line so you send deliberately.
If something goes wrong
If pressing Enter starts a new line instead of sending, Send on Enter is off, or an input-method editor is composing a word. Confirm the composition first, then press Enter again.