Interactions Catalog
Every drag handle, resize boundary, right-click menu, double-click, hover behavior, and gesture in Cerevisor, with location, behavior, and constraints.
This page is the answer to every "how do I…?" question about clicking, dragging, or right-clicking something in Cerevisor.
It is organized by the gesture you would make, not by the area of the app. Because if you're hunting for a behavior, you usually know what you tried, not where it lives.
Resizable panels
Cerevisor has four user-resizable surfaces. Each has its own constraints.
Markdown Panel (right sidebar)
- How: Drag the 4-pixel handle on the left edge of the panel horizontally.
- Range: 150-520 px (the harness clamps to this range; values outside snap back).
- Visual feedback: A bright accent bar fades in when you hover the handle.
- Persistence: Width is saved per session; it survives quitting and relaunching Cerevisor.
- Collapse: Click the panel's header chevron to collapse to a 34 px strip. Click again to restore.
Skills Panel (right sidebar)
- How: Drag the 4-pixel handle on the left edge of the panel horizontally. Same as the Markdown Panel.
- Range: 150-520 px.
- Persistence: Saved per session.
- Collapse: Click the header chevron.
Providers Dock (inside the Skills column)
- How: Drag the 4-pixel handle on the top edge of the Providers section vertically (cursor becomes
row-resize). - Behavior: Dragging up grows the Providers dock and shrinks the Skills list above it; dragging down does the opposite.
- Range: Skills column above has a 120 px minimum; the Providers dock can take the rest.
AI Chat Builder window
- How: Drag the bottom-right corner handle of the chat window (cursor becomes
nwse-resize). - Range: 320 × 320 px minimum, 960 × 1000 px maximum. Further clamped to your current window size minus a small margin.
- Move the window: Drag the chat window's header bar (not the buttons) to reposition the whole window on the canvas. Position is clamped to the viewport.
- Minimize: Click the minimize button in the header. The window collapses to a 240 × 44 strip. Click again to restore to your last size.
- Reset: No dedicated button, but if you ever resize off-screen, restart Cerevisor: the next open will re-clamp the window to your current screen.
The user-visible chat window for natural-language workflow building (Ctrl/Cmd+L) is the only floating, freely-resizable surface in the app. The other panels resize within the main window's grid.
Right-click menus
Cerevisor has four context menus, each tied to a different target.
On an agent card
| Item | Action |
|---|---|
| Configure | Opens the Agent Config popup for the right-clicked agent. |
| Copy | Copies the agent (and any other agents in the current selection) to Cerevisor's internal clipboard. |
| Duplicate | Duplicates the agent in place. |
| Move to → [Wave name] | Submenu of every column. Picking one moves the selected agents to that column. Only appears if your workflow has more than one column. |
| Delete | Removes the selected agents (and any connections that touched them) with no confirmation. Use Ctrl/Cmd+Z to undo. |
If you right-click an agent that isn't currently selected, Cerevisor selects it first before showing the menu, so the menu acts on the agent under your cursor regardless of prior selection.
On a connection (edge)
| Item | Action |
|---|---|
| Configure Connection | Opens the Connection Config popup (flow type, condition, handoff format, loop settings). |
| Flow Type → Always / Conditional / Approval Gate / Loop | Quick-set the flow type without opening the full popup. |
| Delete Connector | Removes the connection. If multiple edges are selected, the label changes to "Delete N connectors". |
On a column header (wave)
| Item | Action |
|---|---|
| Zoom to wave | Frames the camera around just the agents in that column. |
| Delete wave | Opens a confirmation modal. Deleting a column also removes every agent in it and any connections those agents touched. |
On empty canvas
| Item | Action |
|---|---|
| Paste N agent(s) | Pastes from Cerevisor's clipboard. Only appears if there's something to paste. |
| Add Agent → [Role] | Submenu of every agent role. Picking one places the agent at your cursor position. |
| Add Wave | Appends a new column to the right. |
If you're in placement mode (mid-drag from the agent palette), right-click cancels placement instead of opening this menu.
Other right-click surfaces
- A skill in the Skills panel: no menu (use double-click to view, drag to assign).
- A markdown file in the Markdown panel: no menu yet.
- A recent-workflow card on the Home Screen: context menu with Open, Remove from recents, Show in folder.
- A workflow card in the World View rail: radial menu with quick actions (activate, duplicate, settings, delete).
Double-click actions
| Where | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Skill hexagon on an agent card | Opens the Skill Viewer to read the skill's documentation. Only works for detected skills (skills that have a backing file). |
| Skill row in the Skills panel | Same as above — opens the Skill Viewer. |
| Connection line on the canvas | Opens the Connection Config popup. |
| Empty area of the canvas | Adds a new agent. (Same as the right-click → Add Agent menu but faster.) |
| The workflow name in the title bar | Enters inline-edit mode. Press Enter to commit, Esc to cancel. (You can also single-click — the field is editable on single click too.) |
Click affordances on agent cards
The agent card is the most affordance-dense surface in the app. Here's every interactive element on it.
| Element | Click | Right-click | Drag | Hover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Card body | Select the agent (Shift-click to multi-select) | Open context menu (see above) | Move the agent (snaps to 12px grid and to nearest column) | — |
| Role badge + name | Open Agent Config popup | — | — | Tooltip with full role description |
| Brain / provider medallion (bottom-right of portrait) | Open the Provider & Model picker for this agent | Clear the per-agent provider override (revert to inherit) | Accept dropped providers from the Providers dock | Medallion gradient = provider's accent color |
| Skill hexagon (filled slot) | (no action — prevents accidental drag) | — | — | Tooltip with skill name + category; X button reveals in top-left of slot |
| Skill hexagon X button | Remove that skill from the agent | — | — | — |
| Empty skill slot | Open the Skills panel to drag one in | — | Accept dropped skills | — |
| Input file chip (blue, left side) | Open the File Viewer for that file | — | — | Tooltip with full path; X button reveals to remove |
| Output file chip (green, right side) | Open the File Viewer | — | — | Same as input chip |
| Input drop zone (dashed box on left) | — | — | Accept dropped markdown files (adds to input list) | Highlights when a file is dragged anywhere |
| Output drop zone (dashed box on right) | — | — | Accept dropped markdown files (adds to output list) | Highlights during drag |
| Run button (play icon, bottom-right) | Run just this agent | — | — | Tooltip: "Run agent" |
| Pause button (when running) | Pause this agent's run | — | — | — |
| Loop button | Open the Loop Config popup (per-agent loop) | — | — | — |
| Schedule button | Open the Schedule Config popup | — | — | — |
| Connection handles (left + right edges) | — | — | Drag to draw a connection to another agent | Hidden by default — only appear on hover in select mode |
Double-click on an empty slot
Double-clicking an empty skill slot is functionally identical to single-clicking; both open the Skills panel and prompt you to drag a skill in.
Drag-drop sources and targets
The drag-drop system uses custom MIME types so unrelated drags don't accidentally land in wrong drop zones.
| Source | MIME type | Valid targets |
|---|---|---|
| Skill in Skills panel | application/cerevisor-skill |
Agent card (any slot) |
| Markdown file in Markdown panel | application/cerevisor-markdown-file |
Agent card → Input drop zone OR Output drop zone |
| Provider card in Providers dock | (custom payload) | Agent brain medallion |
| Custom agent template | application/cerevisor-custom-template |
Canvas pane (creates a new agent from the template in the rightmost column) |
| Built-in role from Agent Palette | application/cerevisor-role |
Canvas pane (creates a new agent of that role in the rightmost column) |
.cerevisor / .cerevisor-world / .opaal file from OS file explorer |
(native file drop) | Home Screen drop zone, OR the canvas (loads the workflow) |
| Workflow frame in World View | (internal) | Another workflow frame (opens the Cross-Workflow Link modal) |
Hover behaviors
These reveal UI that wasn't there before, important because if you don't know about them, you'll never find the affordance.
| Hover target | What appears |
|---|---|
| Any agent card | The connection handles on its left and right edges (so you can draw connections). Without hover, the handles are hidden to keep the canvas clean. |
| Any equipped skill hexagon | A tooltip with the skill name + category + provider compatibility (if not universal), plus a small X button in the top-left of the slot for removing the skill. |
| Any input/output file chip | A tooltip with the full file path + the file's purpose (if you set one) + an X button to remove. |
| Any panel resize handle | A bright accent bar fades in to show the handle is grabbable. |
| The "FILES" label on the collapsed Markdown panel | Background brightens to signal it's clickable (expands the panel). |
| Any toolbar button | Scales up 4% and shows a tooltip. |
| Any title-bar button (Undo, Redo, Save, etc.) | Tooltip shows the action label and keyboard shortcut. For Undo and Redo, the label shows what the next undo/redo will do (e.g. "Undo: Add Agent"). |
| Status bar control-group badge (1–9) | Tooltip shows what's saved in that slot. |
| A workflow tip in the status bar | Tooltip preview; click to see the full tip popover with Got it and Dismiss buttons. |
| A workflow card in the World View rail | The card lifts slightly and shows a brief status summary. |
Modifier key behaviors
| Modifier + action | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Shift + click an agent | Add to or remove from the current selection (multi-select). |
| Shift + drag on the canvas | Marquee-select. |
| Hold Space | Temporarily switch to pan mode while held. Release returns to your previous mode. |
| Hold Ctrl/Cmd while dragging an agent | (Reserved; currently no-op.) |
The Escape stack
Escape is overloaded; it closes whatever's topmost. Order matters because nested overlays exist.
When you press Escape, Cerevisor closes:
- Shortcuts Overlay if open, then
- File Viewer if open, then
- Skill Viewer if open, then
- Execution Modal if open, then
- Agent Manager if open, then
- Placement mode if active, then
- Prompt Modal if open, then
- Settings if open, then
- Agent Config popup if open, then
- Fullscreen if active, then
- Clear canvas selection as a fallback.
This means: if you're three popups deep, Escape brings you out one layer at a time, not all the way to the canvas.
Persistence of UI state
Most layout choices survive a restart. Specifically:
- Panel widths (Markdown, Skills, Providers Dock split).
- Theme (light/dark).
- The last workflow file path (re-offered on next launch).
- Recent files list.
- Chat window position and size.
- Whether the World Stats gauge is dismissed.
- Workflow tips that you've marked dismissed.
What does not persist:
- The current canvas zoom and pan (resets to a sensible fit when you load a workflow).
- The current selection.
- Whether a panel is collapsed or expanded.
- Open popups.
Where to go next
- For the full keyboard shortcut list, see Keyboard shortcuts.
- For every popup and how to open it, see Popups & modals.
- For settings tabs and their fields, see Settings.