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Tauren Sidebar

The Tauren sidebar is the main interface for working with Pi inside VS Code.

Main surfaces

Tauren uses a three-lane model:

text
| Session List | Chat | Session Tree |
  • Session List Lane: browse, search, rename, fork, clone, compact, export, or delete sessions. Open it with /resume or Tauren: Toggle Session List.
  • Chat Lane: read the transcript, send prompts, use the composer, and open settings.
  • Session Tree Lane: navigate the Pi session tree for the active session. Open it with /tree or Tauren: Toggle Session Tree.

The center lane can also show settings. In Tauren's UI language this is the Settings Face of the Chat Lane.

Composer

The composer is where you type prompts and slash commands. It supports:

  • Enter to send,
  • Shift+Enter for a newline,
  • / slash-command suggestions,
  • @ file suggestions,
  • pasted or dropped image attachments where supported.

Submit is disabled while Pi is streaming. Tauren does not queue follow-up prompts behind a running response.

Busy state

When Pi is running, Tauren shows busy state in the chat surface. Use Tauren: Stop Current Response if the run should end early. Use Tauren: Toggle Steer / Follow-up to switch steering/follow-up behavior while busy.

If file changes are detected, Tauren can show session diff status so you can review what changed before committing.

Settings and help

Use the title toolbar buttons, VS Code commands, or slash commands:

text
/settings
/hotkeys

The matching VS Code commands are Tauren: Toggle Settings and Tauren: Toggle Help.

Settings are split between Tauren-owned controls and Pi-owned runtime controls. Pi remains the source of truth for model and provider state.