A tour of the window

This page names every part of the Cuewire window and says what it is for.

The Cuewire window with its parts numbered Figure: The Cuewire window. 1 sidebar, 2 canvas, 3 toolbar, 4 layer chip, 5 Needs you list, 6 usage chip, 7 zoom controls, 8 account button.

On a Mac, Cuewire uses Cmd where this page says Ctrl.

The sidebar on the left lists your projects.

Each project is a workspace. Click a workspace to fold or unfold it.
Under each workspace are its canvases. Click one to open it.
The + on a workspace’s row adds a canvas to it.
Double-click a workspace or a canvas to rename it.
Drag a row to change the order.

At the bottom of the sidebar:

the account button (see below);
+ Add project, to open a project folder as a new workspace;
+ Remote project (SSH or WSL), to work on another machine. See Remote projects.

Press Ctrl+B to hide the sidebar or show it again. See Workspaces and canvases.

The canvas

The canvas fills the rest of the window. It is a large surface with a grid of dots. Your terminals, notes and other nodes sit on it, joined by wires. An empty canvas shows the Start here card.

Short messages from Cuewire appear at the top of the canvas, for example View 3 saved · Alt+3 returns here. They go away when you click the canvas or press Esc.

See Move around the canvas.

The toolbar sits at the bottom of the canvas. It has one tool for each kind of node you draw:

The toolbar with the Select tool active Figure: The toolbar. The active tool is highlighted.

Tool	Key	What it adds
Select	`V`	Nothing. Use it to select, move and resize nodes.
Terminal	`Ctrl+T`	A terminal, which runs a shell or an agent
Note	`N`	A note that you and your agents share
Rectangle	`R`	A coloured box, to mark an area
Label	`L`	A short title in large text
Text	`T`	A block of smaller text

To use a tool:

Click the tool, or press its key.
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 each node. Press Esc to stop without adding one.

See Terminals, notes and shapes.

The layer chip

The layer chip is at the top left of the canvas. It shows Layer and the name of the layer you are in, for example Layer Base. Base is your project folder itself.

Click the chip to open its menu:

the canvas’s layers, to switch between them;
New layer from this one;
in a layer other than Base: Review changes, Commit all changes, Open pull request, and Archive to leave the layer.

A layer is a separate copy of your project for one task. See Projects and layers.

The Needs you list appears at the top right when an agent waits for you. Its heading counts them, for example Needs you · 2. Click an entry to jump to that agent. Some entries have Approve and Deny buttons.

See Know when an agent needs you.

The usage chip

The usage chip is at the bottom left. It shows how many tokens your agents used in the last 24 hours, for example Usage 1.2M tokens · 24 h.

Click it to open the usage panel. The panel shows your tokens over 5 hours, 24 hours and 7 days, the agents’ rate limits, and what each agent on this canvas used. It also sets how many agents of each kind may run at once.

See Usage and limits.

The zoom controls

The zoom controls are at the bottom right:

− zooms out.
The number, for example 100%, is the zoom level. Click it to go back to 100%.
+ zooms in.
Fit zooms so that every node is in view.

The account button

The account button is at the bottom of the sidebar. It says Sign in until you sign in. Then it shows your plan, for example Free plan, Pro trial or Pro plan. Click it to open your account.

See Sign in.

The command palette

The command palette lists everything Cuewire can do. It is the quickest way to find a command.

Press Ctrl+K (or Ctrl+Shift+P). The palette opens at the top of the canvas.
Type a few letters of what you want, for example fit or new note.
Use Up and Down to pick a command. Press Enter to run it.

Press Esc to close the palette. Each command shows its shortcut, if it has one, on the right.

The command palette, open over the canvas, with no text typed Figure: The command palette. Type to filter, then press Enter.

The palette also lists every named node as Go to: …, for example Go to: Builder. Choose one to jump to it.

Tip

Inside a terminal, Ctrl+K goes to the program in it. Press Ctrl+Shift+P to open the palette from there.

See the full list in Commands.

Right-click menus

Right-click almost anything for a menu of what you can do with it.

On an empty part of the canvas:

New terminal here, New note here, New browser portal here and New file tree here add a node where you clicked;
Select all, Tidy up and Fit all.

Figure: Right-click the canvas to add a node where you clicked.

On a node: Rename, Lock, Bring to front, a row of colours, and Delete. A terminal’s menu also has:

Runs, to choose the shell or the agent it runs;
when it runs an agent, that agent’s options: Orchestrator, Skip permission prompts, Role, Model and Account;
Configure… and Restart, and Send prompt… when it runs an agent.

Figure: A terminal’s menu. Runs chooses its agent. The sections under it set the agent’s options.

On a wire: Disconnect.

See Roles, models and options for the agent options.

Dialogs

When Cuewire asks before it does something, the buttons name their keys. For example, Keep (Esc) and Delete (Enter). Press Enter to go ahead or Esc to keep things as they are.

Cuewire User Guide