> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.fermata.run/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Where defaults live
> Per piece, per project, and in Settings.
Both layers of [the control model](/control/two-layers) can be set in three places. The narrowest one that applies wins.
## Per piece
The Flow Configuration sheet, opened with **Configure Piece** in the piece inspector. It is the only place that changes this one piece. It carries more than the two sections these pages lean on: the model and effort, per-stage overrides, code grounding, approval mode, the **Gates**, [the failure policy](/piece/when-an-agent-fails#decide-it-once-the-failure-policy), the git worktree, **Limits**, and the **Permission Profile**.
The sheet opens even while the piece is running. Most of it locks itself down mid-run, but the permission profile stays editable, with a note saying what that means: "Applies to agents that have not started yet. Agents already running keep the profile they were spawned with."
The [lane](/control/lanes) is not in this sheet. You pick it at spec approval, or from the badge on the piece's card.
**Limits** here is a per-piece override of **Parallel agents**, from 1 to 10. A **Cost ceiling (USD)** field joins it on Pro with [Edge](/configuration/edge) on; while either is off the field is hidden and a saved ceiling stops nothing. See [limits](/loop/limits).
## Per project
Project settings override the app defaults for one project. Two permission cards sit there, deliberately named apart:
* **Default Permissions**, for the sessions you start yourself. Its inherited value is shown as, for example, "Safe (from Sessions)".
* **Piece Permissions**, for the agents that run inside a piece. Its inherited value shows as "Autonomous (from Loop)".
Each names the Settings tab its inherited value comes from, so two adjacent permission cards cannot be mistaken for one control. Overriding one never moves the other. A project tightened for ad hoc sessions keeps running its pieces hands-off.
Two of the [gates](/control/gates) and both passes can also be forced On or Off per project: **Require Plan Approval**, **Require Review Before PR**, **Run Code Review Before PR** (shown on Edge), and **Run Work Review After Agents**. Each card shows what it is inheriting until you override it.
## In Settings
App-wide starting points for everything new, split across two tabs.
**Settings → Sessions** carries **Default Permissions**, captioned: "Applies to sessions you start yourself, not to pieces. Pieces carry their own default, under Piece Permissions in the Loop tab." The default is **Safe**.
**Settings → Loop** carries the piece side:
* **Piece Permissions**, defaulting to **Autonomous**, captioned: "Applies to the agents that run inside a piece: the build agents, and the rework sessions you start from its review. The planning phases run without tool approvals either way."
* The same defaults for new pieces: **Require Plan Approval**, **Require Review Before PR**, **Run Code Review Before PR** (shown on Edge), and **Run Work Review After Agents**.
* **Pull Requests**, the default ending: "Open a pull request when a hands-off run finishes."
* **Limits**, the concurrency caps. See [limits](/loop/limits).
**Require strategy approval** is the one gate with no default anywhere. It is set per piece, in the Flow Configuration sheet, and nowhere else.