> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hazel.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Block settings

> A pinned heading, instructions for that block alone, when it shows up, and the one case it may be skipped.

You are shaping one piece of the plan, so a block's settings say what belongs in it, in your firm's words, and whether Hazel must include it at all.

Two places open them, with different fields.

* In **Settings → Planning**, the **Plan layout** card draws your design as a blueprint. Click a block chip or a tab name for a panel with three settings and a **Done** button. The top-level section bands are labels, not buttons, so a section's own settings live in the editor.
* Open the layout editor with **Design layout** on that same card, then select anything on the canvas or in the outline. The right-hand rail holds those three settings plus a **Heading** and an **Advanced** group.

## What each setting does

| Setting                   | What it does                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| ------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Heading**               | A title pinned above the block, up to 200 characters. Hazel uses your words exactly. Leave it blank and Hazel writes one to suit the block. Only the layout editor has this field, so open **Design layout** to pin one |
| **Instructions to Hazel** | Content and style guidance for this block alone, up to 2,000 characters. The layout editor counts characters as you near the limit                                                                                      |
| **Leave out when**        | The one case in which this block may be skipped, in plain English                                                                                                                                                       |
| **When it shows up**      | **Always** puts the block in every plan you build. **When it applies** puts it in only if it fits the household. The **Plan layout** card panel and the blueprint legend call it **When it appears**                    |

**Suggested (legacy)** shows only on a block somebody set that way in the past. It lets Hazel skip the block freely and is being retired: switch that block to one of the other two and it disappears.

<Warning>
  Instructions never set numbers. A block instruction saying "use a 4% withdrawal rate" does not change what Hazel calculates: the structured assumption does, and it wins. See [Solver assumptions](/guides/financial-planning/assumptions/solver-assumptions).
</Warning>

## Writing block instructions

Most blocks in Hazel's default design arrive with instructions already: the summary's **Key numbers** block, headed **At a glance**, says "Exactly four headline tiles". Edit what is there rather than starting blank.

Concrete and local ones work, like this **Narrative** block in **Summary**: "Three paragraphs. Open with whether they can retire on their stated timeline, then the single biggest risk, then what we recommend."

Weak instructions could apply to anything: "be clear", "cover the important points".

<Tip>
  Guidance about one block goes here. Firm-wide guidance goes in [Instructions](/guides/financial-planning/settings/personas/instructions) on the template, which is where the same instruction on five blocks belongs.
</Tip>

## Using "Leave out when"

A single condition, in your words:

* "The household has no dependent children."
* "There is no restricted stock or option grant."

Pair it with **When it applies**: the block lands when the household's facts call for it, and your sentence names the case it stays out of. The layout editor drops the field on an **Always** block. The panel on the **Plan layout** card still shows the box there, so a condition typed on an Always block is not a reliable exemption.

Two conditions joined by "or" usually means the block is really two blocks. Some default blocks arrive with a condition already written: the debt table is left out when the household carries no debt.

## The Advanced group

At the bottom of the settings rail sits an **Advanced** disclosure. Sections and tabs always have one; a block has one when there is something to put in it.

* **Module.** Which module this node is the home of, not editable. Removing the node removes that module from the plan. See [Modules](/guides/financial-planning/plan-design/modules).
* **Nav label** and **Nav icon** on a section, **Short tab name** on a tab. How the item reads in the plan's left menu, or on the tab when the heading runs long.
* **Levers.** On a **Levers to try** block only: the sliders the plan must offer, up to twelve. Each row takes a label, minimum, maximum, step, default, unit and note. Hazel may add dials of its own. The default design has no **Levers to try** block; add one from the **Building blocks** shelf in the layout editor.
* **Calculation.** A read-only note about the method behind a block's figures, which none of Hazel's designs carry. Where such a note and your assumptions disagree, the assumptions win.

## Sections and tabs

A section or a tab takes these same settings. Its **Heading** caps at 160 characters rather than 200, and it adds a **Subtitle** of one line, up to 240. See [Sections and tabs](/guides/financial-planning/plan-design/sections-and-tabs).

## How the settings interact with strictness

Strictness is set once for a whole design, in the **Strictness** control on the **Plan design** card above the blueprint. It decides how literally Hazel reads the settings above.

|                     | Under Exact                                                    | Under Guided                                                      | Under Flexible                                       |
| ------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| **Always**          | Hazel must build it; a plan that misses it goes back for a fix | Hazel builds it, adapting where the household's facts call for it | A strong preference; Hazel composes each plan freely |
| **When it applies** | Built when the facts call for it                               | Same                                                              | Same                                                 |
| **Leave out when**  | Read on a **When it applies** block                            | Read                                                              | Read as guidance                                     |

With no strictness chosen, the design runs on **Flexible**, so choose one before you lean on **Always**. See [Strictness](/guides/financial-planning/settings/personas/strictness) for what each mode is for, and for the **Allow additions** switch that Exact turns off.

## Where to go next

* [Sections and tabs](/guides/financial-planning/plan-design/sections-and-tabs): the structure these blocks sit in.
* [Modules](/guides/financial-planning/plan-design/modules): one level up from a block.
* [Using the layout editor](/guides/financial-planning/plan-design/using-the-editor): where these settings live.
* [Visual reference](/guides/financial-planning/the-plan/visual-reference): what each block type renders.
* [Instructions](/guides/financial-planning/settings/personas/instructions): the same idea at template scale.