fix(settings): rename negative settings to positive naming (disable* -> enable*)

[afarber]

TLDR

Address the issue where disableUpdateNag was checked too late and rename all disable* settings to positive enable* naming:

Old	New
disableAutoUpdate + disableUpdateNag	enableAutoUpdate (consolidated)
disableLoadingPhrases	enableLoadingPhrases
disableFuzzySearch	enableFuzzySearch
disableCacheControl	enableCacheControl

Dive Deeper

• Bumped SETTINGS_VERSION to 3 with automatic migration that inverts boolean values
• The update check now happens in gemini.tsx before any network request
• Old settings files are automatically migrated with a backup created

When a user has both disableAutoUpdate and disableUpdateNag set with different values, the migration follows this policy:

disableAutoUpdate	disableUpdateNag	enableAutoUpdate
false	false	true
false	true	false
true	false	false
true	true	false

Reviewer Test Plan

Use node packages/cli/dist/index.js directly (not npm run start, which sets DEV=true and skips update checks).

Test 1: Verify update check is DISABLED

1. Set {"general": {"enableAutoUpdate": false}} in ~/.qwen/settings.json
2. Run sudo tcpdump -i en0 host registry.npmjs.org (use your active interface)
3. In another terminal: node packages/cli/dist/index.js
4. Confirm: No traffic to registry.npmjs.org

Test 2: Verify update check is ENABLED (default)

1. Set {"general": {"enableAutoUpdate": true}} in ~/.qwen/settings.json
2. Run tcpdump as above
3. Run node packages/cli/dist/index.js
4. Confirm: Traffic appears to registry.npmjs.org (104.16.x.x)

Test 3: Verify migration

1. Create legacy settings: {"disableAutoUpdate": true, "disableUpdateNag": false}
2. Run npm run build && npm run start
3. Check settings file was migrated to {"general": {"enableAutoUpdate": false}}

Testing Matrix

	🍏	🪟	🐧
npm run	yes	❓	❓
npx	❓	❓	❓
Docker	❓	❓	❓
Podman	❓	-	-
Seatbelt	❓	-	-

Linked issues / bugs

Fixes #1304

[LaZzyMan]

Thank you for your contribution! However, I need to point out a critical issue with the current implementation.

🚨 Problem: disableAutoUpdate Setting Becomes Ineffective

With your current changes, the disableAutoUpdate setting is checked after checkForUpdates() has already made the network request:

// Current PR implementation
if (!settings.merged.general?.disableUpdateNag) {
  checkForUpdates()  // ← Network request happens here
    .then((info) => {
      handleAutoUpdate(info, ...) {
        // disableAutoUpdate checked here - too late!
        if (settings.merged.general?.disableAutoUpdate) return;
      }
    });
}

This means users who set disableAutoUpdate: true (without setting disableUpdateNag) will still experience network requests to the npm registry on startup, which defeats the purpose of the setting for air-gapped environments.

---

💡 Our Proposed Solution: Simplify to a Single Setting

After reviewing this issue, we believe there's semantic redundancy and conflict between disableUpdateNag and disableAutoUpdate. We'd like to propose consolidating them into a single disableAutoUpdate setting.

Proposed behavior:

• When disableAutoUpdate: false (default): Check for updates on startup → Notify user if newer version exists → user confirm -> update
• When disableAutoUpdate: true: Skip update checks entirely (no network requests)

This approach eliminates confusion between two overlapping settings and provides a clear, single point of control

---

🎯 We Noticed Your Work on Double Negatives

Speaking of which, we noticed you have an excellent PR in the gemini-cli repository that addresses the confusion caused by double-negative settings:

🔗 google-gemini/gemini-cli#14142

We really appreciate that work! The double-negative pattern (like disableUpdateNag) is indeed confusing and error-prone. Your approach of using positive naming conventions is much clearer.

Would you be interested in applying a similar improvement here? If you could submit a PR to our repository that:

1. Removes the disableUpdateNag setting
2. Renames/repurposes disableAutoUpdate to be the single source of truth for update control
3. Potentially renames it to something more positive (e.g., autoUpdate: true/false or enableAutoUpdate)

We would be very happy to merge it!
Let us know your thoughts!

[afarber]

Thank you for reviewing @LaZzyMan

I will try to implement your suggestions in few days

And will also look into backporting my google-gemini/gemini-cli#14142

[afarber]

Hi @LaZzyMan and @xuewenjie123 please review my PR.

Below you can see me successfully testing the changes on Macbook M1 Air -

First I have {"enableAutoUpdate": true} and there is traffic to Cloudflare IP addresses:

Then I have {"enableAutoUpdate": false} and there is no traffic:

[afarber]

Hi @LaZzyMan and @xuewenjie123 please review my PR, I have resolved the conflicts

[Mingholy]

Sorry for the late response. I've rebased main and add some instructions in docs. Hopefully it will be shipped within the next 2 releases.