Main Workspace
The main workspace is the primary working environment in Vibedata. It is composed of three resizable panels arranged horizontally, with a navigation rail on the left edge and a header bar at the top.
The Three-Panel Layout
┌────────────┬──────────────────────────┬──────────────────┐
│ Sidebar │ Chat │ Right Panel │
│ │ │ │
│ Intent │ Welcome screen or │ Goal │
│ list │ conversation messages │ Context │
│ │ │ Usage │
│ Domain │ Chat input at bottom │ │
│ selector │ │ Current Viewers │
└────────────┴──────────────────────────┴──────────────────┘Sidebar (Left Panel)
The sidebar contains the intent list for the currently selected domain and the domain selector at the bottom. It can be collapsed to a narrow icon strip when you want more space for the chat and right panel.
See Sidebar Overview for full details.
Chat Panel (Center)
The chat panel is where you communicate with the AI agent. It displays the full conversation history for the selected intent, with the chat input bar fixed at the bottom.
When no intent is selected, or when a new intent has no messages yet, the welcome screen is shown with suggestion cards to help you get started.
See Chat Interface for full details.
Right Panel (Right)
The right panel summarizes the selected intent. Its sections are read-only and update as the conversation changes:
- Goal — Shows the latest Goal objective, progress, status, score, and missing-work verdict. When no Goal exists, the section shows No Goal.
- CONTEXT — Groups the selected intent's Sources, Files, MCPs, Skills, and Language servers used. Each subsection collapses independently. Lists show five entries at first; select +N more… to see the rest.
- Usage — Shows cumulative Cost and Total tokens separately from the latest Context percentage and Context tokens. Context is a point-in-time gauge and can rise or fall between turns; Cost and Total tokens remain cumulative. The section stays pinned below the scrolling Goal and CONTEXT region.
- Current Viewers — Stays pinned below Usage and summarizes the edit-lease holder, one viewer, and any additional-viewer count.
If a section cannot be read, it shows the failure with a Retry instead of an empty or loading result. Sources keeps any rows it already loaded listed beside the failure; Files, MCPs, and Usage replace their content with the failure. The commit and file diff views show the failure with a Retry in place of their content.
Context — Sources
Source entries show brand-colored icons with connection status badges. These reflect the sources connected to the intent and their current sync state. When the intent has no sources, the section suggests adding one by describing it in chat.
Context — Files
Lists the files in the selected Intent's upload directory — everything you have attached to a chat message, plus anything the Agent has written there. The count beside the section header is the total number of files. Each entry shows the file's path inside the upload directory, so a file in a subfolder is listed as briefs/spec.pdf rather than just spec.pdf.
The first five files are shown; +N more… expands the rest and Show less collapses them again. Entries are for discovery only — an entry is a label, not a link, so it cannot be opened or downloaded from here.
The list refreshes as soon as an upload finishes. Before it loads, the section shows Loading files…; when the Intent has no uploads it shows No files yet.; if the list cannot be read it shows Could not load files. The list belongs to the Intent, so switching Intents never shows the previous Intent's files, and files stay listed when the Agent's session is replaced, restarted, or resumed from sleep.
Context — MCPs
Lists the MCP servers you enabled. Connection badges show Connected or Not connected. MCPs are user-scoped, so the same enabled servers remain visible when you switch intents.
Context — Skills
Lists skills evidenced as used in this conversation. A skill that is available but has not been used does not appear.
Context — Language servers used
Lists platform Language Servers evidenced by code-intelligence actions in this conversation. For example, Markdown outline actions show Marksman, shell-script validation shows Bash Language Server, and Python checks show basedpyright. Language Server evidence does not add an entry to MCPs.
Domains are not shown in CONTEXT. Switching intents clears conversation-owned Skills used and Language servers used before the new intent's context loads. Re-opening an intent restores retained evidence without duplicates.
Usage states
- Loading usage… — retained usage or conversation evidence is still loading.
- No usage yet. — the conversation has no activity that could have reported usage.
- Usage unavailable for this conversation. — the conversation has activity, but Vibedata cannot read retained usage or has no retained usage evidence. Vibedata does not show this state as zero usage.
- Partial usage — retained cost and cumulative token totals remain available, while missing current context gauges show — and one line says what is missing: either that the model's context window size is unknown (so no percentage is shown) or that current context usage was not reported.
- Complete usage — cumulative Cost and Total tokens appear separately from the current Context percentage and Context tokens. Context may decrease after compaction or ordinary per-turn changes; this does not reverse cumulative usage.
Resizing Panels
Drag the vertical dividers between panels to resize them:
- Between Sidebar and Chat — drag left/right to give more room to the chat
- Between Chat and Right Panel — drag left/right to expand either panel
The panels respect minimum widths to keep all controls accessible. To close the right panel entirely, click the collapse control at the head of the panel itself; collapsed, the same control stays on a narrow strip at the panel's edge to bring it back. A collapse you make is remembered in this browser only. The panel also collapses by itself in a narrow window and in a full-screen view; those collapses are temporary and are not saved, so the panel comes back as you left it when the window is wide again or you leave the full-screen view.
Toggling Panels
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Toggle sidebar | Press Cmd+B (Mac) / Ctrl+B (Windows), or click the sidebar toggle icon in the header |
| Toggle right panel | Click the collapse control in the panel's own header |
| Collapse sidebar to icons | The sidebar collapses to a narrow strip showing only New intent and Search icons |
Workspace States
New intent (Welcome Screen)
When you select a brand-new intent with no messages, the chat panel shows:
- A centered "What would you like to build?" heading
- Six suggestion cards (Initialize the repo, Author a new skill, Author a reusable command, Add a data source, Transform raw data, Check runtime health)
- Clicking a card pre-fills the chat input with the corresponding prompt (see Chat Interface)
Active Conversation
Once messages exist, the chat panel shows the full conversation history in chronological order. The agent's responses may include:
- Plain text paragraphs
- Tool result blocks (tables, SQL, logs, etc.)
- Inline file links that open the Artifact Modal when clicked
Streaming (Agent Working)
While the agent is generating a response:
- A typing indicator (three animated dots) appears in the chat
- The right panel's Goal section updates as Goal progress changes
- A Stop button (red square icon) appears in the chat input bar
- A Queue button (list-plus icon) appears so you can stage your next message
Error State
If the agent encounters an error, an error banner appears in the chat with a description of what went wrong. The chat input remains enabled so you can retry or ask a follow-up question.
Navigation Rail
The left-hand navigation rail provides links to Vibedata, Domains and Organization settings, according to your access. The current destination is marked as selected. Each link has a label on hover or keyboard focus and supports opening its destination in another tab. The Vibedata logo above the links is a brand mark.
| Link | Destination |
|---|---|
| Vibedata | Your workspace or selected Intent |
| Domains | Domain list and configuration |
| Organization settings | The first Organization settings section you can read |
The gear opens Organization settings directly, on the first section you can read. It is hidden for users who administer nothing.
Your own account lives in the account menu — your picture (or initials) in the top-right corner of the header bar. It holds Documentation, User Settings, Logout, and the Vibedata version you are running.
Code View (code-view) is toggled from the Code icon in the top header bar, not the navigation rail.
The default theme is light. Change your theme in Settings → Profile.
Command palette
Press Cmd+K / Ctrl+K to open Command palette. Type in Search intents and actions to find Intents in the current Domain and available actions. Intent search also matches the first user prompt. Use the arrow keys and Enter, or select a result, to run it; the palette closes first. Press Escape to close it. To clear the query, select and delete the text in the field.
Quick Reference
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Focus chat input | Press / from anywhere |
| Toggle sidebar | Cmd+B / Ctrl+B |
| Toggle right panel | Collapse control in the panel's header |
| Open Organization settings | Settings icon in navigation rail |
| Open your own settings | Account menu (top-right) → User settings |
| Log out | Account menu (top-right) → Logout |
| Show working folder | Code icon in header bar (requires active intent) |