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The AI Leash workspace

AI Leash is arranged as a conversation workspace with three main areas:

+----------------+----------------------------+----------------------+
| Conversations  | Chat                       | Tools and files      |
|                |                            |                      |
|                |                            |                      |
+----------------+----------------------------+----------------------+
|                |                            |                      |
+----------------+----------------------------+----------------------+

The top bar shows the current project and conversation. It also includes a button for starting a new thread, an Open button for your external editor (see Open in IDE), the quick-run control for Actions, and the window controls. The center of the window is where you chat with the agent. The panel on the right contains project tools such as files and terminals.

Choosing a project and conversation

The left sidebar has three sections:

  • Project boards: one entry per project. Click it to open that project’s board and project chat.
  • Chats: your conversations. Each entry shows its title and the project or workspace it belongs to. A chat started for a board task shows the task’s number, such as #12.
  • Done: conversations you’ve marked as done (see below).

The active entry is highlighted. Click a section’s header to collapse or expand it. Each section collapses on its own, and the app remembers which ones you collapsed, including after a restart.

Use the project menu at the top of the sidebar to switch between:

  • All projects, which shows conversations from every project.
  • An individual project, which shows only conversations for that project.

The filter button next to it chooses how task chats are listed: mixed in with the rest, grouped at the top, or hidden.

To add another project, click the + button and choose a folder. You can then open one of its existing conversations from the sidebar or start a new thread in that project with the new-thread button in the top bar.

Conversations that you have marked as done appear in a separate Done section. You can expand that section to see the full list, reopen a completed conversation, or mark it as active again. To delete a conversation, open its context menu from the conversation entry.

The sidebar can show activity while you are viewing another conversation. A working indicator means the agent is still processing that conversation; the time next to it is how long the current turn has been running. An approval indicator means that conversation is waiting for you to approve a requested action. Switch to it to review the request; see Permissions for more about approvals.

The chat area

The Agent tab is the main conversation. When the agent starts a sub-agent, you can open that sub-agent’s conversation in its own center tab from the Sub Agents panel. Sub-agent conversations are read-only, so they are useful for following the work without interrupting it.

You can switch between the Agent tab and any open sub-agent tabs at the top of the chat area. Sub-agent tabs can be closed when you no longer need them.

Moving tabs between the chat area and the tool panel

Drag a tab sideways in its row to reorder it. Drag it into the other area to move it there: drop it onto a tab to place it beside that tab, or anywhere else in that area to add it at the end. Any tab can move either way (a terminal, a file, the File Tree, a sub-agent’s conversation) except the Agent tab, which always stays in the chat area, though you can still reorder it there.

A moved tab carries on where it was: a terminal keeps its shell and scrollback, and a sub-agent conversation keeps streaming. An open file reloads its editor, so its undo history starts over. Ctrl+S (Command+S on macOS) saves the file whose editor you are typing in.

Code blocks in the conversation have a header showing the language and a copy button. Shell code blocks also have an Open in a new terminal button. It opens a terminal tab with the command typed at the prompt but not run, so you can review or edit it before pressing Enter.

Worktree and branch

For projects in a git repository, a bar below the message box shows which worktree the conversation is working in (on the left) and which branch is checked out there (on the right). Click either one to open a picker. Both pickers have a search box; use the arrow keys to move through the list and Enter to choose an entry.

  • Worktree lists the project’s primary checkout and any other worktrees. Choose one to work in it, or select New worktree… at the bottom of the list to create one on a new branch (based on a branch you choose) or on an existing branch that is not already checked out elsewhere. The worktree is fixed once you send the conversation’s first message; after that the list can still be browsed but not changed.
  • Branch lists the branches of the current worktree, the checked-out one first and the rest by when they were last checked out in that worktree (most recent first; never-checked-out branches last). Choose one to switch to it, or select New branch… to create a branch from a base branch and switch to it. The branch can be changed at any time.

To delete a worktree or branch, click the trash icon on its row and confirm. The active worktree and the currently checked-out branch cannot be deleted. If git refuses because a worktree has uncommitted changes or a branch is not fully merged, the picker shows git’s message and offers Force delete.

The right-hand tool panel

The right-hand panel has its own tabs. Click a tab to switch tools, click its close button to remove it, and use the + button to open another tab. If no tab is open, AI Leash displays the tab chooser automatically. New tabs open here, but you can drag them into the chat area; see Moving tabs. Opening something that is already open, such as a file, takes you to its tab in whichever area it is in.

Tabs are remembered per conversation

Each conversation keeps its own set of open tabs, both in the right-hand panel and in the chat area, in the order and area you left them, along with which one was active in each. Switching to another conversation shows that conversation’s tabs, and they are restored the next time you open it, even after restarting the app. Terminal tabs reopen with a fresh shell rather than the previous session. A new thread that has not had a message sent yet is not remembered.

File Tree

File Tree lets you browse the files and folders in the current project. Select a file to open it in an editor tab. Files opened from the tree appear alongside the other tabs in this panel. A small marker on a file tab indicates that the file has unsaved changes.

File editor

Opening a file adds it as a tab in the right-hand panel. Use the editor to read or change the file, then close its tab when you are finished. Opening a file that is already open takes you to its existing tab instead of creating a duplicate.

Terminal

Choose Terminal to open a shell in the current project. You can open more than one terminal; each terminal keeps its own session and scrollback while you switch between tabs.

Sub Agents

The Sub Agents tab lists the sub-agent tasks created for the current conversation. Each entry shows whether the task is running, finished, or ended with an error, along with its duration. Select an entry to open its conversation in the center area.

While a sub-agent is running, you can stop it from this list. Finished sub-agent entries can be removed from the list.

Actions

Actions contains the reusable actions available for the project. Use it to run and manage those actions. When an action runs, AI Leash opens a separate terminal tab for its output so you can keep an eye on it without losing your other terminal sessions.

Resizing the workspace

Drag the dividers between the conversation sidebar, chat area, and right-hand panel to change their widths. AI Leash remembers those widths for the next time you use the app.

Appearance

AI Leash uses a dark appearance throughout the app, including the window controls, chat, editors, and terminals. There is currently no light theme or appearance switch. You can change the fonts and text sizes under Preferences, and adjust the panel widths as described above.

Preferences

Settings > Preferences collects the app’s personal settings in four sections. Changes apply immediately and are remembered in the app’s config folder (preferences.json, with a .dev suffix in development builds), so they survive a restart and are not tied to the window.

  • Chat: turn on Compose mode to make Enter insert a new line in the message box and Ctrl+Enter (Command+Enter on macOS) send the message. It is off by default, when Enter sends and Shift+Enter adds a new line. Max chat box height sets how many lines the message box grows to before it scrolls (3 to 12, default 6).
  • Fonts: choose a font family and size for Interface text and for Code text. See Fonts.
  • IDE: the command behind the title bar’s Open button; see Open in IDE.
  • Debug: see Debug mode.

Fonts

Each of the two font settings has a font family field and a size in pixels (from 8 to 32).

  • Interface text is used for normal text throughout the app. Its default size is 16px, and changing it scales all interface text proportionally.
  • Code text is used for code blocks and inline code, tool output, terminals, and the file editor. Its default size is 12px. Open terminals resize to fit when you change it.

You can type any font name, or a comma-separated list such as Inter, sans-serif. Leave the family empty to use the built-in font (Instrument Sans for interface text, JetBrains Mono for code). If a font you type is not installed, AI Leash falls back to the built-in font.

Select Browse beside a family field to pick from the fonts installed on your computer. The picker has a search box and previews the highlighted font; the code picker lists monospaced fonts first.

Open in IDE

The title bar has an Open button (code icon, tooltip “Open in IDE”) that opens the active conversation’s checkout (the project root, or its worktree) in an external editor. Settings > Preferences > IDE sets the command it runs — code by default; any launcher on your shell’s PATH works (zed, cursor, idea, code -n). The checkout path is appended as the last argument. The command is split shell-style but never run through a shell. If it fails to launch, the button turns amber and its tooltip shows the error.

Debug mode

Settings > Preferences has a Debug section for inspecting the app’s own behavior; see Debug mode for the ACP Events devtools panel and the title bar’s id display.

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