Set project-wide chat defaults

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Project chat settings keep related conversations consistent. They affect future messages in a project’s chats; they do not rewrite messages that are already in the conversation.

Open project settings

Expand the project in the chat sidebar and select Settings. Find Project Chat Settings, then turn it on. In a shared project, this section is named Shared Project Settings.

Changes save automatically. The section’s Enabled or Disabled badge tells you whether its defaults are active.

Choose the defaults

Set only the fields that should be consistent across the project:

Model — chooses the default from the models available to your account.
Language — sets the language Bearly should use in its replies.
Response Style — applies a response preset, or Default for the standard style.
Temperature — adjusts how focused or varied responses can be. Use Factual (0.5), Default (1.0), Creative (1.5), or the slider from 0 to 2. Values above 1.5 can produce incoherent output.
Instructions — gives Bearly durable guidance for this project. Include the goal, audience, important constraints, and preferred output—not secrets or information better kept in a source file.
Disable Personalization — ignores your account-level personalization in this project.
Always Search Documents — searches project documents before responding. This is useful when most questions depend on the project’s source collection, but it can add unnecessary work to unrelated questions.

For example, project instructions might say:

Write for an informed general reader. Distinguish facts from assumptions, preserve cited figures exactly, and flag conflicts between the source documents.

Control individual overrides

The lock beside Model, Language, Response Style, Temperature, Instructions, and Always Search Documents controls whether those settings can be changed later for an individual chat.

An open-lock icon means a chat can override the project default.
A closed-lock icon means users cannot change that field in a chat.

Lock only the settings that truly need to remain consistent. A team policy can also disable or lock a field; when that happens, the setting is dimmed and marked Disabled by policy.

Settings in a shared project

Writers and owners can change Shared Project Settings. Readers can use the project but cannot change its shared defaults.

Each collaborator also gets Personal Chat Settings. When enabled, these preferences apply only to that person and can override unlocked shared defaults. A shared lock or team policy still takes precedence.

The Skills section controls Skills available to chats in the project. Writers and owners can change the list when their account policy permits it; other collaborators can still use shared Skills that are already attached.

Sync a local directory on desktop

In the Bearly desktop app, writers and owners may also see Local Directory Sync on this page. Select Add Directory, then:

Select Browse and choose a folder.
Decide whether Auto-remove should remove project copies when their source files disappear.
Set Max file size and, if useful, a comma-separated File types filter such as .md, .txt, .pdf.
Select Create Sync.

Use Sync now to run a source immediately or Configure sync to change its filters. Removing a sync does not remove files already copied into the project. This section is unavailable outside the desktop app or when project-file changes are restricted.

If a setting does not take effect

Confirm the section says Enabled.
Check whether the field is marked Disabled by policy.
In a shared project, review Personal Chat Settings for an unlocked personal override.
Confirm the chat is actually inside the project—the project-name chip appears below its composer.
For document-grounded answers, confirm the files have finished processing in Docs & Data.

Related: Add files to a project