adeelahmad · Oct 18, 2026 · Oct 18, 2026 · Oct 18, 2026 · Oct 18, 2026
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -238,13 +238,12 @@ listed under [In progress](#in-progress), and what comes next under [Planned](#p
   [the meter](docs/budgets.md#the-meter-and-the-costs-page); [checks](docs/requirements.md#see-what-it-costs))
 - **Scale out.** Scaling groups add workers when work waits and let them go when it doesn't, by target, step and
   schedule rules, within min and max and a monthly budget, with every launch, join and hour of cost in the activity
-  ledger. A group launches nothing until you approve its terms in Settings › Auto scaling; agents propose and manage
-  groups over the API, MCP and the assistant, and never approve one. It runs more workers on this machine today;
-  AWS EC2 (spot or on demand), DigitalOcean, Hetzner Cloud, Proxmox VE and Linux hosts over SSH providers are in
-  progress (built, with machines that join over the mesh to transcribe and tell voices apart, not yet tried on a real
-  cloud), so is RunPod for GPUs that serve Lens's model calls while they run, and more model hosts are planned.
-  ([Auto scaling](docs/scaling.md);
-  [checks](docs/requirements.md#scale-out))
+  ledger. You add providers and make groups in Settings › Auto scaling, and a group launches nothing until you approve
+  its terms there; agents propose and manage groups over the API, MCP and the assistant, and never approve one. It
+  runs more workers on this machine today; AWS EC2 (spot or on demand), DigitalOcean, Hetzner Cloud, Proxmox VE and
+  Linux hosts over SSH providers are in progress (built, with machines that join over the mesh to transcribe and tell
+  voices apart, not yet tried on a real cloud), so is RunPod for GPUs that serve Lens's model calls while they run,
+  and more model hosts are planned. ([Auto scaling](docs/scaling.md); [checks](docs/requirements.md#scale-out))
 - **Run on more machines.** Add a Mac with a GPU, a box for the assistant's code or a server with more disk, and
   Lens joins it over a private network of its own, a Nebula mesh it issues the certificates for: one install line
   with a one-time token, and the machine needs nothing else. Worker nodes run jobs as their own user of the
@@ -318,8 +317,8 @@ Next, and not in a pull request yet; each links to where it is tracked:
   topics, recordings and the other things that have pages ([notes](docs/notes.md)).
 - **Local models:** GPU builds of llama.cpp fetched by Lens, and local embedding models
   ([local models](docs/local-models.md)).
-- **Auto scaling:** spreading model calls across GPUs, more model hosts (Lambda, Hugging Face, SageMaker, Bedrock),
-  and making providers and groups in Settings ([auto scaling](docs/scaling.md)).
+- **Auto scaling:** spreading model calls across GPUs, and more model hosts (Lambda, Hugging Face, SageMaker,
+  Bedrock) ([auto scaling](docs/scaling.md)).
 - **Speech providers:** their summaries, chapters and entities as optional imports, and per-minute prices in the
   activity ledger ([speech providers](docs/speech-providers.md)).
 - **Storage:** uploads and assets' media in the file store, and a storage key to download

diff --git a/changelog.d/scaling-forms.md b/changelog.d/scaling-forms.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+- **Add providers and make scaling groups in Settings.** Settings › Auto scaling lists the providers with their last
+  check in words, Check again, and Remove with Undo. Add a provider picks the kind, then fills a form drawn from the
+  driver's fields (defaults filled, credentials as password fields, Enter saves) and shows the check it runs. New group
+  on a provider asks for a name, the minimum and maximum, a monthly budget when the provider charges, and what each
+  unit is; a group made there is approved as it's made. Rules stay with the assistant, MCP and the API for now
+  ([In Settings](docs/scaling.md#in-settings)).
diff --git a/docs/requirements.md b/docs/requirements.md
@@ -290,6 +290,7 @@ request, to another check that proves the same thing; loosening a requirement or
 | The scaler launches units, sees them join, drains busy workers before letting them go, and fails and pauses on units that don't come up | [test_scaling.py](https://github.com/adeelahmad/lense/blob/main/fastapi_backend/tests/api/test_scaling.py) `test_the_scaler_launches_joins_drains_and_terminates`, `test_a_unit_that_never_joins_fails_and_failures_pause_the_group`, `test_protected_and_terminated_units` |
 | Each unit's cost goes into the activity ledger as an estimate, and a group stops at its budget's cap | [test_scaling.py](https://github.com/adeelahmad/lense/blob/main/fastapi_backend/tests/api/test_scaling.py) `test_the_scaler_launches_joins_drains_and_terminates`, `test_at_its_budgets_cap_a_group_stops` |
 | Settings › Auto scaling shows each group's terms in words and approves them in one click | [settings-scaling.test.tsx](https://github.com/adeelahmad/lense/blob/main/nextjs-frontend/__tests__/settings-scaling.test.tsx) `shows each group's terms and approves them in one click`, `puts the terms and the state in words` |
+| Settings › Auto scaling adds a provider from its driver's fields (credentials sent apart, never shown), shows its check in words, removes it with Undo, and makes a group, with a budget when the provider charges | [settings-scaling.test.tsx](https://github.com/adeelahmad/lense/blob/main/nextjs-frontend/__tests__/settings-scaling.test.tsx) `adds a provider from its driver's fields, with the secret sent apart`, `shows a failed check in words, after saving and in the list`, `makes a group with a budget on a priced provider`, `asks no budget on a free provider and ticks a list's options`, `removes a provider with Undo instead of a question` |
 | This machine runs more workers at no cost | [test_scaling.py](https://github.com/adeelahmad/lense/blob/main/fastapi_backend/tests/api/test_scaling.py) `test_this_machine_runs_more_workers_at_no_cost` |
 | DigitalOcean and Hetzner Cloud: credentials checked, list prices, machines launched with a one-use join token, watched, found by tag and deleted; a group waits for the mesh's install line before launching | [test_scaling_clouds.py](https://github.com/adeelahmad/lense/blob/main/fastapi_backend/tests/api/test_scaling_clouds.py) `test_a_digitalocean_group_waits_for_the_install_line_then_launches_droplets`, `test_hetzner_prices_in_euros_and_its_errors_read_as_hetzners`, `test_the_cloud_drivers_are_listed_and_need_the_mesh` |
 | A group of machines elsewhere counts only the jobs a worker node takes, and never launches one for others | [test_scaling_clouds.py](https://github.com/adeelahmad/lense/blob/main/fastapi_backend/tests/api/test_scaling_clouds.py) `test_a_group_elsewhere_counts_only_the_jobs_a_node_takes` |

diff --git a/docs/scaling.md b/docs/scaling.md
@@ -7,14 +7,14 @@ launched. Everything it does is in the [activity ledger](activity.md), and its c
 [budget](budgets.md).
 
 Status: in progress. Built: groups, rules, approvals, budgets, the scaler, the API, MCP and assistant tools,
-Settings › Auto scaling (the switch, and each group's terms to approve or pause), and **This machine**, a provider that
-runs more `lens worker` processes where Lens runs. In progress: **AWS EC2** (spot or on demand), **DigitalOcean**
-and **Hetzner Cloud** providers are built (credentials checked, prices, launching, watching and deleting machines),
-and their machines join over the [mesh](mesh.md) as worker nodes that transcribe and tell voices apart; so are
-**Proxmox VE**, clones of a VM template on your own server, and **Linux hosts over SSH**, workers started on machines
-you have. They haven't been tried on a real cloud machine yet. Also in progress: **RunPod**, GPUs that serve a model
-with vLLM, which Lens's model calls go to while one runs. Planned: more model hosts (Lambda, Hugging Face, SageMaker,
-Bedrock); and making providers and groups in Settings.
+Settings › Auto scaling (the switch, [adding providers and making groups](#in-settings), and each group's terms to
+approve or pause), and **This machine**, a provider that runs more `lens worker` processes where Lens runs. In
+progress: **AWS EC2** (spot or on demand), **DigitalOcean** and **Hetzner Cloud** providers are built (credentials
+checked, prices, launching, watching and deleting machines), and their machines join over the [mesh](mesh.md) as
+worker nodes that transcribe and tell voices apart; so are **Proxmox VE**, clones of a VM template on your own server,
+and **Linux hosts over SSH**, workers started on machines you have. They haven't been tried on a real cloud machine
+yet. Also in progress: **RunPod**, GPUs that serve a model with vLLM, which Lens's model calls go to while one runs.
+Planned: more model hosts (Lambda, Hugging Face, SageMaker, Bedrock).
 
 Auto scaling is **off** until an admin turns it on, and a group launches nothing until a person approves its terms
 signed in to the web app. Agents can propose and manage groups, but never approve one.
@@ -40,6 +40,23 @@ One process runs the scaler at a time: the API and every `lens worker` (except t
 `--no-schedule`, as scaled workers are) take turns holding its lease. While scaling is off and nothing is left to let
 go, the scaler doesn't even take the lease.
 
+## In Settings
+
+**Settings › Auto scaling** lists the providers, each with its kind, which credentials are set and whether its last
+check passed (and why not, in words when it failed), with **Check again** and **Remove**. Remove takes it out of the
+list at once with **Undo** on the notice; it's deleted a few seconds later, or as you leave the page, since its sealed
+credentials can't be put back once it's gone. A provider a group uses can't be removed until the group goes.
+
+**Add a provider** asks for the kind (each with what it does), then a form drawn from the driver's `fields`: defaults
+filled in, the name first and focused, credentials as password fields (sent as `secrets`, never shown again), lists
+one per line, on and off settings as checkboxes, and Enter saves. A driver that needs packages says which, and their
+licence, before it fetches them on the first save. The check runs as it's saved; when it fails, the dialog says why.
+
+**New group** on a provider asks for a name (`<provider> workers`), the minimum (0) and maximum (1), a monthly budget
+in USD only when the provider charges money (then it's required), and the driver's `template` with its defaults. A
+group made here is approved as it's made. Its rules are set by the assistant, MCP or the API for now; without rules it
+keeps its minimum running.
+
 ## Providers
 
 ```http
@@ -271,4 +288,5 @@ preemptible and spot instances at clouds other than AWS and RunPod; draining an
 (the node agent reading the instance's metadata) and handing its job back at once; following the spot price as it
 changes; AWS sign-in with an instance role or IAM Identity Center instead of keys; mixed instance types per group;
 warm pools; predictive scaling; health checks beyond
-joining; prices fetched from providers' pricing APIs.
+joining; prices fetched from providers' pricing APIs. In Settings: rules, changing a provider or a group, removing a
+group, and a provider's price and note.
diff --git a/nextjs-frontend/__tests__/settings-kokoro.test.tsx b/nextjs-frontend/__tests__/settings-kokoro.test.tsx
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ const view = (voice: Record<string, unknown>) =>
         untrusted_asks: true,
         injection_check: "patterns",
         disabled_tools: [],
+        answer_comments: true,
         max_steps: 6,
         max_tool_calls: 50,
         browser_steps: 25,