Feature Reference

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Global / Browse tab

DAG graph view

Shown in the footer when the graph has focus:

Node detail hub

Opened with Enter on a node:

Operations dialog and wizard

The Operations dialog (A / a) lists the operations; selecting one opens a configuration wizard. The one exception is Discuss, the last row: it skips the wizard and opens the agent-launch dialog instead (see How to Discuss Proposals with an Agent).

Operation detail and logs

Module preview

Shown by the review-before-apply gate (buttons; Escape cancels):

Every key above can be rebound — press ? in the TUI for the in-place editor, or use Settings → Shortcuts.

Node box anatomy

In graph view each node is a five-row box:

┌──────────────────────────┐  ← top border (green = HEAD, orange = anchor)
│ n003  ✓                  │  ← node id + selection checkbox (✓ marked / □ not)
│ explore                  │  ← operation badge (color-coded, see below)
│ Variant: cache-first …   │  ← one-line description
└──────────────────────────┘  ← bottom border

Operation color legend

The operation badge is color-coded by the operation that produced the node:

Module status colors

Module nodes also carry a fluid status badge (a render of progress, separate from the operation that created them):

Operations and agents

Design operations are launched from the Operations dialog (A); each dispatches one or more background agents:

The Operations dialog also lists Discuss, which is not a design operation. It launches one interactive, advisory-only code agent that runs the /aitask-brainstorm-discuss skill over the cursor node or the marked set. You talk to that agent directly in tmux (a new window by default, or a split pane in an existing window) or in a terminal. It is not a background crew agent, so it never appears on the Running tab. It creates no node, so it has no badge color, and it changes no session file. Its default agent and model come from the discuss operation of ait codeagent, not from a brainstorm-<type> key, and you can override them in the launch dialog.

Session-lifecycle operations (Session tab) run no agents: pause, resume, finalize (export HEAD proposal to aiplans/), archive, delete.

Agent model defaults

Each design operation dispatches a code agent of a fixed agent type, and every agent type has a configurable default model and launch mode. There are seven agent types: the six design-operation agents in the table above (explorer, comparator, synthesizer, module decomposer, module merger, module syncer) plus the initializer — the bootstrap agent that reformats an imported markdown draft (ait brainstorm init --proposal-file) into the first graph node.

Where the defaults live. Per-type defaults are stored in aitasks/metadata/codeagent_config.json under defaults, keyed brainstorm-<type>:

"defaults": {
  "brainstorm-explorer": "<agent>/<model>",
  "brainstorm-synthesizer": "<agent>/<model>",
  "brainstorm-module_decomposer": "<agent>/<model>"
}

Each brainstorm-<type> value is an <agent>/<model> string — the code-agent binary and the model it runs. An optional paired brainstorm-<type>-launch-mode key sets that type’s default launch mode.

Layered resolution. Defaults resolve in three layers, each overriding the one before it:

1. Built-in resource defaults (per-type max_parallel and launch_mode).
2. Project config — codeagent_config.json (shared, committed).
3. Per-user override — codeagent_config.local.json (gitignored).

The agent and model are bound when a session is initialized (when the brainstorm crew registers its agent types). Changing a default therefore takes effect on the next session you start — not one that is already running.

Launch mode. Every type has a default launch mode (interactive). Override it globally with the brainstorm-<type>-launch-mode config key, or per operation from the launch-mode selector in the operation wizard when you run that operation.

Changing a default. The simplest way to edit these is the Settings TUI: open the Agent Defaults tab, where every brainstorm agent type appears with an agent/model picker and a paired launch-mode picker. Each row shows the project value with your user override below it, so you can change a model for the whole project or just for yourself.

Module decompose modes

The Module Decompose wizard offers three modes:

Review before apply is on by default; it routes the result through the module preview (Accept / Re-run / Cancel) before committing. A Re-run steering note overrides the original decomposition plan on conflict, and later revisions override earlier ones. Decompose forks rather than prunes — the umbrella proposal stays whole, and Module Merge is the convergent path back.

Operation provenance

Operation data is resolved on demand from on-disk files via a lightweight pointer (an OpDataRef: kind, target, optional section), so the session state never duplicates agent inputs, outputs, or logs.

Session files and layout

A brainstorm session lives in its own AgentCrew worktree at .aitask-crews/crew-brainstorm-<task_num>/, created by ait crew init and populated by the brainstorm engine:

A completed (finalize) session exports its HEAD proposal into aiplans/; archive and delete retire the worktree.

Next: Settings — configure agent defaults and rebind any of the keys above.