Project Canvas and Chat

Move between the canvas, session tabs, terminal, files, and shortcuts without losing the thread of the work.

Jean's day-to-day workflow lives in two places: the project canvas and the chat window.

The canvas helps you choose and manage work. The chat window is where you execute it.

Project canvas

The project canvas is what you see when a project is selected but no workspace chat is active.

It gives you a rolled-up view of:

worktrees
session cards
activity state
git status
PR status
run script availability
quick open actions for editor, terminal, finder, and GitHub

This is the best place to answer "what is already in flight for this repo?"

Session status at a glance

Jean groups active work with status cues such as:

waiting for input or approval
planning
active execution
review-ready or completed

That makes it easier to spot which sessions need your attention before you dive back into one of them.

Chat window

When you open a base session or worktree, Jean switches into the chat window.

This is where you:

send messages
switch tabs
approve plans
answer agent questions
inspect tool calls
preview files and images
open diffs
keep a terminal panel beside the conversation
search conversation history with Cmd/Ctrl+F

Session labels and recap

Each session carries a label and a recap you can rely on when jumping back in:

Labels — pick from presets or assign a custom color to distinguish active sessions on the canvas
Recap — Jean can auto-generate a short digest when you return to a session, and you can trigger one manually with R. The Experimental pane lets you pick which model writes the recap.

Labels and recaps make the canvas usable even when many sessions pile up.

Session debug panel

The Session Debug Panel shows the lower-level state of a session:

file paths Jean is reading from disk
run script logs
token usage and cost breakdowns
backend arguments and environment snapshots

Open it when a session misbehaves or when you want to confirm what the backend actually saw.

Terminal and file tools

Jean's chat workflow is not limited to text.

Inside the workspace you can:

run the configured project command from jean.json
inspect file content and previews
open git diffs
open the workspace in your preferred editor or terminal
pop open a modal terminal drawer when you need a larger scratch terminal without leaving the chat

That keeps the talking part close to the checking part.

Cross-project GitHub dashboard

The command palette can open a cross-project GitHub dashboard that aggregates issues, PRs, and workflow runs across every project in Jean.

Use it when you want a single view of open work before picking which worktree to resume.

Command palette

Press Cmd+K on macOS or Ctrl+K elsewhere to open the command palette.

It includes:

project switching
navigation
settings
GitHub actions
session actions
window controls

This is often the fastest way to move around once the workspace gets crowded.

A few defaults worth learning

Common defaults include:

Cmd+L to focus chat input
Cmd+B to toggle the left sidebar
Cmd+, to open preferences
Cmd+M to open the magic menu
Cmd+N to create a worktree
Cmd+T to create a new session
Shift+Tab to cycle execution mode