Skip to main content
Agent Canvas separates Customize from Settings.
  • Customize — teach the agent new things. Skills give it domain knowledge and specific instructions. MCP Servers connect it to external tools and data sources.
  • Settings — configure how the agent runs. Choose your LLM, store secrets, tune context handling, and set agent behavior. Settings are saved per backend.

​
Customize

Open the top-level Customize area to manage: Use the section navigation inside Customize to switch between those pages.
MCP configuration lives under Customize > MCP Servers, not under Settings.

​
Settings

The Settings area currently includes the following sections: On local backends, the LLM page also includes an Available Profiles area for saved profiles. Use Settings > Agent to choose the active Agent Profile for new conversations. OpenHands profiles reference LLM profiles from Settings > LLM; ACP profiles use the external agent’s own model configuration.

​
Persistent Agent Memory

Open Settings > Agent Context to control persistent agent memory. When enabled, new OpenHands and ACP conversations can load saved memory from the workspace and user memory locations into their agent context. Disable it when you do not want new conversations to load that persistent memory.
Learn more about the Persistent Memory implementation from the SDK Guide: Persistent Memory

​
Configuration Is Per Backend

Both Customize and Settings are tied to the active backend. That means:
  • Changing backends changes which configuration you are editing
  • Skills, MCP servers, secrets, and other settings saved for one backend do not automatically apply to every other backend
  • The available options can differ depending on backend capabilities

​
Practical Example

You might use this split like this:
  • Add a GitHub review skill in Customize > Skills
  • Add a Slack or fetch MCP server in Customize > MCP Servers
  • Save your preferred model in Settings > LLM
  • Store tokens in Settings > Secrets