Turning it on for the server and a class
The owner sets the provider, base URL, model and API key on the Oracle page. Settings saved there can override the server's environment variables. The provider must offer an OpenAI-compatible API. Providers that require authentication need a key; Ollama and vLLM can work without one, as long as the server can reach the endpoint and the model name is correct.
When you create a class, you choose its oracle access: As set for the instance (the default), Off, Hints only or Full answers. A class can only make the server's mode stricter: if the owner chose “Hints only”, the room gets no full answers. This setting cannot be changed later. If a test should run without AI, create a separate room with the oracle turned off.
Questions and context
Open the oracle panel and ask a specific question: which cell you are working on, what you expected and what you got. The request may include the room's code and context, so do not put API keys in the notebook, or any data that must not be sent to the chosen provider.
Answers appear in the room's feed. Check the suggested code and explanations: the model can be wrong, and neither hints mode nor extra instructions guarantee how it behaves.
Act mode
When the Oracle edits files directly rule allows it, the oracle can read, create and change files and run code. The rule can grant this to everyone, to the teacher only (the default) or to nobody. In “Hints only” mode, Act is not available to anyone. A room runs one task at a time. The Actions per request rule caps the number of steps: reading, editing and running each count as a separate action. The server default is 24, and 0 means no limit; a class can only lower a finite server limit. The oracle cannot delete files or folders. In Act mode, permitted changes to files and cells are applied immediately, within the permissions of whoever made the request. In Ask mode, a suggested cell change is applied only after you press “Accept”. Check which mode is selected before you send a task.
Limits and costs
The server sets how many questions each student may ask per hour (20 by default) and the time between questions (0 by default, at most 300 seconds). A question limit of zero turns the oracle off in every class, for the teacher too. On top of the personal limit, there is an hourly cap for the whole class: 30 personal limits, or half a personal limit for each connected person once more than 60 are connected. A participant who joined less than two minutes ago has to wait before asking the first question. A room can lower the number of questions and lengthen the pause, but it cannot loosen the server's limits. An empty value in the room rules means the server setting applies; limits for participants do not apply to the teacher.
With a paid API, the costs go to the account that holds the provider key. With a local endpoint, whoever runs it provides the compute. Do not set OPEN_SEMINAR_CREATION=true on a public server unless you really need it: anonymous class creation through the API can let strangers spend your quota.
Council summary
In the Council console, open the Class Oracle tab and press Prepare summary: the oracle reviews the submitted solutions; drafts are left out. Only the teacher sees the summary. It does not update on its own: when more students submit, press “Refresh summary”. The request works in “Hints only” mode too, but it counts toward the class's hourly cap. The provider receives the task, the context and sample solutions; participants' names are not added to the request. Names or other personal data written inside the solutions themselves may still be sent.
The summary has three sections: “What worked”, “What to discuss” and “What to show”. The oracle also gives short names to groups of identical solutions and can draft a reply to a group. This helps the teacher lead the discussion; it is not automatic grading.
If there is no answer
Read the refusal message. Each cause needs a different fix: the personal limit or the class's hourly limit is used up, the pause between questions has not passed, the participant joined less than two minutes ago, the room has too many requests at once, another Act task is already running, the class has ended, the oracle is turned off, or the provider returned an error. The owner checks the key, base URL, model and whether the server can reach the API. Do not paste the key into the room's chat to troubleshoot.