Finding your way
Every screen in Ouroboros sits in the same frame: the sidebar on the left, the header across the top, and the screen you are on in between. Learn the frame once and every task guide after this one reads the same way.
The sidebar
The sidebar lists the screens, in the order the work flows:
| Entry | What lives there |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | Mission Control — live loops, the queue, the build farm and what needs you. See Mission Control dashboard. |
| Issues | Intake, sizing and queuing. See Issues. |
| Workflows | The Workflow Studio. See Workflows. |
| Models | Routing, the model registry and providers. See Models. |
| Build Farm | Runners and pools. The Build Analyzer opens from here. See Build farm and Build Analyzer. |
| Knowledge | Skills, learned facts and playbooks. See Knowledge. |
| Planning | Roadmaps and drafted tickets. See Planning. |
| Research | Not available yet — the row is marked soon and opens nothing. |
| Insights | How the loop is doing over time. See Insights. |
At the foot, below a rule:
- Needs You — the inbox of decisions waiting for a person. The number beside it is how many are open; it disappears when there are none.
- Settings — workspace settings: members, policies, integrations and more.
The entry for the screen you are on is lit. Some screens have no entry of their own — a run's console, a pull request's verification page, a run's test results — and keep lit the entry you opened them from: open a run from the dashboard and Dashboard stays lit, so you know where you came back to.
Collapse the sidebar to a rail of icons with the chevron at its foot (Collapse sidebar / Expand sidebar); hover an icon for its name. Ouroboros remembers the choice in your browser. On a narrow screen the sidebar starts as the rail; on a phone-sized screen it is hidden behind the Open navigation button in the header and closes when you pick an entry or press Esc.
The header
From left to right:
- The Ouroboros logo — back to the dashboard.
- The workspace chip — workspace / repository, for example
acme-robotics / All repos. Open it to:- Switch workspace — when you belong to more than one, pick another; the page reloads in it.
- Focus repository — narrow the screens to one repository, or All repos. The focus is remembered per workspace in your browser.
- Workspace settings — open Settings.
- Search — opens the command palette.
- N loops live — how many loops are running right now.
- Needs you · N — runs that stopped for a person in the last seven days; it opens the inbox.
- The bell — not available yet: notifications arrive with a later release, and the bell does nothing today.
- Your avatar — the account menu: appearance, workspace switching, Workspace settings, Keyboard shortcuts and Sign out.
The live-loop and Needs-you pills are hidden while their count is zero.
The command palette
Press Ctrl+K — ⌘+K on a Mac — anywhere, or click Search in the header. Type part of a name to filter, move with ↑ and ↓, and press Enter to run the highlighted entry; Esc or a click outside closes it.
The palette finds screens and commands:
- Navigation — Go to Dashboard, Go to Issues, Go to Workflows, Go to Models, Go to Build Farm, Go to Knowledge, Go to Planning, Go to Insights, Go to Needs You and Go to Settings. Go to Research is listed but greyed out until Research arrives.
- Actions — Toggle theme switches between light and dark, and Sign out signs you out.
Searching issues, runs and the queue from the palette is not available yet; use the Issues screen and the dashboard for those.
Appearance
The account menu — your avatar, top right — holds the two appearance settings:
- Theme — Light, Dark or System. System follows your operating system and changes when it does; it is the default. The choice is saved in this browser only, so another browser starts on System. Toggle theme in the palette does the same.
- Font size — A− and A+ step the whole interface smaller or larger, in five steps. Use it on a high-resolution display where text runs small. Unlike the theme, the font size is saved to your account and follows you to every browser you sign in on.
The same two settings, with a preview sentence, are on the Appearance card of the Settings page, below Members & roles, where the font size reads as a percentage — 87.5%, 100%, 112.5%, 125% or 150%.
Animations follow your operating system's reduced-motion setting; there is no separate switch in Ouroboros.
Keyboard shortcuts
Open the full list from the account menu, Keyboard shortcuts.
| Where | Keys | Does |
|---|---|---|
| Anywhere | Ctrl+K (⌘+K on a Mac) | Open search |
| Anywhere | Esc | Close a menu, drawer or dialog |
| Search palette | ↑ ↓ | Move between actions, wrapping at the ends |
| Search palette | ↵ | Run the highlighted action |
| Sidebar | ↑ ↓ | Move between entries, wrapping at the ends |
| Sidebar | Home End | Jump to the first or last entry |
| Sidebar | Enter | Open the entry |
| Account menu | ↑ ↓ | Move between items |
| Account menu | → ← | Enter or leave the workspace submenu |
| Account menu | Enter | Activate the item |
| Account menu | Tab | Leave the menu |
Keyboard users can also jump past the sidebar and header with Skip to content, the first thing Tab reaches on every page.
What can go wrong
- "That workspace could not be opened." — switching workspace failed; try again, or sign out and choose the workspace on the sign-in page.
- A screen shows less than you expected — check the workspace chip: a focus repository narrows what you see. Choose All repos to see everything.
- "Leave without saving?" — you have unsaved changes in Settings. Stay on this page and save them, or Discard changes and leave.
- The theme changed back — the theme is saved per browser; set it again in each browser you use, or leave it on System.
- Back returns you to the same place — that is on purpose: Back and Forward restore how far you had scrolled.