Configuration (Config Builder)
Coming from AAPS v3?
The Config Builder is now called Configuration and is in the menu (☰). See What changed in AAPS v4.
Configuration is where you choose which plugins are active (CGM, pump, APS algorithm, sensitivity, sync, …) and open each plugin and its settings. The walkthrough is below; the rest of this page describes each section in detail.
Configuration in AAPS v4
In AAPS v4, tap the menu (☰) in the top-left corner of the main screen and choose Configuration (“Set up your configuration (CGM, pump, …) and enable features”).
Plugins are grouped by category — for example Smoothing, Calibration, Sensitivity detection, APS, Communication and General. Each row shows the category name and the currently active plugin (e.g. APS → OpenAPS SMB). Tap a row to open a category.
Inside a category you see the plugins available for it. For single-choice categories you pick the active one; some categories are multi-select (“Choose any that apply”). Each plugin offers two actions:
Open plugin — opens the plugin’s own screen.
Settings — opens the plugin’s preferences (settings may be grouped into expandable sections).
The mobile icon — “synced from the master”
A small mobile (phone) icon next to a category or setting means that item is synchronized from the master — its value/selection is delivered to this device over the NSClientV3 (Nightscout) channel.
On a client (AAPSClient) these items are kept in sync with the master. The icon is only shown on a client, so it does not appear in the screenshot above, which was taken on the main AAPS app. On a client it typically appears on Smoothing, Calibration, Sensitivity detection and APS. Exactly how the master and clients stay aligned — and which settings you can change from either side — is covered under Master ↔ Client control.
The same icon also appears inside the settings, next to the individual preferences that are synced. In the example below Absorption cutoff carries the icon; settings without the icon are configured per device:
Items without the icon are configured per device. The most important example is the NSClientV3 (Communication) connection itself — the Nightscout URL, access token and websockets are set on each phone individually, so they do not show the mobile icon.
Opening a plugin screen
Each plugin screen is opened in one of these ways (the tabs and the eye checkbox of AAPS v3 are gone, see What changed in AAPS v4):
Configuration → the plugin’s category → Open plugin,
the Manage sheet of the bottom navigation, for the screens you use most (Profile, Insulin settings, Pump, Automation, Food…),
a QuickLaunch button that you add yourself,
the search bar on the main screen.
Profile
This module cannot be disabled as it is a core part of AAPS.
See Your AAPS Profile for a basic understanding of what goes inside your Profile.
Insulin
In AAPS 4 the insulin is no longer a plugin selected in Configuration. Open Manage → Insulin settings to set up the insulin you are using.
The insulin editor lets you:
give the insulin an Insulin nickname so it is easy to recognise,
set the Peak (time to maximum insulin activity, in minutes) and the DIA (Duration of Insulin Action, in hours), either by typing the value or using the – / + buttons,
tap a Load peak from preset button — Novorapid (75 min), Fiasp (55 min) or Lyumjev (45 min) — to fill in the standard peak time for that insulin in one step.
The allowed ranges are the same whatever insulin you use:
DIA: 5 to 9 hours (5 to 10 hours if the patient type is set to Pregnant). See Duration of insulin action (DIA) and peak to choose a value.
Peak: 35 to 120 minutes.
The IOB (insulin on board) and Activity curves shown at the bottom of the editor update as you change the values, so you can see straight away how your settings shape the insulin action.
More information to understand the Insulin Profile as shown in AAPS here.
Changing the insulin in use (DIA or peak)
The insulin marked ACTIVE is the one your running profile uses. Its fields are greyed out: you cannot edit or delete it. This way, the insulin name shown in your running profile always matches the settings actually in use.
To change the DIA or peak you are using:
Open Manage → Insulin settings. If the screen opens read-only (a ✏️ pencil in the top bar), tap the pencil and unlock your settings.
Tap + (Add new insulin). AAPS creates a copy of the insulin shown on screen.
Set the new Peak and/or DIA, then tap the save icon (top right).
Tap ▶ (Activate insulin) and confirm. The new insulin becomes ACTIVE.
The name includes peak and DIA
AAPS adds the peak, DIA and concentration to the insulin name automatically (for example Fiasp 55m 8h U100), so you can tell your configurations apart at a glance.
You can delete the old insulin once it is no longer active.
The “Load peak from” presets
In AAPS 4 there is no list of insulin types to choose from. Every insulin uses the same exponential activity curve; only its Peak and DIA differ. The Load peak from presets in the insulin editor fill in the recommended peak for the most common insulins in one tap (the small ⓘ next to Load peak from lists them with their peak values). You can still adjust the Peak and DIA afterwards.
Only change the peak away from its recommended value if you understand the effect of doing so. The insulin curve graph helps you to understand the curves.
Novorapid
recommended for Humalog, Novolog and Novorapid (called Rapid-Acting Oref in AAPS v3)
Peak = 75 minutes after injection
Fiasp
recommended for Fiasp (called Ultra-Rapid Oref in AAPS v3)
Peak = 55 minutes after injection
Lyumjev
recommended for Lyumjev
Peak = 45 minutes after injection
Custom peak
There is no separate “Free-Peak Oref” insulin type in AAPS 4: enter any Peak (35 to 120 minutes) directly in the insulin editor, without using a preset.
A custom peak is useful if you use an insulin that is not in the list, or a mixture of different insulins.
Duration of insulin action (DIA) and peak
Warning
In looping, decreasing DIA or peak will always increase administered insulin. DIA works differently in AAPS than in commercial AID systems, and careless changes to these settings can change insulin dosing in a way which is much larger or smaller than expected.
AAPS models the timeline of insulin action with a mathematical formula, configured using DIA and the closely related peak settings. DIA is the theoretical duration until IOB reaches zero and peak is the point in time when the effect of insulin is strongest. This yields an IOB curve and an activity curve, which is simply the rate of IOB decay.
Consider that when AAPS is looping, it’s normal to have periods of zero-temping. This missing basal insulin is fully subtracted from the IOB, explaining why IOB will in practice reach zero many hours earlier than the configured DIA. You can inspect bolus IOB and basal IOB separately from the main screen.
To configure DIA and peak, tap Manage in the main screen, and then tap Insulin settings. AAPS displays the active insulin configuration like this:
In this example, the peak setting is 55 minutes, DIA is 8 hours and insulin concentration is the standard 100 IU/mL.
Due to the influence of zero-temping explained above and the formula used for IOB decay in AAPS, most users set a clearly higher DIA than in commercial systems. In general, many people find that a DIA of 9h works well for them. After you have more experience with AAPS and have a well-tuned profile, you can try to find personalized DIA and peak settings with the information below.
Details on the impact of DIA and peak configuration
Since the basal rate has an indirect influence on IOB decay in AAPS, it follows that too high basal rates can mask too high DIA, and vice versa. It makes sense to first carefully tune basal rates before adjusting DIA and peak. Additionally, consider that the DIA and peak settings interact, in the sense that the effect of DIA depends on peak, and vice versa.
These charts show the exact impact of DIA and peak on the IOB curves, across the range of allowed values.
Adjusting DIA:
Adjusting peak:
Finally, a comparison adjusting DIA and peak in parallel. The logic here is that both values are adjusted in the same relative amounts, so that 49/35 ~ 7/5. Or similarly, 120/93 ~ 9/7. The intervals will be consistent regardless of the baseline DIA or peak, as long as the relative change is the same for both.
Note that when DIA and peak are adjusted in this fashion, every point in the curve will shift by the same relative amount.
Further reading on DIA and peak configuration
Technical details and historical background from the AAPS predecessor, OpenAPS.
Why we are regularly wrong in the duration of insulin action (DIA) times we use, and why it matters… on Diabettech.
Exponential Insulin Curves + Fiasp on See My CGM (archive).
Revised Humalog model in a closed loop and other articles on Bionic Wookie, recommending a DIA of 9h for Lyumjev, Fiasp, NovoRapid, Humalog.
BG Source
Select the blood glucose source you are using. See BG Source page for more setup information.
Scroll down to see the other sources:
NSClient BG - only if you know what you are doing, see BG Source.
Glimp - only version 4.15.57 and newer are supported
MicroTech CGM App - for the Aidex / LinX CGM
Tomato (MiaoMiao) - Tomato App for MiaoMiao device
Glunovo - Glunovo App for Glunovo CGM system
Intelligo - Intelligo App
Syai/Ottai - for the Syai and Ottai apps (see Syai Tag and Ottai)
SI App - patched SI App or Sibionics App for Sibionics CGM
Sino App - patched app for Sinocare CGM
Notification Reader - reads glucose values from the notifications shown by official CGM apps (Dexcom, Medtronic, Eversense, etc.)
Instara - Instara App
Random BG - generates random BG data for testing. It can only be enabled in an engineering (developer) build with the Virtual Pump, so in a normal AAPS installation it cannot be used.
Smoothing
Calibration
Choose how AAPS treats the values it receives from your sensor:
No calibration: the sensor values are used as they are. Use this when the sensor is already factory-calibrated and accurate. This is the default.
Linear calibration: AAPS corrects the sensor values with a slope and an offset that it computes from your fingerstick entries.
How to use Linear calibration:
Select Linear calibration in the Calibration category.
When you insert a new sensor, log the sensor change: use Log sensor change on the calibration screen, or enter a CGM sensor insert in the Careportal. This tells AAPS when the sensor session started. If AAPS notices a gap of more than 30 minutes in the readings, it may ask you to mark a sensor change; this prompt appears on the master only, not on a client.
Open the plugin and tap Add calibration. Enter your fingerstick value. AAPS pairs it with the sensor value from the last 10 minutes.
A calibration is accepted only when:
a sensor change is logged and at least 2 hours have passed since then (warm-up),
your glucose is stable. If it changes too fast, the dialog tells you and shows the limit,
there is a CGM reading from the last 10 minutes,
it is for the current moment. You cannot enter older fingerstick values.
How the correction works:
AAPS draws a straight line through the pairs of the current sensor:
corrected value = slope × sensor value + offset.Newer pairs count more than older ones: a pair that is 2 days old counts about 37 %, a 4-day-old pair about 14 %. The line therefore follows your sensor as it drifts.
At least 2 pairs are needed.
If the pairs are close together (less than 54 mg/dL / 3 mmol/L apart), only the values are shifted (offset, no slope).
The slope is kept between 0.55 and 1.6. A slope outside this range is limited to the nearest value.
Safety limit: if the correction at 100 mg/dL (5.5 mmol/L) would be more than ±30 mg/dL (1.7 mmol/L), no correction is applied. This protects you from a wrong entry.
What it changes:
The corrected value is used everywhere: the BG on the main screen, the graph and the loop. The sensor readings themselves are not changed. The correction is applied on top, also to the earlier readings of the current sensor.
A new sensor change starts from zero. Pairs from earlier sensors no longer count.
On the graph, a calibration is shown as a marker at the fingerstick value.
Calibrations are synchronized through Nightscout, so your clients show the same corrected values.
Check and remove entries:
Open plugin shows the status (for example Slope 0.85, mid-range correction -0.4), a chart of your pairs with the line, and the list of entries.
If an entry is wrong (for example, you had sugar on your finger), tap the bin icon next to it. The line is calculated again at once.
Using xDrip+ as BG source?
xDrip+ has its own calibration. Calibrate in one place only, so that the sensor values are not corrected twice.
Calibrate with care
A wrong fingerstick value leads to wrong glucose values and therefore to wrong insulin dosing. Wash your hands before measuring, and do not calibrate while your glucose is changing fast.
Pump
Select the pump you are using. See Compatible pumps page for more setup information.
Scroll down to see all the pump drivers:
When you select another pump, AAPS asks you to confirm the change:
Dana R Korean (for domestic DanaR pump)
Dana Rv2 (DanaR pump with unofficial firmware upgrade)
Omnipod for Omnipod Eros
Dash for Omnipod DASH
Virtual pump: open loop - AAPS suggestions only
as you make your first steps with AAPS, during the first objectives
for pump which doesn’t have any driver yet
Message: “Data is coming from different pump”
AAPS remembers the pump it is connected to (pump type and serial number). If it receives data from another pump, for example after your pump was replaced by a new one of the same model, it shows this message and ignores the data from that pump:
To use the new pump, change the pump driver: select Virtual pump, confirm, then select your pump again. AAPS then registers the pump it is connected to now.
Sensitivity Detection
Select the type of sensitivity detection. For more details of different designs please read on here. This will analyze historical data on the go and make adjustments if it recognizes that you are reacting more sensitively (or conversely, more resistant) to insulin than usual. More details about how the sensitivity ratio itself is calculated can be found in Key AAPS Features > Autosens.
You can view your sensitivity on the main screen in an additional graph, by selecting SENS% and watching the white line. Note, you need to be in Objective 8 in order to let Sensitivity Detection/Autosens automatically adjust the amount of insulin delivered. Before reaching that objective, the Autosens percentage / the line in your graph is displayed for information only.
Absorption settings
If you use Oref1 with SMB you must change min_5m_carbimpact to 8. The value is only used during gaps in CGM readings or when physical activity “uses up” all the blood glucose rise that would otherwise cause AAPS to decay COB. At times when carb absorption can’t be dynamically worked out based on your blood’s reactions it inserts a default decay to your carbs. Basically, it is a failsafe.
APS
Select the desired APS algorithm for therapy adjustments. You can view the active detail of the chosen algorithm with Open plugin.
OpenAPS AMA
Advanced Meal Assist: older algorithm not recommended anymore.
In simple terms, the benefits are after you give yourself a meal bolus, the system can high-temp more quickly IF you enter carbs reliably.
-
Super Micro Bolus: most recent algorithm recommended for all users.
In contrast to AMA, SMB does not use temporary basal rates to control glucose levels, but mainly small Super Micro Boluses.
Note : It is recommended to use this algorithm from the beginning, even though you will not actually get SMBs delivered until Objective 9.
-
Experimental algorithm for advanced users. It is only listed once the objectives are completed.
If switching from AMA to SMB algorithm, min_5m_carbimpact must be changed manually to 8 (default value for SMB) in Settings → Absorption settings.
Loop
This module cannot be disabled as it is a core part of AAPS.
Constraints
Objectives
AAPS has a learning program (a series of objectives) that you have to fulfill step by step. This should guide you safely through setting up a closed loop system.
See Objectives page for more information.
Communication
In this category (called Synchronization in AAPS v3), you choose if/where you want AAPS to send your data to.
Scroll down to see the rest of the list:
NSClientV3
Can be used as a reporting server and/or for remote monitoring, remote control.
See Synchronization with the reporting server to set up NSClientV3 synchronization.
Tidepool
Can be used as a reporting server.
See Tidepool.
xDrip
Used to send data such as glucose values and treatments to xDrip+ on the same phone. Its settings also hold Send status to xDrip+, a status line with IOB and COB that xDrip+ and some watch companion apps display.
Open Humans
See Open Humans.
Wear
Monitor and control AAPS from a Wear OS watch. Setting up the watch is explained on Wear OS smartwatch. After enabling the plugin, choose its options in Settings > Wear. Using the watch is explained on Operation of AAPS via your Wear OS smartwatch.
External Companion Apps
Broadcasts AAPS status data on the phone so that other apps installed on it can display it — for example watch or widget companion apps. The broadcast includes glucose and trend, IOB, COB, basal and temp basal, profile name, loop status, phone and pump battery, reservoir level and bolus progress. Enable it only if a companion app you use asks for this data.
Apps known to read this broadcast are WatchDrip+ (Xiaomi and Amazfit watches), GlucoDataHandler (Wear OS complications and widgets, and Android Auto through GlucoDataAuto) and the G-Watch app. Their setup is described on Smartwatches and AAPS. Some of them also use Send status to xDrip+ from the xDrip plugin above for a status line with IOB and COB.
In earlier versions this plugin was called Samsung Tizen, after the G-Watch app for Samsung Tizen watches it was first made for.
Garmin
Connection to Garmin device (Fenix, Edge…)
Treatments
Open the menu (☰) and select Treatments history to see the treatments that have been recorded. Should you wish to edit or delete an entry (e.g. you ate less carbs than you expected) then select ‘Remove’ and enter the new value (change the time if necessary) through Treatments → Carbs in the bottom navigation (see Carbs).
General
In AAPS 4 the General category of Configuration only lists Autotune. The other features described below are always available and no longer need to be enabled here; each paragraph says where to find them.
Overview
The main screen of AAPS is not a plugin any more and has no settings of its own in Configuration. The options that used to be here are in Settings (gear icon): Show notes in dialogs, Status lights and the Bolus percentage used by the bolus wizard. The super bolus option of AAPS 3.x is not available as a setting in AAPS 4.
Actions
The Actions tab of AAPS 3.x no longer exists. Its buttons are now in the Manage sheet — see Where did the Actions tab go?.
Automation
Manage → Automation lets you manage your Automations, starting at Objective 10.
SMS Communicator
Allows remote caregivers to control some AAPS features via SMS, see SMS Commands for more setup information.
Food
Manage → Food displays the food presets defined in the Nightscout food database, see Nightscout Readme for more setup information.
Note: Entries cannot be used in the AAPS calculator. (View only)
Autotune
You can enable Autotune, see here.
Maintenance
Open the menu (☰) and select Maintenance to export / import settings and manage log files.
Config Builder
Now called Configuration: this current page.