Views and custom cards

A view is a file or running application Kin presents beside the conversation: a chart, comparison, explanation or small tool. A custom card is a small view Kin places on your home. Both can come from ordinary files on your machine.

Ask for something you can use

Give Kin the task and say when interaction would help. For example:

Make a small comparison of three garden layouts. Let me change the bed size and see how much path space remains. Explain the assumptions.

Kin can show the result beside Chat. Use it, then discuss what you want to change. Opening and presenting a private view does not publish it on the web. For questions to answer or a form to fill in, Kin makes a page instead, which keeps what you type.

What a view shows

Space opens HTML, SVG, images and PDFs in an isolated view. Markdown has its own reading page. A workbook, CSV or TSV file shows as a table of the values it saved, sheet by sheet, as in Files. Text files, logs, JSON and YAML appear on a page with a readable background and line numbers. Patches and diffs show added and removed lines with colour while keeping their original signs for copying. An empty file, a file too large to show, or a binary that cannot be displayed gets a clear explanation in the view. That explanation does not tell Kin the file was shown. A PDF uses your browser’s own PDF reader.

A view of an HTML application still uses its own page and styles; treat code Kin runs or shows there as part of the project you asked it to make.

Files Kin links to

When a reply links to a file on your machine, choose the link to open that file beside the conversation as it is now, in the same kind of view. A linked folder opens in Files when it is inside the conversation’s workspace. Links to pages on the web open in a new tab.

Open a view again

Open the details of the step where Kin showed you a view, and choose Reopen view. It works in saved conversation history too, in Chat and in Kin’s panel. The view shows the file or application as it is now, not as it was then. Reopening sends nothing to Kin. The button appears only where Kin’s step showed the view successfully.

A view Kin showed in a conversation offers Return to conversation beside Ask Kin about this view. It opens that conversation with its own unsent draft, as choosing it under Live or Session history would. Opening a view or returning sends nothing and leaves every draft as it was. If the conversation is no longer available, the view stays open and says why. Views shown before Space 0.39.0, and views you opened yourself, have no conversation to return to.

Keep a result

Choose Keep on Home at the top of the view. Every view Kin has shown you waits under Views on the Overview of the workspace where it was made, each with its own Keep on Home, the Home icon, coloured while the view is kept; those from Chat or an app are on the Home workspace’s Overview. A kept view is also on Home’s Kept views card. If Kin has not placed that card and Home has room for another, it appears while you keep any views. Ask Kin to place it where you want it. Stop keeping on Home removes the saved placement; it does not delete the underlying project files. Close view closes the pane. Ask Kin about this view prepares a message about its file or address for you to review and send.

Above the view, outside the document, Preview not displaying? explains why a view can stay blank and Try again opens it afresh. A view of a workspace file also offers View source or File details, which open it in Files, and Download original. A copy handed to Kin offers Download original and Ask Kin about this view, which attaches that same copy to your draft; removing the new chip keeps the copy from the earlier message. See preview recovery. If the browser asks for access, choose Enable private view, follow its new window and return to Space. If that window is blocked, allow pop-ups for your Space and try again.

A running application still needs its process and files; if it stops, inspect the project or ask Kin to help restart it. A kept reference is not a frozen copy of a live application or a machine backup.

Ask Kin for a custom card on your home

When something you make together in Kin’s workspace is worth returning to, such as a shortlist or comparison, she can offer to keep it on Home. Say yes for her to make and place a card. A card made from work is a dated snapshot: keeping it current needs a separate agreement about what runs, how often, what it may spend and how to stop it. Opening Home starts no such job.

1. Choose Ask Kin on Home to begin in her workspace, then describe the card you want. For example:

   Make a card for my home that shows my reading list from a JSON file I can update.

2. Kin builds it from the card instructions and starter files already on the machine, then places it on your home. Answer any question or approval she raises along the way.

3. Return to Home. It checks the arrangement and custom cards as soon as that turn ends. Changes made elsewhere normally appear within a minute.

4. To move, resize, change or remove it, choose the K in its header. Its name begins Ask Kin about and includes the card’s title. Say what you want.

You should see: your card on your home, with its own title and a Reload control available on hover or focus.

Where the files live

Custom cards live at ~/Workspace/Kin/widgets/<name>/index.html. The name uses lowercase letters, digits and hyphens. Kin reads the card instructions in ~/Workspace/Kin/space/widgets.md and starts from space/widget.html for theme and height support. Comparison and data starters live in space/ too, and Space updates them with each release. Files alone do not put a card on your home: Kin places it by adding a card to ~/Workspace/Kin/home.json.

Older starter copies in templates/ and widgets/ that nobody edited are removed when Space updates. Any you edited stay yours; your custom cards stay in widgets/.

A custom card’s K opens a draft about that card, with up to six text files from its folder attached. Its page and settings come first when present. Opening it changes nothing; add your request and send. A second visit to the same card returns to its live conversation. Kin can also offer to move a project conversation to her workspace when you ask for a home change there.

Custom cards can read files in their own directory. They have no direct access to your authenticated Home page. Custom cards and file previews share a content origin; this is a personal extension surface for code you trust, not a boundary between hostile extensions. Keep credentials and private preview URLs out of card files.

Theme changes preserve a running card. After Space restarts, its next check reopens custom cards automatically. File changes refresh a card when you return Home or during visible polling, usually within a minute. Use Reload after editing a nested asset. If a card says This card’s files are gone, check its folder or ask Kin to rebuild it or take the card away.