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

# Routing Profiles

> Choose how routes are calculated, fine-tune them, and save, share, and import your own profiles

A **routing profile** decides how the routing engine connects your anchor points — which surfaces it prefers, how hard it avoids climbs or busy roads, how fast the vehicle travels, and much more. Pick a vehicle and variant for a great default, adjust a few preferences, or go all the way into Expert mode and save your own.

Routing profiles live in the **Route Planning** tool panel. See [Route Planning](/docs/tools/route-planning) for placing and editing anchor points.

## Choosing a vehicle

The icon row at the top of the panel selects the **vehicle**:

<Icon icon="person-walking" iconType="solid" /> Hike  ·  <Icon icon="person-biking" iconType="solid" /> Bike  ·  <Icon icon="motorcycle" iconType="solid" /> Motorcycle  ·  <Icon icon="car" iconType="solid" /> Car  ·  <Icon icon="water" iconType="solid" /> Boat  ·  <Icon icon="train" iconType="solid" /> Rail

When a vehicle offers more than one style, a row of **variant** chips appears beneath it. Each variant is a tuned starting point:

| Vehicle        | Variants                               |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| **Hike**       | Moderate · Easy · Alpine               |
| **Bike**       | Trekking · Gravel · MTB · Road         |
| **Motorcycle** | ADV · Street                           |
| **Car**        | FastEco · Fastest · Scenic · Toll-free |

<Note>
  Motorcycle, Bike, Hike, and Car use Rendzo's own tuned profiles. Boat and Rail use standard profiles and don't expose the preferences below.
</Note>

## Basic preferences

Below the vehicle row, a short list of **Basic preferences** lets you nudge the route without leaving the defaults — for example *Avoid climbs*, *Avoid busy roads*, *Prefer bike routes*, or *Never use unpaved*. The exact controls depend on the vehicle.

* **Avoid sliders** show an intensity (Don't avoid → Slightly → Moderately → Avoid → Strongly avoid) rather than a raw number.
* A small <Icon icon="rotate-left" iconType="solid" /> reset appears next to a control once you've changed it, restoring the variant's default.
* **Allow private roads** lets the engine use roads tagged private.

<Warning>
  Only enable **Allow private roads** if you have local knowledge of the area and permission to use the roads in question.
</Warning>

Basic preferences are free for everyone.

## Expert mode

<Tip>Expert mode and saved profiles are **Pro** features.</Tip>

Click **Expert** to open the full editor for the active vehicle — every knob the profile can set, grouped by category (surfaces, road types, hills, environment, and more). Each knob shows one of three states:

* **Unset** — dimmed, "(default)". The variant doesn't set it; it has no effect on routing.
* **Variant default** — the value the variant chose.
* **Edited** — a value you changed, marked with a blue dot. The header shows how many changes you've made from the preset.

Numeric knobs show their exact value in a chip (`4.5×`, `1.5%`, `90 kg`), and cost knobs read out a *Prefer ⟷ Avoid* descriptor. Click the <Icon icon="circle-info" iconType="solid" /> next to a knob for an explanation. Use the <Icon icon="rotate-left" iconType="solid" /> reset button to clear all edits back to the variant.

### Saving from Expert

From the Expert header you can:

* **Save as profile** — store the current settings as a new entry in **My Profiles**.
* **Save changes** — when you're editing a profile you loaded, overwrite it in place.
* **Save as new** — fork a loaded profile into a separate copy.

## My Profiles

The **My Profiles** button (a person with a star) at the end of the vehicle row opens your saved custom profiles. (The list replaces the Basic preferences while it's open.)

Each saved profile row offers:

* **Load** — apply it to the route. The selected profile becomes active.
* **Click the name** — rename it inline.
* <Icon icon="pen" iconType="solid" /> **Edit** — load it and open Expert to tweak its settings.
* <Icon icon="download" iconType="solid" /> **Export** — download it as a file (see below).
* <Icon icon="trash" iconType="solid" /> **Delete** — remove it.

<Note>
  A loaded custom profile is an Expert artifact, so the Basic preferences are hidden while it's active — edit it from the <Icon icon="pen" iconType="solid" /> button or the Expert panel.
</Note>

## Sharing profiles

Profiles are shared as **files** — there's no account-to-account linking, and an imported profile is always an independent copy.

### Export

Click <Icon icon="download" iconType="solid" /> on a profile to download it. A normal (knob-based) profile exports as a small **`.json`** file you can send to anyone.

### Import

Click **Import** (in the action row, where Expert sits, while My Profiles is open) and pick a file. Rendzo detects the type automatically:

* A **`.json`** profile exported from Rendzo is re-created as your own independent copy — fully editable in Expert.
* A **`.brf`** file is treated as a raw BRouter profile (see below).

## Bring your own BRouter profile (`.brf`)

If you have a hand-written or community **BRouter** profile, import the `.brf` file directly with the same **Import** button. Rendzo validates it with the routing engine and adds it to **My Profiles**.

A `.brf` profile is **opaque** — it routes exactly as written, so:

* It has no Basic preferences and isn't editable in Expert (no <Icon icon="pen" iconType="solid" /> button).
* Its <Icon icon="download" iconType="solid" /> **Export** downloads the original `.brf`.

<Note>
  If the routing engine rejects a `.brf`, Rendzo shows the error and doesn't save it. Profiles are capped at 256 KB — real-world BRouter profiles are a few KB.
</Note>

<Warning>
  Profiles are stored as text and only ever sent to the routing engine — they're never executed by the app. A profile only affects how *your* routes are calculated.
</Warning>