Automation and preferences

Most of what hm does waits for you to approve it on a card. Two tabs in Settings shape how hm behaves: Automation, which grants a limited amount of authority to run without a card, and Preferences, which sets how the window looks on this machine.

Open the Automation tab

1. Click the organisation button at the top of the sidebar and choose Settings, or press G then S.
2. Choose Automation, under Workspace.

The tab has three rows, each with an On and an Off button and a line saying what it applies to. Every row ends with the same sentence, and it is the limit on all three: Never lands, never pushes, never decomposes. Whatever is switched on, merging finished work, pushing it, and breaking a plan into tickets still wait for you.

Auto-cycle

Auto-cycle belongs to the connected Works. When it is on, hm latches and dispatches the next ready ticket when the ledger moves, instead of waiting for you to start it. The switch is written into the Works' own configuration and recorded in its ledger, so it holds for that Works rather than for you. With no Works connected the row says Connect a Works to turn this on.

Auto-approve dispatch

Auto-approve dispatch sets the permission mode of the connected Works' Superintendent seat. On lets that seat run ordinary writes without a card. Dispatch, land and push still ask. Off puts the seat back to asking. The row names the seat it will change, and it also reads as on if that seat was already given a mode that grants writes.

Wake follower

Wake follower lets an operating-system timer continue work while hm.app is closed. It needs you to be signed in; signed out, the row says Sign in to sync wake across machines.

• On saves the choice to your account preferences, so it follows you to the other machines you sign in on. With a Works connected, it also installs a background agent on this Mac that runs on a schedule.
• Off clears the preference and, with a Works connected, unloads that agent.

The background agent is a macOS feature. Even while it is installed, it continues no work unless the wake preference is on.

When a switch does not change

While a change is in flight the buttons are disabled. If it fails, a note under the rows says it could not update the switch, with the reason hm gave. Opening the tab again reads all three afresh from the Works and your account.

Preferences

Preferences, under This device, holds Appearance: Light or Dark. It is saved on this machine and is not part of your account, so another computer you sign in on keeps its own. The theme toggle in the main window makes the same choice.

The preferences that do follow your account — such as your display name and whether to email you — are on the Account tab, under Preferences that follow your account. A change there is saved when you leave the field, and a change made on the account surface appears when the hm.app window comes back to the front. Which of these appear is decided by the account service, so the list can grow without a new desktop release. See Sign in and your organisation.

hm works automation set continue_next on
hm executor set --seat <seat> --permission-mode dontAsk
hm executor set --seat <seat> --permission-mode auto
hm daemon install
hm daemon uninstall