Settings

Select Settings in the sidebar to customize Kowork. On smaller windows, use the menu at the top of the Settings dialog to move between sections.

General

Open Settings > General to change these options:

• Language changes the text displayed in Kowork. Available languages are English, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese, Spanish (Latin America), and Spanish (Spain).
• Color scheme can follow your system setting or always use Light or Dark.
• Display size changes how large everything in Kowork appears. Choose Small, Normal, or Large.
• Web search lets Kowork search the web for current information. Search queries are sent to Exa — see Exa’s privacy policy.
• Check for updates controls whether Kowork checks for new versions and shows an update notice when one is available.

Changes take effect when you select them.

Notifications and sounds

Open Settings > Notifications to set separate alerts for:

• Responses, when Kowork finishes responding.
• Permissions, when Kowork asks before taking an action.
• Errors, when something goes wrong.

Each row has two independent controls:

• Use the bell switch to turn the system notification on or off.
• Use the sound menu to choose a sound or select Off. Choosing a sound plays a preview.

Note

System notifications also depend on notification permissions in your operating system.

Updates

When Check for updates is on and a new desktop version is available, an Update available card appears in the sidebar.

1. Select Update now in the card.
2. Wait while Kowork installs the update.
3. Kowork restarts to finish the update.

If update checking is unavailable in the version of Kowork you are using, the Check for updates switch is disabled.

Other settings sections

• Providers connects the AI services Kowork uses. See Providers and Models.
• Models controls which connected models appear in the task model menu. See Providers and Models.
• Connectors connects Kowork to external services. See Connectors.
• Skills adds reusable instructions for specialized work. See Skills.