#UI tour

##Layout

• Sidebar: unified navigator tree for files, requests, and workflows with a filter bar and tag/method chips. →/Space expand files, g+k/g+j expand or collapse the current branch, and g+Shift+K/g+Shift+J expand or collapse all. A detail well beneath the list shows the selected request/workflow summary. When focused, g+h shrinks and g+l expands the sidebar.
• Editor: middle pane with modal editing (view mode by default, i to insert, Esc to return to view). Inline syntax highlighting marks metadata, headers, and bodies.
• Response panes: right-hand side displays the most recent response, with optional splits for side-by-side comparisons.
• Header bar: shows workspace, active environment, current request, test summaries, the latest transport status and RTT, and the Help shortcut.
• Command bar & status: contextual hints, progress, and notifications. Long messages are shortened to preserve the file, focus, and mode sections. Errors and long warnings open a popup with the complete message; press Esc or Enter to dismiss it, or j/k to scroll. Press g . to inspect current document warnings, or to reopen the current status message when there are none. Run summaries and confirmation prompts remain in the bar because their details or next action are available elsewhere.

##Core shortcuts

The editor supports familiar Vim motions (h, j, k, l, w, b, gg, G, etc.), insert entries (i, a, I, A, o, O; I moves to the first non-blank character), visual selections with v / V, yank and delete/change operations, undo/redo (u / Ctrl+r), and a search palette (Shift+F or /, toggle regex with Ctrl+R and n moves cursor forward and p backwards).

Press : from normal mode panes to open a Vim-style command line. Supported actions include :w, :q, :q!, :wq, :x, :e [path], :help, :man, :docs, :noh, and the :mock command family. Bare :e opens the path prompt; giving it a path opens that file or workspace directly.

##Finding help

Resterm keeps concise documentation inside the binary, so the first layer of help works offline and matches the installed version:

• Press ? for the searchable help index. Type / to filter shortcuts and topic contents, then use Esc to clear the filter or close help.
• Run :help <topic> to open an embedded topic directly; :man <topic> is an alias. Run either command without a topic for the index.
• In editor normal mode, put the cursor on an @directive, an HTTP/protocol keyword, or inside {{ ... }}, then press K for the relevant topic. If no exact topic is available, Resterm leaves the editor open and shows a short recovery hint.
• Press o from an embedded topic, or run :docs <topic>, to open the corresponding full manual section on GitHub. Release builds use their matching Git tag; development builds use main. Bare :docs opens this manual. If the browser cannot be started, Resterm shows the URL so it can be copied manually.

The command line suggests commands, topics, :mock subcommands, and filesystem paths where the active argument accepts one. Up / Down (or Ctrl+P / Ctrl+N) selects a suggestion, Tab completes it without running, and Enter accepts and runs an explicit selection. Tab on a directory descends into it; Enter also descends when the command requires a file. If no row has been selected, Enter runs the text currently in the prompt. Paths containing whitespace are quoted automatically.

Ctrl+O opens the same filesystem picker as a standalone “Open File or Workspace” popup. Type a relative, absolute, or ~ path; use Up / Down (or Ctrl+P / Ctrl+N) to select, Tab to complete or descend, and Enter to open the selected supported file or directory as a workspace.

The bottom command bar adapts to the focused pane, editor mode, and response tab. Its contextual keys use a flat presentation by default; themes can add keycap backgrounds through command_segments. The global Help shortcut remains visible in the header, and configured shortcuts are reflected in both contextual hints and the help overlay.

##Editor completions (IntelliSense)

In insert mode, Resterm suggests completions at the caret using the open file and active environment. It makes no network calls while you type.

Press Ctrl+N to show all completions valid at the caret. If there are none, it does nothing. In editor insert mode this key always controls completion, regardless of the New Request binding. Outside editor insert mode, the configured New Request shortcut applies.

In the popup, Up / Down or Ctrl+P / Ctrl+N selects an item. Right or ? opens the details preview, Ctrl+L toggles it, and Left or Esc closes it. Enter or Tab accepts an item. Esc dismisses the popup when the preview is closed. Use the editor_hint_* theme keys to style the popup.

After you accept a completion, the popup shows what can follow it. For example, @auth opens auth modes, oauth2 opens its options, and grant= opens grant values. Headers open value suggestions, and directories open their contents. Options that can appear only once disappear after use, along with their aliases, such as base= and baseline=. You can repeat @apply use=, but profiles already selected are omitted.

File suggestions use the request file's directory, or the workspace for temporary documents. They are filtered by file type where needed: .rts for @use, GraphQL for @query, JSON for @variables, and script files for script includes. Directory listings are cached while browsing. In directives that split arguments on spaces, paths with spaces are quoted. File references that use the rest of the line stay unquoted. Only SSH and Kubernetes path options expand ~ to the home directory.

Accepting a directive typed without a comment marker adds # automatically. For example, completing @na produces # @name . The marker is added only when you accept a suggestion, so you can still type variables such as @name = value.

Many suggestions insert an example value, such as @setting timeout=5s or @mock latency=random(100ms,500ms). Accepting one leaves the example selected, so the next keystroke replaces it. Press Tab to keep the example and move past the inserted text, including any closing parenthesis. Left and Right also keep the example and move to the start or end of the selected text.

Dynamic helpers with call examples insert the call and select only its arguments. Variable completion adds any missing closing braces, so completing {{ho, {{ho}, and {{ho}} with host produces {{host}} in each case. Inside {{= ... }} expressions and helper arguments, completion leaves the closing braces unchanged.

Completion does not use gRPC reflection, descriptors, or GraphQL schemas to suggest service, method, or field names.

##Custom bindings

Resterm looks for ${RESTERM_CONFIG_DIR}/bindings.toml first and ${RESTERM_CONFIG_DIR}/bindings.json second (default: ~/.config/resterm). Missing files fall back to the built-in bindings. Example:

[bindings]
save_file = ["ctrl+s"]
set_main_split_horizontal = ["g s", "ctrl+alt+s"]
send_request = ["ctrl+enter", "cmd+enter"]
show_context_help = ["shift+k"]

• Modifiers use + (ctrl+shift+o), while chord steps are separated by spaces ("g s").
• Bindings can have at most two steps; send_request must remain single-step so it can run inside the editor.
• Unknown action IDs or duplicate bindings cause the file to be rejected (Resterm logs the error and keeps defaults).

###Binding reference

send_request participates in the editor’s “send on Ctrl+Enter” logic, so keep it single-step. The show_context_help, show_status_message, next_diagnostic, and previous_diagnostic shortcuts are soft defaults: an explicit binding for another action may claim their keys, and the corresponding default is then omitted. Explicit bindings still follow the conflict rules above.

##Response panes

• Pretty: formatted JSON (or best-effort formatting for other types).
• Raw: exact payload text.
• Stream: live transcript viewer for WebSocket and SSE sessions with bookmarking and console integration.
• Headers: response and request header subviews with a visible in-pane switcher. Press Enter or Space while focused on the Headers tab to switch between the response headers and the sent request headers (cookies included).
• Profile / Workflow: live results for profile and workflow runs. Profile results show progress, latency statistics, a histogram, and failures. On narrow panes, the sections stack vertically. Workflow results show a summary, a step list, and details for the selected step. The tab label follows the current run type. Use j / k or arrow keys to move between steps, Enter or Space to focus the selected step detail, j / k or PageUp / PageDown to scroll that detail, and Esc, Enter, or Space to return to the step list.
• Timeline: per-phase HTTP timings with budget overlays; available whenever tracing is enabled.
• Diff: compare the focused pane against the other response pane.
• History: chronological responses for the selected request (live updates). Open a full JSON preview with p or delete the focused entry with d.

When a request opens a stream, the Stream tab becomes available. Use g+w to enter WebSocket command mode, then press i to toggle the console, p to send ping, c to close the socket, or l to clear the live buffer. If the console is actively focused for typing, press Esc first so text entry is not interrupted. Inside the console, use F2 to switch payload modes (text, JSON, base64, file), Ctrl+S or Ctrl+Enter to send frames, and the arrow keys to replay recent payloads.

Use Alt+V or Alt+H to split the response pane. The secondary pane can be pinned so subsequent calls populate only the primary pane, making comparisons easy.

While the response pane is focused, Ctrl+Shift+C (or g y) copies the entire Pretty, Raw, or Headers tab directly to your clipboard, matching the rendered text (no mouse selection required).

Use g+g and G to jump to the start or end of the Pretty, Raw, or Headers tabs when the response pane is focused. The same keys jump to the first or last entry in the navigator when you are browsing files or workflows.

Binary responses show size and type hints alongside quick previews. For large binary payloads, the Raw tab starts in a summary view and defers full dumps until requested. While the response pane is focused, press g+b to rotate the Raw tab between summary, hex, and base64 views. Press g+Shift+D to load the full hex dump immediately. Press g+Shift+S to open the Save Response Body prompt, which comes prefilled with a suggested path from your last save or workspace and writes the file after you hit Enter.

Press g+Shift+E to open the body in your default app. Resterm only opens types from a fixed list: images, PDF, text, JSON, CSV, audio, video, archives, and Office files without macros. HTML, SVG, XML, and Markdown open as plain text so no scripts inside them can run. It finds the type from the Content-Type header, then the file name the server sent, then the body itself. The file extension always comes from that type, so a PDF sent as invoice.exe opens as invoice.pdf. If no type fits, Resterm shows a warning and you can save the body with g+Shift+S instead. Opened files are kept in a temporary folder that Resterm deletes when it exits.

##Pane minimization & zoom

• Toggle the sidebar, editor, or response panes with g+1, g+2, and g+3. Minimized panes collapse into thin frames that display an indicator along with a reminder of the restoring shortcut.
• Status bar badges (Sidebar:min, Editor:min, Response:min) mirror the current state so you can tell when something is hidden even if the stub scrolls out of view.
• Use g+z to zoom the currently focused pane and hide the others temporarily; g+Z clears zoom and restores the previous layout (including any manual minimize state).
• Resize chords such as g+h / g+l and g+j / g+k are disabled while a related pane is hidden or zoomed, preventing accidental layout resets.

##Timeline & tracing

• Add # @trace directives to enable HTTP tracing on a request. Budgets use phase<=duration notation (dns<=50ms, total<=300ms, etc.) with an optional tolerance= applied to every phase. Supported phases map to nettrace: dns, connect, tls, request_headers, request_body, ttfb, transfer, and total.
• When a traced response arrives, Resterm evaluates budgets, raises status bar warnings for breaches, and unlocks the Timeline tab. Use Ctrl+Alt+L or the g+t chord to jump straight to it from anywhere.
• The Timeline view renders proportional bars, annotates overruns, and lists budget breaches. Metadata such as cached DNS results or reused sockets appears beneath each phase, followed by Connection and TLS panels (protocol, reuse, proxy/SSH, resolved IPs, cipher/ALPN, cert chain, SANs, issuer, expiry).
• Scripts can inspect traces through the trace binding (trace.enabled(), trace.phases(), trace.connection(), trace.tls(), trace.breaches(), trace.withinBudget(), etc.), allowing automated validations inside Goja test blocks.
• See _examples/trace.http for a runnable pair of requests (one within budget, one deliberately breaching) that demonstrate the timeline output and status messaging.
• Configure optional OpenTelemetry export with RESTERM_TRACE_OTEL_ENDPOINT (or --trace-otel-endpoint). Additional switches: RESTERM_TRACE_OTEL_INSECURE / --trace-otel-insecure, RESTERM_TRACE_OTEL_SERVICE / --trace-otel-service, RESTERM_TRACE_OTEL_TIMEOUT, and RESTERM_TRACE_OTEL_HEADERS. Spans are emitted only while tracing is enabled; HTTP failures and budget breaches mark the span status as Error.

##History and globals

• The history pane persists responses along with their request and environment metadata. Entries survive restarts (stored under the config directory; see Configuration).
• Ctrl+G shows current globals (request/file/runtime) with secrets masked. Ctrl+Shift+G (or g Shift+G) clears globals and cookies for the active environment.
• Ctrl+E opens the environment picker to switch between resterm.env.json (or rest-client.env.json) entries.