phase: 172_thinking_level

All verification complete. Final report:

**Phase 172 final verification pass — all tasks (01–05) were already complete; verified the whole phase, no code fixes needed.**

- **Verified implementation:** `Settings.llm_thinking_level: str = "low"` + `CATALOG` row (`LLM (aipi)` / "Thinking level", plain: not secret/restart/overridable-exempt) + `.env.example` line under `BOR_LLM_CHAT_MODEL` + README table row; `_thinking_extra_body()` → `reasoning_effort` via `extra_body` on `chat()` + `chat_stream()` when trimmed-non-empty, key absent (byte-identical) when empty, embeddings untouched; per-turn line gains `thinking=<value>` (`-` when empty) before `thinking_chars`.
- **Tests/lint/coverage (all green):** `uv run pytest` → 4084 passed · `uv run pytest --cov=app --cov-report=term-missing` → 4084 passed, `app/` **99%** (>90%) · `uv run ruff check .` → All checks passed · `uv run pyright` → 0 errors, 0 warnings.
- **Completion criteria:** (1) `pytest -k "config and thinking"` 4 passed + `.env.example` grep ✓ (2) live `GET /api/admin/settings` curl shows the row (str, `low`, `default`) + integration PUT/DELETE round-trip ✓ (3) 9 mocked-client unit tests assert `extra_body` present/absent ✓ (4) log-line tests assert `low`/`high`/`-`/whitespace ✓ (5) suite + coverage + lint ✓ (6) `test_thinking_level.py` 3/3 in isolation; `test_admin_settings_panel.py` 12/12; `test_admin_settings_layout.py` 5/5 ✓ (7) atomic commit + phase move = the harness's job (task files already in `complete/`; I ran no git index/history commands).
- **Documentation:** README.md reviewed in full — verified consistent (env table complete vs `.env.example`, catalog restart/non-overridable claims re-verified at runtime); AGENTS.md reviewed in full — verified consistent (no rule affected, A5 = no UI change). No changes needed. **Flag (not fixable here):** PLAN.md §9's per-turn-line spec predates the phase-172 `thinking=` field; PLAN.md is off-limits per protocol.
- **Next pending phase:** none — `todo/` contains only phase 172 (the harness moves it on this pass's success).

tests/integration/test_admin_settings_live.py

@@ -9,7 +9,10 @@ per-use read, ``app/api/chat.py``'s ``plan_turn`` gate), the shared
 snapshot, ``app/api/chat.py::get_llm``), and the chat concurrency
 semaphore (``chat_max_concurrent``). Plus the kill-switch counterpart
 (``BOR_SETTINGS_DB=0`` with rows present → env values are back) and
-the ``scripts/``-consumer surface (``import_extension_set``).
+the ``scripts/``-consumer surface (``import_extension_set``), and the
+phase-172 thinking level (``llm_thinking_level`` — the value the LLM
+layer reads per request via ``get_settings()``; the off switch is
+live-settable, A2).
 
 The rows are inserted directly through the ``db`` session (the admin
 API is task 04); the save itself is ``invalidate_settings()`` —
@@ -160,6 +163,47 @@ def test_llm_client_repoints_on_the_next_save(db: Session) -> None:
     assert llm.settings.llm_chat_model == "gpt-second"
 
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# the thinking level: save/reset resolve the live value (phase 172, task 02)
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_llm_thinking_level_live_apply_no_restart(
+    db: Session, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    """Phase 172 (task 02): the thinking level follows the overlay
+    live — a save (the PUT's write, minus the API: ``_save`` +
+    ``invalidate_settings()`` is exactly what task 04's PUT/DELETE
+    call after the write) resolves
+    ``get_settings().llm_thinking_level`` WITHOUT a restart (the proof
+    the LLM layer — task 03 reads the setting per request via
+    ``get_settings()`` — picks the override up live), the EMPTY value
+    resolves live too (the off switch is live-settable, A2/A4), and a
+    reset (the DELETE) returns the env value.
+    """
+    # A deterministic base (machine-independent, the kill-switch test's
+    # idiom): the code default, no row in the table.
+    monkeypatch.delenv("BOR_LLM_THINKING_LEVEL", raising=False)
+    invalidate_settings()
+    assert get_settings().llm_thinking_level == "low"
+    _save(db, "llm_thinking_level", "high")
+    invalidate_settings()
+    assert get_settings().llm_thinking_level == "high"  # NO restart
+    # The off switch is live-settable too (A2/A4): the empty value
+    # resolves through the overlay, not stripped or coerced.
+    _save(db, "llm_thinking_level", "")
+    invalidate_settings()
+    assert get_settings().llm_thinking_level == ""
+    # The reset returns the env value (no process restart in between —
+    # the LLM layer re-reads per request, task 03).
+    db.execute(
+        text("DELETE FROM app_settings WHERE key = 'llm_thinking_level'")
+    )
+    db.commit()
+    invalidate_settings()
+    assert get_settings().llm_thinking_level == "low"
+
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # the chat concurrency semaphore follows the saved cap
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------