Terminals, notes and shapes

Everything on the canvas is a node. This page shows each kind of node, and how to add, move, resize, rename and delete them.

Figure: A terminal, a note, a rectangle, a label and a text block. The two notes on the right are in a group.

On a Mac, use Cmd where this page says Ctrl.

Kinds of node

Browser portals, file trees and files have pages of their own: Browser portals and Files and the editor.

Add a node

1. Click a tool in the toolbar, or press its key.
2. Click the canvas for a node of the usual size. Or drag to draw the size you want.

The toolbar goes back to Select after one node. Press Esc to stop without adding one.

You can also add a node in these ways:

• Right-click an empty part of the canvas. Choose New terminal here, New note here, New browser portal here or New file tree here. The node appears where you clicked.
• In the command palette (Ctrl+K), choose New terminal, New note, New browser portal or New file tree. The node appears in the middle of the view.

Each new node gets a name, such as Terminal 1 or Note 2.

The parts of a node

Figure: A selected terminal. 1 title bar, 2 status dot, 3 status word, 4 connection handle, 5 edge to resize.

Terminals, notes, portals, file trees and files have a title bar:

• The dot at the left shows the node’s state. On a terminal it turns amber when the agent needs you, green when it is done, and red when it fails.
• The name comes next.
• A word on the right says what needs a look, such as needs approval or done. A locked node says Locked.

When you point at a node with a title bar, or select it, small round handles appear on its four edges. Drag from one to another node to connect them with a wire. See Agents working together.

Rectangles, labels and text blocks have no title bar.

Move and resize

• Move: drag a node by its title bar. Drag a rectangle, label or text block anywhere.
• Resize: drag any edge or corner of the node.

Nodes snap to the grid of dots when you drop or resize them. Each kind has a smallest size. A terminal you resize gets more or fewer rows and columns.

See Move around the canvas for selecting and moving several nodes.

Rename a node

Agents find each other by name, so give your agents clear names, such as Builder and Reviewer.

1. Select the node.
2. Press F2. Or double-click its title bar. Or right-click it and choose Rename.
3. Type the new name and press Enter. Esc keeps the old name.

A name can have up to 64 characters. Two nodes on one canvas can’t have the same name.

Change the words of a label or text block

A new label or text block shows its first name, such as Label 1. To write your own words:

1. Double-click the label or text block. Or select it and press F2. Or right-click it and choose Edit text.
2. Type. Shift+Enter starts a new line.
3. Press Enter, or click somewhere else, to keep the words. Esc keeps the old ones.

Long lines wrap to the width of the node. Make it bigger to show more. Ctrl+Z takes a change back.

Terminals

A new terminal runs a shell. To run an agent in it:

1. Right-click the terminal.
2. Under Runs, choose an agent, for example Claude Code.
3. If the terminal is running, Cuewire asks first. Press Enter to restart it as the agent.

Work in a terminal as you would anywhere:

• Click inside it, or select it and press Enter. Your keys now go to the program.
• Press Shift+Esc to give the keyboard back to the canvas.
• Drag to select text. Double-click selects a word, and a triple-click selects a line.
• Ctrl+C copies the selected text. With nothing selected, Ctrl+C goes to the program, as usual.
• Ctrl+Shift+C copies. Ctrl+Shift+V or Shift+Insert pastes.
• Ctrl+Shift+F finds text in the terminal’s history. In the find box, Enter finds the older match and Shift+Enter the newer one. Esc closes it.
• Some programs print links that you can open. Ctrl+click such a link to open it in your browser.
• Scroll to see the terminal’s history.

To start the program again, right-click the terminal and choose Restart.

The terminal itself tells you when something is off:

See Troubleshooting when an agent does not start.

Notes

A note holds text that you and your agents share: plans, decisions, findings. An agent wired to a note can read it and change it.

1. Click inside the note, or select it and press Enter.
2. Write. Lines that start with # show as headings.
3. Click somewhere else or press Esc. The note saves. Ctrl+S saves too.

While your edits are not saved yet, the note says Unsaved.

When an agent writes more than the note can show, the note grows taller to fit, up to about twice its usual height. Beyond that, its last line says More below: click in, or make the note taller. Click inside the note and scroll, or drag its bottom edge down.

If an agent changes the note while you have unsaved edits, the note says Changed by an agent. Cuewire does not save your edits then, so the agent’s work is never overwritten unseen. Copy anything you want to keep. Then right-click the note and choose Discard my edits to see the agent’s version.

Colours, locks and order

Right-click a node, or several selected nodes:

• The row of colours: gives the node a colour. A rectangle, label or text block takes the colour. Other nodes show it in their title bar’s dot. The empty circle takes the colour away.
• Lock: stops the node from moving, resizing, being renamed or being deleted. Unlock frees it again.
• Bring to front: puts the node on top of the others.

Groups

A group keeps nodes together, so you can move them as one.

1. Select two or more nodes.
2. Press Ctrl+G.

A dashed outline appears around them, with a tab at its top left, such as Group 1. Drag the tab to move the whole group. Click the tab to select every node in it.

To take a group apart, select a node in it and press Ctrl+Shift+G. A node can be in one group only.

Delete nodes

1. Select the nodes.
2. Press Delete or Backspace. Or right-click and choose Delete.

Deleting a running terminal stops the program in it, so Cuewire asks first: Delete 1 running terminal? Press Enter to delete it, or Esc to keep it.

To delete a wire, click it and press Delete. Or right-click it and choose Disconnect.

Locked nodes are not deleted. Unlock them first.

Figure: Cuewire asks before it stops a running terminal.

Undo and redo

• Ctrl+Z undoes the last change to the canvas.
• Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y redoes it.

Undo covers what you do to nodes and wires: adding, moving, resizing, renaming, colouring, grouping, wiring and deleting. It keeps up to 100 steps. It does not undo what happens inside a terminal, and it can’t bring back a program that was stopped.

What’s next

• Workspaces and canvases
• Add an agent
• Agents working together