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Hermes SwitchUI

Sidebar layout

Sidebar layout

The sidebar is the primary navigation rail on the left side of the app. It can be expanded to show labels or collapsed to a narrow icon-only rail.

[SCREENSHOT: Sidebar expanded showing Main section with nav items and group labels]

What you see

The sidebar contains two elements at the top: a collapse/expand toggle button and a New session button (when a chat session is active). Below those, navigation items are grouped under labelled sections.

When the sidebar is expanded, items are organised under these group labels:

Main

  • Dashboard
  • Chat
  • Files
  • Terminal
  • Jobs
  • Tasks (with optional sub-items for individual boards when expanded)
  • Workflows
  • Conductor
  • Operations

Knowledge

  • Memory
  • Skills
  • MCP
  • Profiles

Settings / Help

  • Settings
  • Help / Docs

Some items may not appear if the required gateway capability is not available at startup. For example, Tasks requires the Kanban plugin, and MCP requires the agent’s MCP endpoint.

Collapsed mode

Click the collapse toggle (chevron icon at the top of the sidebar) to collapse the rail. In collapsed mode only icons are shown — group labels and item text are hidden. Hover over an icon to see a tooltip with the item label. Click any icon to navigate.

The collapsed state is persisted across reloads.

Active states

The current page’s item is highlighted with the accent colour. Items with live counts (for example, Tasks showing the number of open boards) display a numeric badge that is visible in both expanded and collapsed modes.

Where data lives

The sidebar’s collapsed state is stored in localStorage. Navigation state is driven by the URL via TanStack Router — navigating away from a route automatically updates the active item.

Common issues

An item I expect to see is missing. Some items are gated on gateway capabilities that are probed at startup. If the gateway is not running or a required plugin is not installed, the corresponding item may be hidden. Check the gateway connection status on the Dashboard.

Sidebar is stuck in collapsed mode. Clear localStorage and reload, or click the collapse toggle at the top of the sidebar.