Helix Advisor

Advisor is the default, conversational mode of Helix. It answers questions, explains code, diagnoses infrastructure, and recommends next steps without making changes unless you explicitly ask it to.

When to use Advisor

• You want a second opinion on an error, a plan, or a configuration file.
• You need an explanation of a technology, an API, or a dependency.
• You want a clear set of migration or implementation steps before handing them to Operator.

Tool-selection loop

Advisor uses the same planner as Operator but with the no-op execution policy. When you ask a question, Helix:

1. Parses intent and maps it to a goal.
2. Decides whether the answer is purely conversational or requires tool lookups (sandbox files, logs, API state, docs).
3. Runs only read-only tools such as sandbox_read_file, sandbox_git_status, or run_repo_checks.
4. Synthesizes a final answer with citations to anything it inspected.

Context budget and condensation

Every conversation has a finite context window. Helix monitors token usage and, when the budget passes the configured threshold, runs the condenser to summarize older turns while preserving key facts: decisions, active plan IDs, and credentials the user approved.

Key facts are never dropped silently. If condensation would remove something you explicitly stated, Helix asks you to confirm before continuing.

Human approval gates

Advisor can ask you to approve an action before it runs any tool. You can set the default autonomy level in the Helix settings panel:

• Confirm every step — Helix stops and waits before any non-read tool.
• Confirm risky steps only — Helix runs read-only and safe tools autonomously, but asks before writes, deletes, deploys, or external API calls.
• Let Helix run — Advisor still does not write anything unless you explicitly ask it to switch to Operator.

Related

• Helix Operator
• Helix Architecture
• Helix Security