Models and Pad Router
Turn Pad Router on or off, choose the modes members may pick, decide whether replies name the routed model, and set which models Auto may use.
Settings and then Models holds the organization's Pad Router settings. Owners and admins change them; members can read them. A change applies to the next turn of every chat on Auto.
Enable Pad Router
While Pad Router is on, the model picker's first entry is Auto: Pad Router picks the model and the reasoning effort for every turn, and new chats start on Auto unless the member has starred another model as their default.
Turning it off removes Auto from the picker. A chat already on Auto keeps working on Pad's default model until someone picks another, and its earlier replies keep their Auto badges.
Optimization modes
Auto's one dial. Members pick from the modes you leave on:
| Mode | What it optimizes |
|---|---|
| Cost | Spends the fewest tokens. |
| Balanced | Balances quality, speed, and cost. |
| Intelligence | Reaches for the most capable models on harder work. |
At least one mode stays on. A chat on a mode you turned off routes under Balanced, or under the first mode left on when Balanced is off too, until someone picks another.
Show routed model
Off by default, and recommended. Every reply Pad Router decided carries an Auto badge showing the mode it was routed under, so answers are judged on their own merit rather than by model name. Turn it on and the badge names the model that answered and its effort in place of the mode. Naming is a display choice, not a secret: the Usage page reports credits by model either way.
Models Auto may use
The list is every model Pad Router can route to, grouped by lab and marked with its tier (frontier, standard, or fast). Uncheck a model and Auto never picks it; members can still pick it by hand from the model picker. At least one model stays checked.
Leaving many models unchecked degrades routing: Pad Router chooses among what is left, so a mode may not reach the tier it was built for. Uncheck a model for a reason (a lab your policy excludes, a model you are still evaluating), not by habit.