shidoshi
An opinionated way to augment Jupyter Lab for iterative work.
shidoshi adds %ask / %%ask magics to Jupyter that let you talk to an LLM
from inside a notebook — using the notebook itself, in order, as the
conversation history. No separate chat pane, no copy-pasting context: your
code cells, their outputs, and your notes are the context.
Install
Requires Python ≥3.13 and JupyterLab. Set an API key before use:
export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-... # for the openai provider (default)
export OPENAI_BASE_URL=... # optional, e.g. to point at a proxy
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY=... # for the openrouter provider
Installing across Jupyter environments
%load_ext shidoshi runs import shidoshi inside the running kernel
process. That means shidoshi has to be installed into whichever Python
environment the kernel you're using actually runs in. It ships a small
shidoshi command for setup, but the library itself is not a standalone
tool — so uvx / uv tool install (which run a tool in an isolated
subprocess, separate from any kernel) don't apply here.
-
Per-project venv with its own JupyterLab (e.g. a
uv-managed project): add shidoshi as a normal dependency of that project.uv add shidoshi # or: pip install shidoshi
-
One shared JupyterLab, many kernels (each notebook's kernel points at a different project venv registered via
ipykernel install): install shidoshi into each kernel's venv. Installing it only where JupyterLab itself lives will not make it importable from other kernels.# inside the venv backing a given kernel uv add shidoshi # or: pip install shidoshi
Skipping %load_ext — the shidoshi kernel
To avoid typing %load_ext shidoshi in every notebook, register a kernel that
loads it for you:
shidoshi install-kernel
Pick Python 3 (shidoshi) from the Jupyter kernel list and the magics are
already there. Nothing else changes: it is a stock Python kernel running this
environment's interpreter — your imports, variables, and debugger all work
exactly as before. The generated kernel.json just appends
--IPKernelApp.extensions=shidoshi to the normal ipykernel_launcher
command, with an absolute path to this environment's Python.
With no location flag, this installs into your per-user kernel directory
— the only location every Jupyter on the machine can find, regardless of
which environment actually launches it. After installing, the command runs
jupyter --paths for you and prints a warning if the kernel it just wrote
won't actually be visible to the jupyter on your PATH — worth reading if
you pass --sys-prefix or --prefix and the kernel doesn't show up in the
launcher.
Useful flags:
| flag | effect |
|---|---|
| (none) | install into your per-user kernel directory — visible to any Jupyter on this machine. Default. |
--sys-prefix |
install into the active venv — only visible to a Jupyter launched from this same environment |
--prefix PATH |
install into an explicit prefix |
--system |
install system-wide, for every user on the machine (usually needs root) |
--name / --display-name |
override the ids — use a distinct --name per environment if you register more than one |
--env KEY=VALUE |
set an environment variable for the kernel process (repeatable) |
--force |
replace an existing kernelspec of the same name (logos in it are kept) |
Installing is refused if a kernelspec of that name already exists, so it won't
quietly replace one you made by hand. Register one per environment with a
distinct --name.
Remove it with jupyter kernelspec remove shidoshi.
With uv
Add shidoshi to the project, then register the kernel from inside it. Which
location flag you need depends on where JupyterLab itself runs from, because
Jupyter only searches its own sys.prefix, your user directory, and the system
directory:
uv add shidoshi
# A: JupyterLab in an ephemeral env (uv's default suggestion).
# Its sys.prefix is a uv cache dir, so --sys-prefix would be invisible.
uv run shidoshi install-kernel --user
uv run --with jupyter jupyter lab
# B: JupyterLab as a project dependency — sys.prefix *is* the project venv.
uv add --dev jupyterlab
uv run shidoshi install-kernel --sys-prefix
uv run jupyter lab
B keeps the kernel scoped to the project and disappears with the venv; A is
the one that works with uv run --with jupyter — and matches install-kernel's
default, so uv run shidoshi install-kernel (no flag) does the same thing.
If a freshly installed kernel doesn't show up in the launcher, run
jupyter kernelspec list the same way you start Lab — that prints exactly
the directories being searched, or trust install-kernel's own post-install
warning, which runs that same check for you.
Either way this replaces the kernel step in
uv's Jupyter guide —
you don't need uv run ipython kernel install --env VIRTUAL_ENV ... as well,
because install-kernel records VIRTUAL_ENV for you when it detects a venv.
That variable matters more than it looks. uv pip install resolves its target
from VIRTUAL_ENV (falling back to CONDA_PREFIX, then a base interpreter) —
never from the kernel that's running. So if you start Jupyter from a
conda-activated shell, a kernel without VIRTUAL_ENV will import from your
project venv while !uv pip install quietly installs into your conda base.
Pinning it keeps both views on the same environment.
Two related notes:
!uv addwas always safe — it finds the project by walking up forpyproject.toml, so it ignoresVIRTUAL_ENVand targets the project venv either way.%pip installneedsuv venv --seed; uv venvs have nopipin them by default. Prefer!uv add.
Pass --env to set anything else the kernel should launch with (repeatable),
including an override for VIRTUAL_ENV:
uv run shidoshi install-kernel --sys-prefix --env OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:18080/v1
Because the spec pins an absolute interpreter path, it can only ever start the
environment shidoshi is installed in. That is the advantage over the
ipython_config.py route below: ~/.ipython is shared by every Python
environment under your $HOME, so putting the extension there makes every
kernel on the machine try to import shidoshi, including ones that don't have
it.
Auto-loading via ipython_config.py instead
Add to ~/.ipython/profile_default/ipython_config.py (create it first with
ipython profile create):
c.InteractiveShellApp.extensions = ["shidoshi"]
Only safe if shidoshi is installed in every environment you use for
Jupyter on that machine. To scope it, create a named profile
(ipython profile create shidoshi), put the extensions line in that
profile, and add "--profile=shidoshi" to the relevant kernel's argv.
Quickstart
%load_ext shidoshi
(skip this line if you're on the Python 3 (shidoshi) kernel)
%%ask
What does the `history.build_history` function in this file do?
The response streams into the cell's output as Markdown.
Magics reference
%ask <prompt>— line magic for a one-line prompt.- Prefix with
model|orprovider:model|to override the configured default model for just this call, e.g.%ask openrouter:openai/gpt-4o|summarize this. - Add
--no-searchto make web search unavailable for this call, or--searchto override a disabled profile. Withmodel | prompt, put flags before|; prompt text after it is preserved verbatim. - Add
--debugbefore|to also show the full request/response payload.
- Prefix with
%%ask [model]— cell magic; the whole cell body is the prompt (multi-line is fine, and it can reference images via Markdown![]()/<img>syntax or bare local file paths — they're inlined as base64). An optional model name on the magic line overrides the default for this call. Also supports--search,--no-search, and--debug.%%skip— runs the cell normally, but the cell is left out of the context sent to the model entirely. Use it for scratch or exploratory cells you don't want the model to see.%%pin— runs the cell normally; its content and output are always included in context and are exempt from the auto-trim behavior below. Use it to protect a fact, constant, or definition you don't want dropped over a long session.%%agent [model]— a multi-step, tool-using agent instead of a one-shot answer. See below.%agent_resume approve|reject|edit— answers a%%agentturn that paused for approval (only relevant ifagent.approvalsis configured — see Configuration).%shidoshi config ...— inspect and edit shidoshi's own config from inside a notebook cell. See Configuration.
%%agent — the agentic magic
Where %%ask answers once from what the notebook shows, %%agent can take
several steps and look at what the kernel actually holds — including
variables no cell output ever displayed. It runs
deepagents in-process, as
a backend parallel to %%ask's; %%ask is unchanged.
%%agent
Which of my dataframes has missing values, and where?
The answer renders as Markdown with the agent's steps in a collapsed 🧠 Agent steps panel above it.
Tool rungs
--tools chooses what the agent is allowed to do. The default is actor:
model-written code runs in your live namespace, with no confirmation step.
That is the reason %%agent exists rather than being a slower %%ask, so it
does not sit behind a flag — but know that it is what a bare %%agent cell
does.
| rung | what it can do |
|---|---|
none |
no notebook/kernel tools; configured provider-hosted search remains separate |
observer |
list and inspect kernel variables |
proposer |
the above, plus propose a cell for you to run |
actor (default) |
the above, plus execute code in your kernel directly |
--no-tools is the way back down — short for --tools none, for when you want
the conversation without the hands. --tools proposer is the middle ground: the
agent hands you a cell and your Run button is the approval step, with no
separate permission prompt to click.
--no-tools does not mean offline: web search is provider-hosted rather than a
kernel tool. Combine --no-tools --no-search when you want the model to use
only the notebook conversation and its existing knowledge.
Set a different default in config with agent.permission_rung —
permission_rung = "proposer" restores the gated behavior for every cell.
Go a step further and require an explicit approval before run_code itself
even runs — see Configuration.
These rungs also govern the opt-in project filesystem and host shell; see
Letting %%agent work with real files.
Memory
Each notebook gets one conversation thread, seeded once from the cells above
the first %%agent call. Later cells continue that conversation rather than
rebuilding context each time.
The thread lasts as long as the kernel and no longer. This is deliberate: what the agent remembers is largely kernel state — variables it listed, values it read — and a restart destroys exactly that. A conversation that outlived the kernel would keep tool results reporting variables that no longer exist, worded as fact. So a restart clears the thread and the notebook is read again as it currently stands, which is what rerunning it from the top means anyway.
Use --fresh to opt out of the thread entirely and get %%ask-style
behavior — context rebuilt from cells, nothing remembered — or --thread NAME
to keep a side conversation separate.
Inspecting a turn
--debug works as it does for %%ask, adapted to a graph that runs more than
once. Above the answer you get the request panel — provider and model, the
composed system prompt, every message the model will see, and the tools this
rung binds — followed by a live panel of raw LangGraph events as the turn runs.
Messages already in the thread are labelled from thread, because on a
continued conversation only your new prompt is passed in; the rest comes from
the checkpoint.
The stream panel is LangGraph's fullest per-step view — task, task_result
and checkpoint events with step numbers, the middleware nodes that a plain
update stream never names, and a per-task error when one fails. Failed steps are
flagged in the summary line so you don't have to expand them to find the one
that broke. A running token count sits above it, for both providers.
Token deltas are collapsed into a per-node count, so what you read is the node
transitions — model → tools → model — rather than several hundred
one-token lines.
An unrecognised flag is an error rather than a no-op, so a typo'd --tools
tells you instead of quietly running with the default.
Getting help
%ask --help and %agent --help print the flags, and for %%agent the rung
table. Use the single-% line form: IPython rejects a cell magic whose body
is empty before the magic itself runs, so %%agent --help on its own can never
reach us.
%agent [flags] [model |] your request is also a one-line shorthand for
%%agent, matching %ask. With an explicit model | request, flags belong
before |; text after it is always treated as the request.
Letting %%agent work with real files
By default, Deep Agents' files live only in the in-memory conversation state.
They are useful as temporary notes, but they are not your project files. You
can opt into a rooted filesystem backend when you want %%agent to inspect a
project beside the notebook, propose changes to it, or run approved shell
commands there.
This is an explicit per-configuration capability. Existing notebooks keep the
state backend and receive no host-filesystem access until you select
filesystem.
Start read-only
Add this to project, notebook, or global configuration:
[agent.harness.backend]
type = "filesystem"
root_dir = "."
Save the notebook, then start with an observer turn:
%%agent --tools observer
Summarize the Python package beside this notebook. Read files only.
The notebook must be running through a real JupyterLab or Jupyter Notebook
server. Shidoshi resolves the workspace from the server's notebook path; an
unsaved notebook or a standalone/headless kernel has no trustworthy path and
therefore fails closed. The configured root_dir must already exist, must be
relative to the notebook's directory, and cannot contain ...
For example, given /work/analysis.ipynb:
root_dir |
workspace exposed as / |
|---|---|
"." |
/work |
"project" |
/work/project |
"../project" |
rejected |
"/work/project" |
rejected; use a relative path |
The paths seen by the model are virtual POSIX paths. /src/app.py means
src/app.py below the resolved workspace, not the host machine's /src.
Containment is enforced again at the backend boundary after resolving
symlinks; changing path spelling cannot escape the workspace.
Tools and permission rungs
The filesystem capability follows the same --tools rung selected for the
rest of %%agent:
| rung | real-filesystem tools |
|---|---|
none / --no-tools |
none |
observer |
ls, read_file, glob, grep |
proposer |
the same read/search tools; project writes remain unavailable |
actor |
read/search, plus write_file and edit_file when writes are set to ask; optionally execute |
This table is additive to the kernel tools described above. In particular,
actor can still run Python in the live kernel unless you separately configure
an approval for run_code. Provider-hosted web search is also separate and is
controlled by --search / --no-search.
The active notebook, Git metadata, .env files, and Shidoshi's own
runtime storage are always protected. Add project-specific virtual glob
patterns with deny_paths:
[agent.harness.backend]
type = "filesystem"
root_dir = "project"
deny_paths = ["/private/**", "/data/raw/**", "/*.pem"]
Denied paths cannot be read, searched, written, or reached through a symlink.
Matching is deliberately case-insensitive so a protected /.env cannot be
addressed as /.ENV on a case-insensitive volume. Denies are filesystem-tool
boundaries, not shell sandbox rules; an approved shell command is unrestricted
host execution.
Approved file changes
Workspace mutation supports two policies:
[agent.harness.backend.filesystem]
write = "ask" # ask | deny
askexposes write/edit tools only at theactorrung. Every proposed mutation pauses before touching disk.denyremoves write/edit tools entirely.
Autonomous filesystem writes are intentionally unsupported. With ask, the
notebook displays an approval card containing the virtual target and proposed
diff. You can approve once, reject with guidance, or edit the arguments. A
filesystem edit creates a new diff and requires a second, explicit approval;
the old card is retired and cannot approve the revised proposal.
Shidoshi snapshots the target when it shows the preview. If the path, file type, existence, or contents change before approval, the action becomes stale and a fresh preview must be approved. This prevents an approval from applying to a different file state than the one you reviewed.
The widget is the normal interface in JupyterLab and Notebook 7. The equivalent command fallback is:
%agent_resume approve --action act-0123
%agent_resume reject use docs/example.toml instead --action act-4567
%agent_resume edit {"file_path":"/docs/example.toml","content":"..."} --action act-0123
%agent_resume continue
%agent_resume abandon
For one pending action, --action may be omitted. When several tool calls are
pending together, decide each stable action ID and then run continue; the
decisions are resumed in their original order. abandon cancels the whole
pending batch without advancing the agent. Another turn on that thread cannot
silently replace an unresolved batch—resolve it or abandon it first. A
different named thread remains independent.
Use --thread NAME on %agent_resume when the paused action belongs to a named
side thread. Approval must resume the same live thread and filesystem root that
created the proposal; moving the notebook or changing the root while paused
fails closed.
Approved host shell
Shell execution is a separate, actor-only opt-in:
[agent.harness.backend.shell]
enabled = true
execute = "ask"
default_timeout_seconds = 300
max_timeout_seconds = 600
max_output_kb = 100
pass_env = ["PATH"]
execute = "ask" is the only supported execution policy: every command pauses
before it starts. The card shows the exact command, parsed compound segments,
risk indicators, real working directory, timeouts, output cap, and environment
policy. Editing a shell proposal is itself an approving decision; for a
multi-action batch it runs only after continue.
This shell is not a sandbox. It runs on the Jupyter host with the workspace
as its working directory and can use absolute paths, follow symlinks, access
the network, or modify files outside the workspace with the kernel process's
permissions. Filesystem deny_paths do not constrain it. Approve only commands
you would run yourself in a terminal.
The shell does not inherit the kernel environment. Shidoshi constructs a new
environment from the names in pass_env; missing names are simply absent.
Credential-shaped names containing KEY, TOKEN, SECRET, PASSWORD, or
CREDENTIAL are rejected by configuration validation. Values are never shown
in configuration diagnostics or the approval card.
Timeouts are enforced outside model control. Both timeout settings accept
1–3600 seconds, default_timeout_seconds cannot exceed
max_timeout_seconds, and an individual command cannot request more than the
configured maximum. max_output_kb accepts 1–1024 KiB and truncates captured
output after the limit. The defaults are five minutes, ten minutes, and
100 KiB respectively.
Scratch files and large tool results
Deep Agents may offload large intermediate tool results into private scratch storage so the model context stays manageable. Scratch is not part of the workspace: the model cannot list, search, edit, or create deliverables there. It can only read an exact artifact path returned by the harness.
The default location is Shidoshi's per-user state directory, outside the notebook project:
[agent.harness.backend.scratch]
location = "user_state" # user_state | notebook_local
retention_days = 7 # 1..365
max_size_mb = 256 # 1..1024
Scratch is isolated by notebook and agent thread, created with user-only
permissions, capped by max_size_mb, and garbage-collected after the retention
window. Explicitly abandoning a pending thread attempts immediate cleanup.
The scratch host path is not exposed to the model.
If you need all runtime data beside the notebook, opt in explicitly:
[agent.harness.backend.scratch]
location = "notebook_local"
notebook_dirname = ".shidoshi"
retention_days = 7
max_size_mb = 256
Shidoshi protects that directory from filesystem tools but does not edit your
.gitignore. It prints a warning when the directory is not already ignored;
add it yourself if the project should not track runtime artifacts:
.shidoshi/
Complete configuration
This example shows every filesystem-backend setting and its default:
[agent.harness.backend]
type = "state" # state | filesystem
root_dir = "." # existing path below the notebook directory
deny_paths = [] # virtual glob patterns, additive to fixed denies
[agent.harness.backend.scratch]
location = "user_state" # user_state | notebook_local
notebook_dirname = ".shidoshi"
retention_days = 7 # 1..365
max_size_mb = 256 # 1..1024
[agent.harness.backend.filesystem]
write = "ask" # ask | deny
[agent.harness.backend.shell]
enabled = false
execute = "ask"
default_timeout_seconds = 300 # 1..3600
max_timeout_seconds = 600 # 1..3600; must be >= default
max_output_kb = 100 # 1..1024
pass_env = ["PATH"]
Settings are resolved per turn. The backend type, canonical root, rung, tool
inventory, denies, write/shell policy, scratch policy, and limits form part of
the compiled-agent cache and thread identity. If one changes during a live
thread, Shidoshi refuses to continue with mismatched assumptions; use
%%agent --fresh to start with the new configuration or revert the change.
--debug shows the resolved host root and effective policy. Normal notebook
output shows only a concise scope strip and virtual paths.
Troubleshooting filesystem access
| symptom | what to check |
|---|---|
| “cannot identify this notebook” | Save the notebook and run it through a real Jupyter server. Headless kernel execution cannot supply notebook identity. |
root_dir is rejected |
Use an existing directory relative to the notebook; absolute paths and .. are not allowed. |
| no filesystem tools appear | Confirm type = "filesystem" and use observer, proposer, or actor rather than --no-tools. Use --debug to inspect the exact tool inventory. |
| reads work but writes do not | Writes require the actor rung and filesystem.write = "ask". |
execute does not appear |
Shell also requires actor and shell.enabled = true. |
| a second turn is refused | The thread has unresolved actions. Approve/reject and continue, or use %agent_resume abandon. |
| approval became stale | The target changed after its preview. Review the newly rendered card and approve again. |
| shell cannot find an executable | Add a non-secret variable such as PATH to pass_env; the kernel environment is not inherited. |
| notebook-local scratch warning | Add the configured scratch directory to .gitignore, or switch back to user_state. |
| config validation rejects an environment name | Credential-bearing environment variables are intentionally forbidden from pass_env. |
Use shidoshi config show --sources to confirm the effective merged values,
shidoshi config validate for schema errors, and shidoshi config schema --html for the generated field-by-field reference.
How context is built
Every prior cell in the notebook — up to the one you're currently running, and accounting for kernel restarts — is turned into conversation history automatically:
- Markdown cells become background text/image context (treated as notes or reference material, not instructions).
- Regular code cells appear as fenced code plus their text/image outputs.
- Prior
%ask/%%askcells become real user/assistant turns. Their responses are reused from a per-cell cache rather than re-sent, so replaying history doesn't resend answers the model already produced. %%skipcells are dropped entirely.%%pincells are always kept.
Automatic context-length handling
If a request is rejected for exceeding the model's context window, shidoshi
automatically retries, dropping the oldest trimmable history units first
(markdown cells, then plain code cells, then whole ask+response pairs —
%%pin cells are never dropped), up to 20 times. A banner reports how many
cells were dropped so you know context shrank.
Providers
openai(default) — uses the OpenAI Responses API.openrouter— uses OpenRouter's chat-completions API; select it with theprovider:modelprefix, e.g.openrouter:anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet.
OpenAI %ask and %%agent always use Responses, even when web search is off.
An OpenAI-compatible endpoint therefore needs to implement /responses;
Shidoshi rejects providers.openai.api_mode = "chat_completions" instead of
silently changing protocols. OpenRouter continues to use Chat Completions.
Web search
Provider-hosted web search is available by default to %ask, %%ask, and
%%agent. “Available” does not mean every prompt is searched: the model decides
whether current information is needed. A search can add latency and cost, and a
model-generated query is sent to the selected provider/search engine.
Turn search on or off
For one turn:
%ask --no-search Explain this function from the notebook
%ask --search What changed in the latest Python release?
%%agent --no-tools --no-search
Review the notebook without inspecting the kernel or accessing the web.
--no-search removes the hosted search tool; it does not make the model call
local or offline. The prompt and notebook context are still sent to the chosen
LLM provider under its normal data policy.
The explicit model | prompt form keeps everything after | as prompt text:
%ask --no-search openai:gpt-5.5 | Explain what --search means
%agent --search openrouter:z-ai/glm-5.3 | Find the current release notes
For the current kernel session:
%shidoshi config session set tools.web_search.enabled false
%shidoshi config session set tools.web_search.enabled true
%shidoshi config session unset tools.web_search.enabled
Persistently, in a project, notebook, profile, or global config:
[tools.web_search]
enabled = false
Search changes are safe within an existing %%agent thread. Shidoshi rebuilds
the model binding and cache policy while retaining conversation memory. A turn
paused for approval resumes with the search policy it started with.
What appears in notebook output
%ask/%%askshow a collapsed tool-activity panel when search activity or citations are returned.%%agentshows hosted search calls in the Agent steps panel.- Source URLs are clickable HTTP(S) links. Provider-supplied titles, queries, and URLs are escaped before rendering.
- A provider can confirm that search occurred without returning citation URLs; Shidoshi labels that state explicitly rather than inventing sources.
- No search panel means search was not observed. It may have been available but
unused, or disabled for that turn; use
--debugto inspect the effective plan.
include_sources = true asks OpenAI for the complete consulted source list.
OpenRouter has no equivalent request switch; routed models may emit inline
citations regardless of this setting. No provider guarantees citation URLs.
Common policy
Portable settings apply to either provider:
[tools.web_search]
enabled = true
search_context_size = "medium"
allowed_domains = ["python.org"]
# excluded_domains = ["example.com"]
include_sources = true
[tools.web_search.location]
# country = "IN" # two-letter ISO country code
# region = "Maharashtra"
# city = "Mumbai"
# timezone = "Asia/Kolkata"
Domains must be bare hostnames: omit schemes, paths, ports, credentials, and wildcards. Up to 100 allowed and 100 excluded domains may be configured.
OpenAI controls
[tools.web_search.openai]
external_web_access = true
return_token_budget = "default"
external_web_access = falsekeeps the search tool available but limits it to OpenAI's cached/indexed content. It is not the same asenabled = false.return_token_budgetis"default"or"unlimited"; it is intended for GPT-5+ reasoning search and may increase latency and cost.
OpenRouter controls
[tools.web_search.openrouter]
engine = "exa"
mode = "instant"
max_results = 5
max_uses = 3
max_total_results = 15
# max_characters = 5000
Supported engines are auto, native, exa, firecrawl, parallel, and
perplexity. Modes are engine-specific:
| engine | supported modes |
|---|---|
exa |
instant, fast, auto, deep-lite, deep, deep-reasoning |
parallel |
turbo, fast, basic, advanced |
| all others | no mode; Shidoshi rejects one rather than silently ignoring it |
Some native/auto capabilities depend on the routed model. Shidoshi reports a warning when it cannot prove that a configured filter or limit will be honored. Known impossible combinations fail before a request is sent.
Trying newly released provider fields
Provider APIs evolve faster than Shidoshi's named schema. Search-specific escape hatches let you try a new field without waiting for a release:
[tools.web_search.openai.extra_tool_fields]
future_option = true
[tools.web_search.openrouter.extra_parameters]
future_option = true
Shidoshi validates that these are finite, JSON-compatible values, but cannot validate their provider semantics. They cannot override a field Shidoshi already manages. They are included in debug output, warnings, cache policy, and model fingerprints. If a provider later removes or rejects a field, its API error is surfaced; there is no reliable automatic capability negotiation.
These differ from providers.openai.extra_body and
providers.openrouter.extra_body, which are for new request-level fields
rather than fields inside the web-search tool.
web_fetch is a separate tool and remains off by default. Enable it with
tools.web_fetch.enabled = true.
Debug mode
Add --debug to %ask, %%ask, or %%agent to render the effective search
plan, serialized provider tool, composed prompt, messages, and raw stream
events. This is the fastest way to distinguish “available but unused” from
“disabled” and to inspect provider extension fields.
Search troubleshooting
| symptom | what to check |
|---|---|
| Search was not used | It is optional by default. Confirm enabled: true in --debug; make the need for current information explicit in the prompt. |
| Search ran but shows no sources | The provider confirmed usage without citation URLs. Try another routed model/engine or ask the answer to include visible links. |
OpenRouter rejects mode |
Set an explicit compatible engine: Exa modes and Parallel modes are not interchangeable. |
| OpenAI-compatible endpoint returns 404/unsupported endpoint | The OpenAI adapter requires /responses, including when search is disabled. Use OpenRouter for Chat-Completions-only services. |
| A config value seems ignored | Run %shidoshi config explain tools.web_search.enabled and retry with --debug to see the effective plan. |
| Need a turn without kernel tools or web search | Combine --no-tools --no-search; --no-tools alone leaves hosted search available. The LLM request itself is still remote. |
Configuration
shidoshi is configured through layered TOML files — global, project, and
per-notebook — merged in that order, with a per-invocation override always
winning. Nothing lower is ever silently overridden without a trace:
shidoshi config explain <key> tells you exactly which file set the value
you're seeing.
Where config lives
| scope | path | typical use |
|---|---|---|
| legacy global | ~/.shidoshi/config.toml |
old flat-key config, still read for backward compatibility |
| global | the platform user-config dir (shidoshi config path shows exactly where) |
personal defaults across every project |
| project | nearest .shidoshi/config.toml, walking up from the notebook |
team-shared, usually checked into the repo |
| notebook | <notebook>.ipynb.shidoshi.toml |
one notebook's own overrides |
A project or notebook config isn't found by convention alone — write one:
shidoshi config init --project # a short starter file
shidoshi config init --project --full # every available setting, with defaults filled in
(or %shidoshi config init --project from a notebook cell — every
shidoshi config ... command below also works as %shidoshi config ....)
The essentials
config_version = 1
[defaults]
profile = "default"
[profiles.default]
model = "openai:gpt-5.5"
[profiles.default.generation]
reasoning = { effort = "low" }
[agent]
reasoning_effort = "none" # fast default; raise for harder agent tasks
permission_rung = "actor" # none | observer | proposer | actor
[tools.web_search]
# Available by default. Search may add latency/cost and sends a generated query
# to the configured provider. Add --no-search to a magic for one no-search turn.
enabled = true
The old flat keys (default_model, agent_model, agent_tools,
reasoning_effort, ask_color, skip_color) still work — shidoshi
migrates them automatically — but the nested form above is what
shidoshi config init writes now, and it's the only shape that can express
everything else on this page (profiles, tool policy, context policy,
approvals).
Inspecting and editing config
shidoshi config path # which files are actually in effect, in precedence order
shidoshi config show # the fully merged, effective config
shidoshi config show --sources # ...annotated with which file set each value
shidoshi config explain agent.permission_rung # one setting's value and where it came from
shidoshi config validate # parse/schema-check every layer, and flag pasted-in secrets
shidoshi config doctor # validate, plus orphaned sidecars and missing credential env vars
shidoshi config doctor --online # opt in to current provider metadata checks
shidoshi config set agent.permission_rung observer --project
shidoshi config unset agent.permission_rung --project
shidoshi config schema # the complete field-by-field surface, as JSON Schema
shidoshi config schema --html # ...or a single offline, browsable reference page
Each of these also runs as %shidoshi config ... inside a notebook cell,
with two differences: edit prints the resolved path instead of spawning
$EDITOR (a blocking subprocess doesn't belong in a kernel cell), and a
bare call with no --global/--project/--notebook flag automatically
includes the current notebook's own sidecar.
Kernel-local overrides are explicit and inspectable:
%shidoshi config session set generation.temperature 0.2
%shidoshi config session show
%shidoshi config session unset generation.temperature
%shidoshi config session clear
For one call only, repeat --set key=value on %ask/%%ask/%agent/
%%agent, or use --profile NAME. Search also has the clearer --search and
--no-search aliases. The whole override is parsed and validated before a
request, checkpoint, or pending approval is touched.
Provider policy is translated separately for raw OpenAI Responses,
ChatOpenAI, raw OpenRouter, and ChatOpenRouter. In particular,
OpenRouter's default data_collection = "deny" and
require_parameters = true are sent on the request; custom OpenAI-compatible
endpoints must implement the Responses API for the OpenAI adapter. They can
choose instruction_role explicitly. Configuration display and diagnostics recursively redact
credentials, authorization headers, secret-like metadata, and URL query
values.
For newly released provider request parameters that Shidoshi does not yet name, use the provider-scoped kwargs-style escape hatch:
[providers.openai.extra_body]
future_option = true
[providers.openrouter.extra_body]
future_option = true
The same table can be set under a profile's providers section. These values
reach both the raw and LangChain-backed request paths. Shidoshi rejects keys
that collide with request fields it owns (model, tools, reasoning, storage,
routing/privacy policy, and limits), recursively redacts the passthrough in
diagnostics, and includes it in model-build fingerprints. extra_body is for
JSON request-body parameters; arbitrary Python constructor objects remain
Python extension points because TOML cannot represent or validate them safely.
What's configurable
Model and generation settings (per named profile — select one with
defaults.profile, or ask.profile/agent.profile to use a different one
for each magic), provider transport, which tools
%ask/%%agent may use (tools.web_search, tools.web_fetch,
tools.create_cell, kernel-tool output limits and secret redaction),
notebook context policy (what gets included, image handling, trim limits),
local response caching, and %%agent's permission model — including,
if you want it, a real human-in-the-loop approval gate:
context.include_markdown, include_code, include_outputs, and
include_images control notebook history. The nested image policy
(allow_local_files, allow_remote_urls, and max_file_bytes) applies to
images in both the current prompt and notebook history.
[agent.approvals.run_code]
enabled = true
allowed_decisions = ["approve", "edit", "reject"]
With this set, an actor-rung run_code call pauses instead of running
immediately. Answer it with %agent_resume approve,
%agent_resume reject [reason], or %agent_resume edit <json args>.
Real project files and approved host-shell execution are configured under
agent.harness.backend. They are opt-in and have their own rooted path,
protected-path, scratch, timeout, environment, and approval policies. See
Letting %%agent work with real files
for the complete guide and copy-paste configuration.
shidoshi config schema --html is the complete reference — every setting,
its type, and its default, generated straight from the schema shidoshi
itself validates against, so it can never drift out of date.
Fields that cannot yet be enforced safely (for example durable agent
persistence or host-backed skill/memory paths) fail validation with a precise
reason; shidoshi does not accept them as inert promises.
Development
uv sync
uv run pytest tests/unit tests/btp -v
Integration tests under tests/integration/ require a live OPENAI_API_KEY
(or a proxy via OPENAI_BASE_URL) and are run with:
uv run pytest tests/integration/ -v -m integration
License
Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE.
Release files for shidoshi 0.0.9
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Source distribution (sdist)
| File | Size | Uploaded | |
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| shidoshi-0.0.9.tar.gz | 30.1 MB | Details |
Built distribution (wheel)
| File | Interpreter | ABI | Platform | Reset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| shidoshi-0.0.9-py3-none-any.whl | Python 3 | none | any | Details |
Total release size: 30.3 MB
Release files / shidoshi-0.0.9.tar.gz
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| Tags | Source |
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