Teal / Launcher

Friendly settings should not cost you the files.

RETUI now has a proper Settings Hub, and I am glad it does. I also do not want “easier to use” to become a polite way of saying the real configuration has been hidden from you.

The front door and the workshop

Use Settings when you want to discover a choice, use a picker, or change something without remembering its internal name. Open the files or use `config` when you know the exact thing you want.

These paths are not beginner mode and expert mode. They are two tools. Sometimes a colour picker is the honest interface. Sometimes changing one named value is faster. Sometimes you want to see the whole file and understand how the pieces sit together.

settings
config -info show_module_dock
config -get show_module_dock
config -file behavior.xml

The main files have clear jobs

`config -ls` prints the current configurable files and entries from the installed build. That output is the safest map because new settings can arrive before a website page does.

theme.xml

The palette: terminal text, status colours, backgrounds, borders, module controls, drawer accents, overlays, and shared terminal chrome.

ui.xml

Layout and visibility: fonts, sizes, status presentation, wallpaper behaviour, margins, landscape choices, drawers, and other screen-level decisions.

behavior.xml

How the launcher acts: input and keyboard behaviour, command separators, module and workspace switches, orientation, focus tools, and system-facing behaviour.

suggestions.xml

What appears in suggestions, how each source behaves, and how the row is presented.

toolbar.xml

Toolbar visibility plus the enabled state, command, and icon for its two optional custom buttons.

cmd.xml

Command-level defaults, currently including the search provider used when `search` is entered without an explicit option.

notifications.xml

Notification display, output, formats, inclusion rules, and filters.

apps.xml

App-specific behaviour, groups, colours, visibility-related state, and default app slots.

rss.xml

RSS feed configuration and its command-facing behaviour.

Not everything useful is XML

`alias.txt` holds the words and workflows you have taught the launcher. `ascii.txt` holds the art shown in the header. Both are ordinary text because forcing either one through XML would make them worse to edit.

alias -file
settings

ASCII Settings lives under Personalization in the Settings Hub.

Other features keep their own local state beside these files: Lua scripts, presets, Spaces, webhooks, and module data. The RETUI folder is a working configuration area, not one giant schema pretending every kind of data is the same.

The command route is precise

`config` works across the registered XML entries, regardless of which file owns the value.

config -ls [file]

List every registered entry, or narrow the output to one file.

config -info <entry>

Show the value type, default, and the description shipped with the setting.

config -get <entry>

Read the current value without opening an editor.

config -set <entry> <value>

Write one value. RETUI applies certain live-facing changes immediately and queues the relevant configuration message.

config -append <entry> <text>

Add text to the existing value when replacement is not what you mean.

config -erase <entry>

Set the value to an empty string.

config -reset <entry>

Restore that one entry to the default from the current build.

config -file <file>

Open a known configuration file in RETUI's document editor.

Shared terminal chrome now has shared names

The current theme keys describe the relationship directly:

terminal_window_background_color

Fill for terminal windows, modules, drawers, and related panels.

terminal_border_color

The shared border used by terminal chrome, headers, panels, and module outlines.

terminal_header_background_color

Fill for attached terminal header tabs.

terminal_header_border_color

Border for those header tabs.

config -get terminal_border_color
config -info terminal_border_color
config -set terminal_border_color #ff58d3dc

Older names such as `dashed_border_color` and `window_terminal_bg` belong to earlier configuration generations. The current registry migrates away from them rather than keeping two names for the same thought.

Direct editing should still have guardrails

The RETUI editor stages changes until you save. Backing out with unsaved work asks whether to discard it. A malformed XML file can still break loading, because a text editor cannot make invalid markup valid by optimism alone.

My practical route is simple:

1. Inspect

Use `config -info` or find the setting in Settings before changing a name you only half remember.

2. Change one thing

Small edits make the result and the mistake easier to identify.

3. Reload when needed

Some settings update live. Run `restart` after larger direct edits when the full launcher should rebuild.

4. Keep a way back

Create a backup or preset before replacing a file or changing a visual system you already like.

Importing is a real replacement

`config -apply <file>` moves an XML file or font into the RETUI folder. Existing XML or font files are moved aside through RETUI's old-file handling first, but this is still a deliberate replacement operation, not a preview.

For a font, the Fonts dialog is usually the clearer route. For a repeatable colour state, presets are easier to reason about than passing loose files around. Direct import remains useful when the file itself is what you intend to own.

I want RETUI to be approachable without becoming opaque. The Settings Hub makes the first change easier. The files make sure the last word is still yours.