> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://vendo-mintlify-24213046.mintlify.site/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Handler options > Every createVendo option and what it does, plus the nested blocks: models, auth, guard, mcp, apps, profile, and sweep. Exactly one key is required: an identity, as `auth`. `createVendo({ auth })` is day one. `createVendo()` is a type error, and `createVendo({})` throws `VendoError("validation")` naming the identity it is missing. ## Composition | Option | Behavior | | ------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `models` | The model seats, keyed by job. See [below](#models) | | `auth` | The one door for identity — a preset's result (`authJs()`) or an object you write. Holds `principal`, `facts`, `pools`, `memberships`, `actAs`, and `oauth`. See [below](#identity) | | `principal` | **Deprecated alias** for `auth.principal`. Still works; mutually exclusive with `auth` | | `memberships` | `(principal) => Promise`, the twin of `auth.memberships` for a host on the deprecated aliases. Set it and it wins outright. With `VENDO_API_KEY` and this seam unset, memberships come from Vendo Cloud, so `async () => []` is how a deployment with no orgs declines the tenant directory. Mutually exclusive with `auth` — setting both throws, so put it in `auth` instead | | `tools` | Host tool declarations in memory, the same `ExtractedTool[]` sync writes to `.vendo/tools.json`, and executable tools. The two shapes are told apart by `execute` | | `skills` | `Skill[]` mounted at `/host/skills` for the harness to list cheaply and load on demand. A name collision fails at boot naming both | | `components` | Host components exposed to the generation prompt, merged with `.vendo/catalog.json` with explicit entries winning by name. The same object `` takes | | `catalog` | **Deprecated alias** for `components`. Still works; setting both throws | | `routes` | The host's own pages a generated view may link to, `{ name: { path, description } }`. A `` refuses any name the map does not carry | | `theme` | Programmatic override for `.vendo/theme.json`. Resolved once at compose, so unlike design rules it is not re-read live | | `instructions` | The prose this deployment puts in front of the agent every turn. Override for `.vendo/brief.md`; a non-blank string wins, blank falls through | | `store` | Unset with `VENDO_API_KEY` set, the Cloud hosted store fills the slot | | `files` | Where every workspace file's content lives — one backing, no tiering. Set, `s3Files` or your own `FilesAdapter` holds all of them. Unset, the store's own blobs back it, capped at 5 MiB each, and the first over-cap write fails naming this key | | `sandbox` | Unlocks built apps: the disposable box one is sealed in. Unset, `VENDO_API_KEY` fills it with the Cloud sandbox; with neither, apps stay tree-only | | `harness` | Who thinks. Default `vendo()`, also `claudeCode()`, or your own via `defineHarness`. A harness declaring `requires: { sandbox: true }` with no sandbox is a boot error | | `knowledge` | Composes the `vendo_knowledge_search` tool. Unset, that tool does not exist | | `appDatabase` | Where a generated app's own SQL tables live — the one thing `vendo_apps_sql` runs against. Unset with a store wired, every app gets its own fenced schema inside that store's Postgres, and there is nothing to configure. A store with no SQL behind it composes no adapter and the tool does not exist | | `connectors` | The tools your deployment brings under one credential you hold — `openApiConnector`, `mcpConnector`, `composioConnector`, `cloudTools`, or your own. Each is used verbatim; `[]` means no connectors. A **deprecated** service-name string here means `connectedAccounts` and still works for one more minor; naming a service in both keys throws at boot | | `connectedAccounts` | The services each of your users connects for themselves, by name — `["gmail", "slack"]`. Scopes the agent's tools, the connect surface and its catalog to exactly those. Needs `VENDO_API_KEY`; `[]` means no connected accounts | | `connections` | Explicit connected-accounts adapter. Always wins over the composed default | | `actAs` | **Deprecated alias** for `auth.actAs` — scoped auth material for away host API execution. Still works; mutually exclusive with `auth` | | `serverActions` | The map `vendo sync` emits, keyed `"#"`. A missing key fails closed at execution | | `remixWiring` | The wiring `vendo sync` generates for your `` components, keyed by slot. Its tools join the one registry, guarded and audited like any host tool. Pass the same object to `` too — the provider renders the ported components' holes, and the ✦ appears only on slots it declares | | `guard` | The deployment's choke point as one value. See [below](#guard) | | `limits` | Per-user and per-org limits in your own logic. See [below](#limits) and [Limits](/users-orgs/limits) | | `secrets` | `{ get(name) }`. Default is environment-backed lookup | | `logger` | One structured event per line Vendo would have written to the console. Unset keeps those console lines | | `telemetry` | `boolean`. Wires the telemetry client. Unset is off | | `development` | Dev-only injection seams. `NODE_ENV=development` enables them, `false` disables that default | | `profileDir` | The project root `.vendo/` is read under. Unset keeps the process cwd | | `fetch` | The fetch host route and OpenAPI bindings execute through. An explicit function always wins | | `profile` | The `.vendo/` pieces as in-memory compose-time inputs. See [below](#profile) | | `shell` | The agent's `bash` over the user's own files. On by default when the resident brain is `vendo()`; `false` withholds it, `{ limits }` moves its per-call wall clock and output ceiling | | `mcp` | Opens the MCP door. Off by default. See [below](#mcp) | | `oauth` | **Deprecated alias** for `auth.oauth` — the `HostOAuthAdapter` the door uses for session lookup and principal resolution. Still works; mutually exclusive with `auth`. One of the two is required when `mcp` is on | | `agent` | A whole agent built by `agent()`. This deployment adopts its harness, store, files adapter, sandbox, and instructions | | `agents` | More agents built by `agent()`, registered by name so an automation they declared with `.on()` fires through them. Registration only; two agents sharing a name refuse to compose | | `sweep` | TTL-sweep cadence for expired parked calls and stranded approvals. See [below](#sweep) | | `toolOutputCap` | How much of one tool result reaches the model, in characters. Default `32000`; `0` disables | | `uploadMaxBytes` | What one upload may carry, in bytes — the same cap at both doors, `POST /files` from the browser and `vendo_user_files_put` over MCP. Default `5242880` (5 MiB). A door cap, not a storage cap — `vendo.putUserFile` is bounded by whatever backs `files:` | | `maxInitialTools` | Cap on the uncurated initial tool loadout. Default `128`; the rest stay discoverable via `find_tools` | | `loadout` | Explicit curated initial loadout, by tool name. Names that do not exist are dropped | | `apps` | `false` unmounts app generation entirely. See [below](#apps) | | `automations` | `false` unmounts automations: `/automations`, `/runs`, and `/webhooks` answer not-found and `vendo.emit` refuses | | `channels` | `{ text: true }` opens the text channel. Needs `VENDO_API_KEY`; the phone-to-user binding stays in your store | Passing a key that was removed throws at boot naming its new home: `model` became `models.default`, `paint` split into `models.apps` and `apps: false`, `brief` became `instructions`, `policy` / `judge` / `approvals` moved inside `guard({ … })`, and `connectorApps` became `connectedAccounts`. ## `models` One seat per job that actually runs. A seat is a job, not a model, so the same model may fill several and swapping one never renames the others. | Seat | Default | Feeds | | --------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | | `default` | the credential ladder | chat, compaction, subagents, and automations | | `apps` | `default`'s object, or its own rung pick when `default` rode the ladder | the agent that writes generated apps | | `review` | the same, and on a provider key the rung pick is its fast model | the AI reviewer that grades finished apps | | `judge` | the same, and on a provider key the rung pick is its fast model | a judge you wired from a string. No judge runs by default | Each seat takes a model-name string, resolved through the credential ladder, or an explicit AI SDK `LanguageModel` object, which wins as-is. A name string is pinnable per seat with `VENDO_MODEL`, `VENDO_MODEL_APPS`, `VENDO_MODEL_REVIEW`, and `VENDO_MODEL_JUDGE`. A key that is not a seat throws `models. is not a model seat`. ## `guard` `guard({ policy, judge, approvals, breakers })` declares the rules and this composition completes them with the store, risk grading, and the org-policy layer. A `VendoGuard` built by `createGuard({ store, … })` is taken verbatim instead. | Sub-key | Default | Behavior | | ---------------------------- | --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | `policy` | unset | A named preset, inline rules and directions, a policy file, or a code escape hatch | | `judge` | unset | The contextual guard judge | | `approvals.parkedCallTtlMs` | 60 min; `0` disables expiry | Idle timeout for a guarded call parked from your own agent loop. Past it the sweep denies the approval | | `breakers.maxCallsPerMinute` | 60 | Per principal. `0` makes every call ask | | `breakers.maxWritesPerRun` | 20 | Per run, counting `write` and `destructive` calls | Named presets: `"cautious"` lets reads run and asks before writes or destructive calls, `"readonly"` lets reads run and blocks everything else, `"autopilot"` runs everything. `"cautious"` makes one exception to that prompt: the agent's `bash` runs without asking. It is still graded `write`, so it takes an audit row per call and answers to your own rules and the kill switch — but an automation has nobody to answer an approval card, and a prompt here would mean the shell could never run unattended. Add your own rule for the `bash` tool to put the prompt back. `guard({ policy: {} })` reads the default `.vendo/policy.json`, which is what `vendo init` scaffolds. It reads fail-soft, so a missing file also auto-runs with no notice; keep the file in version control. `vendo doctor` is what tells you it is gone — `config/policy.json` fails with [E-CFG-001](/production/troubleshooting/e-cfg-001). Omitting the `guard` key entirely surfaces an unconfigured-policy notice in the shipped chrome. Past either breaker, a would-be auto-run parks for approval until the window clears. ## `limits` Vendo counts, you decide. The callback is asked once before each metered action. ```ts theme={null} createVendo({ auth, limits: async ({ user, action, count }) => { if (action !== "message") return true; return (await count("message", { days: 30 })) < 500; }, }); ``` `count(action, window?)` is already bound to that user. `window` takes `days`, `hours`, and `minutes`, ANDed into one lookback, a `since` instant, or a `pool` name to count a shared meter instead. Return `false`, or `{ allow: false, message }` to say why in your own words, and the action is refused and never counted. Anything else allows it and the meter records it. A policy against a store with no usage meter is refused at composition. A callback that throws denies and logs `limits.callback_error`. [Limits](/users-orgs/limits) walks the per-user cap, the per-org pool, windows, and what a blocked user sees. ## `mcp` `true` takes the defaults. The object form carries door-specific settings through the umbrella. | Sub-key | Behavior | | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `baseUrl` | The canonical public base every discovery, issuer, and resource URI derives from. Defaults to `VENDO_BASE_URL`; forwarded headers are never trusted | | `remoteAs` | `{ issuer, jwksUri?, audience }`. Trust an external authorization server; the door's own `/authorize`, `/token`, `/revoke`, `/register`, and RFC 8414 metadata all answer `404` | | `federation` | `{ secret }`. Opens the signed login handshake at `{mount}/federate` | | `serviceAuth` | `{ keys }`. Opens the RFC 8693 exchange at the door's own `/token`, so your backend swaps a key plus one of your user ids for a short-lived user-bound token | A key is any opaque string (`openssl rand -hex 32`), the door never writes one down, and rotation is listing both keys until the old one is out of use. `serviceAuth` is itself a local authorization-server choice, so it fills the same slot `VENDO_MCP_BROKER_URL` fills and the environment default never displaces it. ## `oauth` | Sub-key | Signature | Behavior | | ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `principal` | `(subject) => Promise` | **Required.** Re-resolved on every door request, so returning `null` is revocation | | `session` | `(req, { returnTo }) => Promise` | Selects the door's prebuilt consent page. Return the subject, or a login redirect through `returnTo` | | `authorize` | `(req, { clientName, scopes, consent? }) => Promise` | The full-page escape hatch. Beside `session`, a returned Response replaces the consent page while the door keeps CSRF, replay, and redirect handling | ## `apps` `false` unmounts app generation entirely: `vendo_make` and the `vendo_apps_*` tools are absent, the `building-apps` skill is absent, and `/apps` answers not-found. | Sub-key | Default | Behavior | | ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `designRules` | `.vendo/design-rules.md`, re-read per generation | A non-blank string wins and is then fixed for the instance lifetime | | `review.reviewer` | unset | `(ctx) => boolean`. Unset, the review queue shows only the caller's own submissions and reject refuses naming this hook | | `pipeline.smokeRender` | on unless explicitly `false` | Headless smoke render of every generated island before it ships | | `checks` | `[]` | Host checks appended to the built-ins. They add findings, never remove one | A check is `{ name, run(input) }` returning `Finding[]`, or `{ name, kind: "judgment", rule }` whose sentence joins the AI reviewer's rubric. A `block` finding stops the ship and a `warn` rides along. A check that throws degrades to a `warn` naming it, so a broken check never takes an app down. Built apps have no flag. They are gated by a configured `sandbox` adapter alone. ## `profile` The `.vendo/` pieces as in-memory compose-time inputs, for venues with no filesystem. Each is independent and each wins over its file. | Sub-key | Replaces | | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | | `overrides` | `.vendo/overrides.json` | | `theme` | `.vendo/theme.json` | | `brief` | `.vendo/brief.md`. Top-level `instructions` wins | | `catalog` | `.vendo/catalog.json` | | `policy` | `.vendo/policy.json`. `guard({ policy })` wins | | `designRules` | `.vendo/design-rules.md`. `apps.designRules` wins | | `tools` | **Deprecated**. Use the top-level `tools` slot | `overrides` and `tools` are validated lazily, so a malformed piece throws on the first actions use rather than at `createVendo`. ## `sweep` `{ intervalMs }`, default 60 seconds. One pass expires orphaned parked calls and stranded approvals, driving both the amortized on-request sweep and the background timer. ## Turn context Two owners, and the split is the point. What the deployment curates sits at the top level; what the thinker decides is set where the thinker is named. ```ts {6-8} theme={null} createVendo({ principal, instructions: "Answer in the product's voice; never invent account numbers.", toolOutputCap: 32_000, maxInitialTools: 128, harness: vendo({ maxSteps: 20, historyWindow: 20, maxOutputTokens: 4_000, }), }); ``` There is no `agent: { … }` options bag. It was one bag holding both owners, so a host configured the thinker through a key the thinker never saw. | `vendo()` knob | Default | Behavior | | -------------------- | ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `maxSteps` | `20` | Agent steps, a model call plus a tool round trip, per turn. At the cap Vendo stops the loop and emits a step-limit notice on the stream | | `historyWindow` | full thread | Whole past messages re-sent per turn, kept whole so tool-call and result stay paired. The stored thread is untouched | | `maxOutputTokens` | the model default | Upper bound on tokens the model may emit per turn | | `contextTokenBudget` | unset | Bounds the assembled context the loop sends | `maxInitialTools` bounds how many host tools the model sees at the start of a turn. Past the cap Vendo picks a deterministic read-first loadout, safest risk then name, and the rest stay reachable through `find_tools`. Vendo's own `vendo_*` tools are always active and do not count toward the cap. Every tool, initial or searched-in, executes through the same guard binding. `toolOutputCap` truncates only the copy sent to the model. Persistence and the streamed thread are unaffected. A harness you named yourself carries its own equivalents. These four are `vendo()`'s. ## Turn cancellation Vendo cancels an in-flight turn when the client disconnects. The wire forwards the request's `AbortSignal` into the agent loop, so closing the tab aborts the provider call and stops further steps. The thread is left consistent and resumable. No configuration is required. ## Base path The server's base path is the fixed constant `/api/vendo`. It is not configurable: the handler answers only paths under it and returns `not-found` for anything else. `createVendoClient({ baseUrl })` configures the client side. Point it at a full origin when the browser talks to a Vendo deployment on another host. ## Identity `auth` is one door with two spellings — a preset's result, or an object you write. A preset is a function returning that object, so nothing is reserved to the preset path: ```ts theme={null} interface HostAuthPreset { principal: (req: Request) => Promise; facts?: (req: Request) => Promise | undefined>; pools?: (req: Request) => Promise | undefined>; memberships?: (principal: Principal) => Promise; actAs?: ActAs; oauth?: HostOAuthAdapter; name?: string; // shipped presets only — the boot summary reads it } ``` `principal` is the only required member; each other one absent means the documented "not asserted" behavior, never an error. Vendo mints no principals of its own, so a config with no `principal` at all refuses to compose. A hard-wired subject is a development stand-in, never a deployment: ```ts theme={null} createVendo({ auth: { principal: async () => ({ kind: "user", subject: "dev" }) } }); ``` `principal(req)` must return `kind: "user"` or `null`. Returning `kind: "org"`, or a subject starting with `vendo:`, is rejected at the wire because those identities are Vendo-owned. `null` refuses the request with `forbidden`. If you want logged-out visitors served, resolve them to a principal of your own choosing. Marking it `ephemeral: true` keeps it out of org membership and blocks it from connecting external accounts. The seams `facts`, `pools`, and `memberships` run once per context resolution. `facts` becomes the prompt's `[User]` block, `pools` feeds the limits policy, and `memberships` answers `can()`. Every asserted membership is already a pool named `org:`, so an org cap needs no `pools` seam of its own. The top-level `principal`, `actAs`, and `oauth` keys are deprecated aliases for the members of the same name. They keep working for this whole major, but each is one seam with nowhere to grow — `facts` and `pools` never had a top-level twin, which is the reason the door consolidated. Passing `auth` beside any of the three — or beside the top-level `memberships` seam, which fills the same slot — throws `VendoError("validation")` naming the mixed keys. See [Your users](/users-orgs/your-users) for `facts` and [Orgs & memberships](/users-orgs/orgs-and-memberships) for `memberships`.