# Explanations

The one part of a report a model writes, and how to turn it off.

Source: https://salidium.com/docs/explanations

Most of a report is what Salidium observed. One part of it is prose, and prose has to be written by something.

Salidium hands your own installed Claude or Codex CLI a short, redacted summary of the session and lets it write that part. It is labelled wherever it appears, it is the only thing that leaves the daemon, and you can switch it off without losing anything else on the page.

## When it runs

- **Off**: The page Salidium derives, and nothing else. No model is ever called.
- **When a session ends**: One explanation each, written once a session has finished or gone quiet.
- **While it works**: A fresh explanation at every turn end. This is the default.

The control is in the session list, under the sliders. `SALIDIUM_EXPLAINER=off` switches it off in the daemon's environment and outranks whatever is chosen here, and the control says so when it is set.

## What it is given

- The last prompt.
- Up to forty of the agent's statements.
- Fifteen file names, shortened to their last two segments.
- The last six check results.

## What it cannot do

- It runs with its tools switched off, in a directory of its own.
- Its own run never appears as a session in your list.
- What comes back is validated against a schema before it can appear anywhere.
- It cannot change Verified, Left or Needs you.

## When there is not one

The panel says which of these applies rather than leaving a gap, and in every case the observed and derived parts of the report are unaffected.

- **Explanations are off**: Nothing was sent to any agent.
- **No compatible command**: No Claude or Codex CLI that Salidium can run was found, so nothing was sent.
- **Asked, and nothing usable came back**: The agent answered but the answer did not validate, and the next turn tries again.
- **Not yet**: One is written when the agent finishes its next turn.

> Turn it off and every observed and derived part of the page stays exactly as it is. Nothing else on a report depends on it, and [How we know](https://salidium.com/docs/provenance.md) is what labels it wherever it appears.