Panels

Gaius has two side panels flanking the central grid: the FileTree on the left and the ContentPanel on the right. Both can be toggled independently or together.

Toggle Controls

When a panel is hidden, the grid expands to fill the available space.

Left Panel: FileTree

The FileTree presents a Plan 9-inspired hierarchical view of the system. Everything is navigable as if it were a filesystem:

/
  agents/
    cognition/
    evolution/
    health/
  kb/
    current/
      projects/
      content/
    scratch/
  state/

Agents are represented as files under /agents/. Knowledge base entries appear under /kb/. System state is exposed under /state/. This design follows the Plan 9 philosophy where everything – processes, data, system state – is accessible through a uniform file interface.

Selecting an entry in the FileTree updates the ContentPanel on the right to show its contents.

Right Panel: ContentPanel

The ContentPanel is the primary output area. It displays:

• File contents – when a FileTree entry is selected
• Command output – results from slash commands (e.g., /health, /gpu status)
• Position context – information about the current grid position
• Help – key binding reference when ? is pressed
• Agent output – responses from agent operations

The ContentPanel renders markdown-formatted text, tables, and structured data. It scrolls vertically for long output.

Layout Strategies

Different tasks benefit from different panel configurations:

Full context (default): both panels visible. Use when you need to navigate the knowledge base and see detailed output simultaneously.

Grid focus: press \ to hide both panels. Use when studying spatial patterns, overlay composition, or doing pure grid exploration.

Research mode: hide the left panel with [. The grid and ContentPanel share the screen, giving more room for command output and detailed content.

Navigation mode: hide the right panel with ]. The FileTree and grid share the screen, useful when browsing the knowledge base structure without needing detailed content.

Panel Persistence

Panel visibility state persists during your session. If you hide a panel and run a command, the panel stays hidden. Toggle it back when you need it.