Argus v0.8 — Design Reference

YES — 28dp circular pill floating at left edge, 50% down the screen. Orange chevron icon `›`. Edge-swipe stays primary; button adds discoverability without occupying pane real estate.

Users on foldable covers and newcomers can't reliably edge-swipe at the correct 6dp zone. One small affordance eliminates the support question entirely.

Q2 — v0.7

Terminal panes: CRT/scanline aesthetic or match code-server panes?

SUBTLE DIFFERENTIATION — 3dp green left edge stripe (not orange), a `[TERMINAL]` label badge replacing the URL chip, and a very faint scanline CSS overlay (4% opacity). No novelty-store vibe.

Categorical differentiation helps Jonathan know at a glance which pane is a shell. Green edge ≠ orange edge = "different kind of thing." The scanline stays tasteful at 4%.

Q3 — v0.7

Active pane indicator: orange border, or dim inactive panes, or both?

BOTH — Keep the 3dp orange border (up from 2dp) AND apply a 10% dark overlay to inactive pane headers. The content itself is not dimmed — only the 32dp header strip.

On the Fold/Tab inner display, a 2dp border gets lost. 3dp + subtle header dim gives two distinct signals without losing content readability in inactive panes.

Q4 — v0.7

Should FAB be bigger/more prominent when pane count = 1?

YES — FAB scales from 56dp to 64dp when pane count = 1, plus a one-time 3-bounce animation on first launch (played once to localStorage flag). At count = max, FAB disappears entirely (no disabled state).

Single-pane users are most likely to forget the multi-pane capability. The bounce animation says "tap me" once and never again.

Q5 — v0.7

Header density for 3+ panes on the Fold inner display?

YES, define DENSE mode — At 3+ panes: header shrinks to 28dp (from 32dp), badge to 18dp, icons to 20dp, URL chip shows folder name only (no full path). Defined as a `PaneCountMode` enum: NORMAL (1–2) / DENSE (3–5).

At 4 panes on 2208px inner display, each pane gets ~530px. A 32dp header is 6% of visible height per pane. Dropping to 28dp recovers ~16dp of content space per pane = 64dp total reclaimed.

Q6 — v0.7

"Workspaces" naming — rename?

Rename to "Layouts" — "Workspaces" is VS Code vocabulary (conflicts with the code-server panes Jonathan is already using). "Layouts" is neutral, immediately understood, and doesn't imply project scope.

Jonathan's mental model: a Layout is a saved arrangement of panes. It says nothing about which projects are open — just how many panes and where they're split.

Q7 — v0.7

Theme picker: live preview (left rail) or gallery (cards)?

Left rail + live re-skin — Settings is already proposed as master-detail. The left rail becomes the theme list; the right pane re-renders in the selected theme's colors in real time. No separate gallery needed.

Live preview eliminates the mental-load of "will this look right?" The master-detail layout we're already building provides the shell for free.

Q8 — v0.8

Drawer collapse-by-default: which sections?

Collapse: RECENT · LAYOUTS · TOOLS. Always expanded: QUICK ACTIONS · PINNED · ACTIVE PANES · SESSIONS · SETTINGS row. The live-state sections (SESSIONS, ACTIVE) stay open; historical/utility sections collapse.

Collapsed sections reduce drawer scroll from ~3× screen height to ~1.4×. The three collapsed sections are all "I know where to find this when I need it" content, not "I need to see this now" content.

Q9 — v0.8

Terminal panes: categorically different visual identity or trust the badge?

Categorically different — Green left edge (not orange), `[TERMINAL]` type badge, no URL chip, keybar always visible at bottom. The visual coding signals "scoped tool" which also primes the v0.9 git-API narrowing.

When the terminal is eventually narrowed from full bash to a scoped git API (v0.9 security plan), the existing visual treatment of "this is different/limited" pre-conditions the user instead of surprising them.

Q10 — v0.8

Status pill location collides with active-pane orange border. Resolve.

Status lives IN the badge, not beside it. The index badge background communicates session state: pulsing green ring = live; solid dim fill = idle; red outline = disconnected; yellow = stale. Orange border = focused pane (different concept, no conflict).

Status (what the session is doing) and focus (which pane has input) are orthogonal. Merging status into an existing element (the badge) eliminates the location collision entirely. One badge, two things, no new real estate.

Brand Tokens — Claude Default Theme

Token	Value	Role
`argus_bg`	#141414	App background, main surface
`argus_panel`	#1C1C1C	Drawer bg, dialog surface, pane header
`argus_panel2`	#242424	Keybar bg, secondary surfaces
`argus_border`	#272727	Dividers, drag handle, keybar button borders
`argus_text`	#D0D0D0	Primary text
`argus_muted`	#7A7A7A	Secondary text, section divider labels
`argus_dim`	#4E4E4E	Tertiary, placeholder, version string
`argus_orange`	#C15F3C	Brand identity, active pane border, FAB, section labels (use sparingly)
`argus_orange_hover`	#D06B45	Press state for orange elements
`argus_orange_tint`	rgba(193,95,60,0.10)	Pinned item row bg, CTRL sticky modifier bg
`argus_green`	#3FB950	Live session dot, terminal edge stripe
`argus_yellow`	#D29922	Stale/recent session indicator
`argus_blue`	#4D9EDA	Secondary accent — session indicators, info states
`argus_red`	#C0392B	Error, disconnected state, mic listening