Configuration & Settings

Quay 2 keeps its state in your user profile. Each project can carry its own environment variables and default CLI flags, and each agent terminal gets the variables that put it on the A2A bus.

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File System Locations

On Windows, Quay keeps its state under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Quay2. Without LOCALAPPDATA (on macOS and Linux), it uses ~/.quay2 instead.

Path	Purpose
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Quay2\workspaces.json	Registered projects: each one's terminals, last viewed terminal, environment variables and default CLI flags
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Quay2\swarms.json	Your saved swarms from the Swarm Launcher
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Quay2\sessions\sessions.json	The terminals Quay restores at startup
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Quay2\sessions\<terminal id>.log	Each terminal's scrollback
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Quay2\token-ledger.json	Quay's token ledger, behind the daily totals in Token Spend
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Quay2\machina\	Machina state (state.json) and its holdback vault (vault\)
~/.claude/projects/	Claude Code session transcripts, scanned for token spend. CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR replaces ~/.claude when set

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Workspace Settings

Each project has its own settings:

• Default Claude CLI Flags: the custom flags a terminal in this project gets when it is launched without any.
• Workspace Environment Variables: set in every terminal launched in this project, before Quay's own variables, so a workspace variable never replaces one of Quay's.

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Environment Variables

Quay 2 sets these in Claude Code terminals for the event-bridge plugin:

Variable	Description
CLAUDE_EVENTS_URL	The bridge's base address on loopback (http://127.0.0.1:<port>), with no path. The plugin adds /v1/events and its other paths
CLAUDE_EVENTS_TOKEN	Bearer token the bridge checks on incoming requests
CLAUDE_EVENTS_TAG	The terminal id, so events reach the right terminal
CLAUDE_EVENTS_TOOLS	full
CLAUDE_EVENTS_PERMISSIONS	host routes tool approvals to Quay; off when Skip Permissions is chosen

Every agent terminal on the A2A bus, whatever its CLI and its level (full peer, responder or listener), also gets these. PowerShell, Custom Command and Archon terminals don't:

Variable	Description
QUAY_TERMINAL_ID	The terminal id
QUAY_A2A_TOKEN	The terminal's bearer token for the bridge
QUAY_MCP_URL	Quay's MCP server (http://127.0.0.1:<port>/mcp)
QUAY_EVENTS_URL	The bridge's event endpoint (http://127.0.0.1:<port>/v1/events)

A workspace environment variable with one of these names doesn't replace it. The CLI flags reference lists the variables each CLI gets besides these.

Quay 2 also reads QUAY_BRIDGE_PORT from its own environment at startup to pin the bridge port. It is not passed to terminals. See Quay Startup Environment Variables.

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Custom CLI Flags

When you launch an agent terminal with Ctrl+B N, you can pick a model and add Custom CLI Arguments. Quay puts the model's flag first, then your arguments:

--model claude-sonnet-5-5 --verbose

• Quay splits custom flags on whitespace, so a flag's value can't contain a space.
• Custom flags apply to agent terminals only. A PowerShell Console or Custom Command terminal takes none.
• Skip Permissions and Interactive Approvals choose the permission flag for you, such as --dangerously-skip-permissions for Claude Code.

The CLI flags reference shows where custom flags go in each CLI's command line.

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Audio Chimes

Quay 2 can play a chime when an agent needs you:

1. Press Ctrl+B T to open Token Spend & Audio Chime Meter.
2. Under Background Turn Chimes, click the button to switch between Chimes Active and Muted.
3. While chimes are active, set the Volume slider and try the sounds with Test Completion Chime and Test Attention Ping.

The completion chime plays when a Claude Code or Codex turn ends, as reported by Claude Code's event-bridge plugin or Codex's turn-end helper. The attention chime plays when Claude Code asks for a tool approval or raises any other notification that blocks it, such as a question in a dialog. It doesn't play for Claude Code's reminder that it has sat idle at its prompt, or for its sign-in notice.