Optimization parameters reference

Last updated: October 12, 2026

This is the dictionary of settings you configure in Nash that shape how the optimizer groups and sequences orders into routes. Each one lives on one of five things you already set up — an optimization strategy, a contract, a vehicle, a shift, or a store location — and this page collects the optimization-relevant ones in a single place. You set each on its own screen; the section headings say where.

Most operators never need this. For how routing works day to day, start with optimization strategies and optimize orders into routes. This reference is for power users tuning how routes are built.

The Nash field column gives the name Nash uses for each setting in its API and configuration, so it lines up with what you'd send through the API. For the request payloads and endpoints behind these fields, see the Nash API documentation.

Note
Optimization strategies are available depending on your Nash setup — availability varies by organization. Reach out to Nash about anything you want to use that you don't see. The optimizer also has many internal parameters Nash tunes for you that aren't settings here (see What Nash tunes for you at the end). Nash optimizes and dispatches; the provider or your own fleet performs the delivery.

Optimization strategy

Set on a strategy at Orchestrate ▸ Optimization Strategies. Walkthrough: set up an optimization strategy. A strategy decides when optimization runs and which orders, contracts, and locations a run draws from.

When it runs

Setting	Nash field	What it does
Schedule(s)	`optimization_schedules`	One or more schedules — days of week, a cadence (a set clock time, or every so many hours/minutes), and a timezone, with an optional active-date range.
Smart Frequency	`dynamic_cadence_config`	Tighten the cadence as the delivery cutoff nears: ordered tiers of "within `max_hours` of cutoff, optimize every `interval_minutes`," with an optional head start (`start_optimizing_minutes_before`).

Which orders a run pulls

Setting	Nash field	What it does
Pickup-time window	`pickup_time_from_in_minutes` / `pickup_time_to_in_minutes`	Only optimize orders whose pickup falls inside this window (minutes from now).

Which contracts and vehicles it uses

Setting	Nash field	What it does
Allowed contracts	`contract_ids`	The contracts (providers and fleets) a run may plan against. At least one.
Shift contract	`shift_contract_id`	The contract whose shifts supply the vehicles, for shift-based fleets. Availability varies by setup.
Per-contract overrides	`contract_optimization_override_parameters`	For a single strategy, override a contract's vehicle count (`vehicle_count`), use-all-vehicles (`use_all_vehicles`), fixed cost (`fixed_cost`), max/min orders per route (`max_orders_per_route` / `min_orders_per_route`), eligibility lead time (`lead_time_minutes`), and fallback dispatch strategy (`dispatch_strategy_id`).

Where it runs

Setting	Nash field	What it does
Store locations	`store_locations`	Restrict the strategy to routes and shifts at chosen store locations; these also act as depots.
Zones	`zones`	The zones assigned to the strategy.
Route restrictions	`route_restriction_ids`	Attach saved geographic areas the optimizer must route around.

After optimization

Setting	Nash field	What it does
Auto-dispatch after optimization	`enable_auto_dispatch`	Dispatch the optimized routes automatically as soon as they're built, instead of leaving them as drafts to review.
Unassigned-orders fallback	`unassigned_orders_options_group_id`	A dispatch strategy to apply to any orders the optimizer couldn't route.

Service & route settings

Setting	Nash field	What it does
Service times	`pickup_service_time_seconds` / `dropoff_service_time_seconds` / `incremental_service_time_seconds`	On-site time to budget at a pickup, at a dropoff, and per extra package at the same stop.
Traffic source	`default_traffic_source`	The traffic data source Nash plans travel times against.
Traffic time offset	`traffic_time_offset_weeks`	Look up traffic history from N weeks earlier to model a typical day.
Avoid ferries	`avoid_ferries`	Route around ferry crossings.
Balance routes	`balance_routes`	How evenly to spread work across routes — None, Same Provider, or All Providers.
Search level	`search_level`	Solver effort, 0–3: higher searches harder for a better plan at the cost of solve time.
Clustering level	`clustering_level`	How aggressively nearby stops group into one route, 0–2.
Soft cluster label	`soft_cluster_label`	Treat a cluster label as a preference rather than a hard partition.
Save optimized routes	`save_optimized_routes`	Save the result as draft routes automatically.

Contract optimization parameters

Set on a contract. Some can be overridden per strategy (above). Cost fields may not appear depending on your role.

Setting	Nash field	What it does
Vehicle profile	`vehicle_profile`	`car`, `truck`, `bicycle`, or `flying_distance` (straight-line). Drives speeds, road restrictions, and truck routing.
Vehicle count	`vehicle_count`	How many vehicles of this contract are available to a run.
Use all vehicles	`use_all_vehicles`	Use every available vehicle rather than the fewest the plan needs.
Multi dispatch	`multi_dispatch`	Allow a vehicle to run more than one trip per shift — return to the depot, reload, and go out again — rather than a single run.
Capabilities	`capabilities`	Skills or equipment this contract's vehicles provide, matched to what an order requires.
Max orders per route	`max_orders_per_route`	Cap the stops on one route.
Min orders per route	`min_orders_per_route`	Minimum orders before a vehicle is used — avoids sending out near-empty routes.
Max driving time	`max_driving_time_hours`	Cap a route's driving time.
Max driving distance	`max_driving_distance_miles`	Cap a route's distance.
Breaks	`breaks`	Driver rest breaks for this driver group — each a duration, optionally triggered after a set working time or confined to a time window — placed into the route. (A shift can set its own `planned_breaks`; see below.)
Fixed cost	`fixed_cost`	Cost of putting a vehicle on the road; drives how many are used.
Cost per order	`cost_per_order`	Cost added for each order a route serves — a per-stop cost lever alongside fixed, time, and distance.
Cost per time	`cost_per_unit_time`	Cost weight on route time.
Cost per distance	`cost_per_unit_distance`	Cost weight on distance.
Overtime threshold + cost	`overtime_start_hours` + `cost_per_unit_overtime`	Time past the threshold is penalized.
Over-distance threshold + cost	`overdistance_start_miles` + `cost_per_unit_overdistance`	Distance past the threshold is penalized.
Avoid tolls	`avoid_tolls`	Route around toll roads.
Start depot	`start_depot_store_location_id`	The store location this driver group's routes start from. Set the depot's own open hours on that store location (see Store location parameters below).
End depot	`end_depot_store_location_id`	The store location this driver group's routes return to; can differ from the start depot.

A contract's eligibility rules — order weight, volume, and value limits, supported vehicle types, package requirements, and coverage areas — decide which contracts can serve each order, which is itself an input to every optimization. Set those on the contract; see override provider contract eligibility.

Vehicle configuration

Set on each of your own-fleet vehicles (Fleet ▸ Vehicles). See add and edit a vehicle.

Setting	Nash field	What it does
Vehicle profile	`vehicle_profile`	`car`, `truck`, `bicycle`, or `flying_distance` (straight-line).
Capabilities	`capabilities`	Skills or equipment this vehicle provides.
Dimensions	`weight` / `height` / `length` / `width` / `axle_count` / `trailer_count`	Capacity and the measurements used for truck routing and access feasibility.
Max stops	`max_stops`	Cap the stops on one route.
Max distance	`max_distance`	Cap a route's distance.
Max duration	`max_duration`	Cap a route's on-road time.
Speed factor	`speed_factor`	Scale modeled travel speed (below 1 slower, above 1 faster).
Parking time	`parking_time`	Access/parking time to budget at each stop.
Cost	`fixed_cost` / `cost_per_unit_distance` / `cost_per_unit_time`	Per-vehicle cost structure.

Shift optimization parameters

Set on a shift (Fleet ▸ Shifts). See manage shifts. A shift can also carry its own vehicle_config overriding any vehicle field above for that shift.

Setting	Nash field	What it does
Service-time efficiency	`service_time_relative_efficiency`	How fast this crew works relative to baseline; scales the service time at their stops.
Planned breaks	`planned_breaks`	Driver breaks — each a duration and an optional time window — placed in the route.
Departure delay	`departure_delay`	Delay before leaving the start depot (load-out time).
Shift-end service time	`shift_end_service_time_minutes`	Time after the final dropoff, e.g. to refuel or return the vehicle.

Store location parameters

A store location can shape optimization in two ways, through two different "hours" settings — and both are set on the store location. See manage locations.

When the store is a depot. A driver group can start and/or end its routes here (you pick the depot on the contract — see Start depot / End depot under Contract optimization parameters above). The depot's own hours are then a hard routing constraint:

Setting	Nash field	What it does
Depot open windows	`start_depot_time_window` / `end_depot_time_window`	When a route may depart from and return to this depot — enforced as a hard constraint in the solve.

When the store is a pickup location. Its regular operating hours shape optimization indirectly: when an order is created for pickup here, the order's pickup/delivery time window is generated from these hours, and the optimizer then schedules the visit inside that window. This is an order time-window input, so it applies whether or not the store is also used as a depot.

Setting	Nash field	What it does
Operating hours	`operating_hours`	The store's open hours. Used to generate the pickup/delivery time window on orders created for this store — which the optimizer then respects.

What Nash tunes for you

The optimizer solves against far more than the settings above — advanced cost curves, map and truck-routing details, search internals, and reoptimization behavior. Nash sets and tunes those for you; they aren't operator settings. If you have a specialized routing need you can't express with the fields on this page, reach out to Nash.

For how strategies are built and scheduled, see optimization strategies; for running one against a set of orders, see optimize orders into routes; for how the optimizer decides, see how optimization works.