The Athenode web UI
The web UI is the browser interface of the athenode daemon or of an Athenode Pro server, where you work with projects, specifications, ToDo cards, plugins, the plugin library and the SSH gateway. Every page of it shows changes as they happen, including the changes your AI agent makes.
The athenode daemon is the local Athenode server that the athenode package installs: it keeps your projects on your machine and serves the web UI and the Athenode MCP server at http://127.0.0.1:3717. Open that address in your browser, or run athenode start --open, which opens the web UI in your browser and starts the daemon first when it is not running. The daemon's web UI needs no sign-in. Athenode Pro is the Athenode server a team runs itself, with accounts, project roles and a licence. Its web UI is at the server's own address, and you sign in there with your Pro account, as users and sign-in describes.
The layout of the web UI
Every page of the web UI has the same frame around it.
- The top bar runs across the window. It holds the Athenode logo, which opens the Projects page, the breadcrumb of the page, Search or go to… in the middle and, on Athenode Pro, your user menu on the right.
- The breadcrumb names the project and the page you are on. The project's name opens the project's Overview.
- The sidebar on the left holds the project switcher, the links of the navigation in groups and, at its foot, Collapse sidebar and the theme switch.
- The page fills the rest of the window. Notices that apply to every page, such as a new version, appear at its top.
Collapse sidebar leaves only the icons of the links, with the name of each link shown when you point at it. Expand sidebar brings the names back. The browser remembers the choice.
On Athenode Pro, the user menu shows your name, with "(admin)" after it for an administrator, and offers Account and Sign out. The Account page holds your password, two-factor sign-in and Sign out other sessions, described in users and sign-in.
The sidebar and its groups
The sidebar shows the groups of the page's context. Inside a project it shows the project's own links, one group for each part of Athenode, and the server's group last. Outside a project, on the Projects page and the server's pages, it shows the server's links, and on Athenode Pro also the Administration group for administrators.
| Group | Links | Where you read more |
|---|---|---|
| The project's own links, without a heading | Overview, Members on Athenode Pro, Project settings | Projects, project roles |
| Specs | Specifications, ToDos | Specifications in the web UI, ToDo cards |
| Agent plugins | Plugins, Library, Imports | Plugins, the plugin library, the Imports page |
| SSH Gateway | Connections, Live, History | The SSH gateway |
| Server | Projects, Export audit on Athenode Pro outside a project, Settings, and for administrators of Athenode Pro inside a project, Administration | Projects, audit export and forwarding |
| Administration, on Athenode Pro outside a project, for administrators | Users, Groups, MCP clients, Audit forwarding, License | Users and sign-in, connecting to Athenode Pro, the Pro licence |
A group of a part that the server does not have is not shown. On Athenode Pro, the parts are the modules of the server's licence, and the administrator can leave modules out, as configuring Athenode Pro describes. A server without the SSH gateway shows no SSH Gateway group.
Some links carry a mark. Connections lists the project's connections under it, with a control to fold the list, and Live shows the number of actions waiting for approval. On Athenode Pro, License carries a mark while the licence needs attention.
Settings opens the server's settings, which "Apply to every project on this server, at once and without a restart." Its sections are the SSH gateway's Approvals and limits, Denylist, Service alerts and Notifications, and on Athenode Pro also Security, Single sign-on and Global allow rules, the first two for administrators only. The section This server shows the server's version and modules, and on Athenode Pro its licence. History and gateway settings and users and sign-in describe the sections.
Pro capabilities on the daemon
The web UI of the athenode daemon shows what Athenode Pro adds in the places where it would appear, each marked Pro:
| Where | What is marked Pro |
|---|---|
| The sidebar outside a project | The Administration group with Users, Groups, MCP clients and Audit forwarding, and Audit export in the Server group |
| The sidebar inside a project | Members |
| Settings | Security, Single sign-on, Global allow rules and Service alert webhooks |
| A connection's page | Access, Personal credentials and the credential mode of the connection form, and Service alert webhooks on the Notifications tab |
A marked item opens no page and runs nothing on the daemon. Selecting it opens a dialog that says what the capability does, the Pro tier that has it, that Athenode Pro is a separate server your team runs itself and is not unlocked with a key, and that you move your projects to it with athenode project export on the daemon and athenode project import on the Pro server. Export a project as an archive describes the move.
| Dialog | Pro tier it names |
|---|---|
| Single sign-on | "Available in Pro Enterprise" |
| Security (two-factor sign-in), Groups, Project members, Audit export, Audit forwarding, Access, Personal credentials, Credential mode, Service alert webhooks | "Available in Pro Team and above" |
| Users, MCP clients, Global allow rules | No tier, because every Pro tier has them |
Pro tiers lists what each tier includes.
To hide these items, turn off Show Pro capabilities in the Pro capabilities section of Settings. The setting applies to every browser and is kept across restarts. The Athenode Pro web UI has no such section, because the capabilities are there.
The project switcher
The project switcher at the top of the sidebar names the project of the page, or shows "Select a project" outside one. Select it to see Projects, the list of projects on the server, and choose one to open its Overview. All projects at the end of the list opens the Projects page. A server without projects shows "No project yet".
On Athenode Pro, the switcher lists the projects in which you have a project role, and an administrator sees every project. A project in which you have no role answers as a page that does not exist.
The command palette and keyboard keys
The command palette is the box that Search or go to… opens. It lists the pages of the sidebar for the project you are in and for the server, and every project you can open. Type to filter the list, move with the arrow keys and press Enter to open the selected page or project. When no page matches, the palette shows "Nothing matches."
| Keys | Where | What they do |
|---|---|---|
Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux, ⌘K on macOS |
Any page | Open the command palette |
/ |
Any page, outside a text field | Open the command palette |
↑, ↓, Enter |
The command palette | Move through the results and open one |
Arrow keys, Home, End |
A row of tabs | Move between the tabs |
Arrow keys, Home, End |
The handle between two resizable panes | Resize the panes |
Escape |
A dialog, the command palette, the Orbit view | Close it, or zoom out one level in the Orbit view |
A double-click on the handle between two panes gives them their default widths back. The browser remembers the width you set. The Orbit view of the specification tree has its own keys, listed in specifications in the web UI. Ctrl+K, ⌘K and / are the only keys that work on every page.
The light and dark theme
The web UI has a light theme and a dark theme. On your first visit it follows the theme of your system. The theme switch at the foot of the sidebar, Switch to dark theme or Switch to light theme, changes it, and the browser remembers your choice from then on.
Notices in the web UI
A notice appears where it applies: in a bar above every page, in place of a page, or in the title of the browser tab.
The new-version notice
When a newer version of Athenode is published, a bar above every page names it and the version you run. Update the daemon with npm i -g athenode, then run athenode service restart. Dismiss hides the bar until a version newer than that one is published, and the browser remembers that you dismissed it. On Athenode Pro only administrators see the notice, which tells them to install the new version from the package registry and restart the server. Install Athenode describes updates.
When the server does not answer
A page that cannot reach the server shows "This page could not be loaded" with "The server did not answer. Check that the daemon runs (athenode status), then try again." Run athenode status in a terminal, start the daemon if it is stopped, and select Try again. Troubleshooting lists the other causes.
A page that does not exist
An address that is mistyped, or that points to something that was moved or deleted, shows "This page does not exist" with Back to the project and All projects, and names the key that opens the command palette.
Actions waiting for approval
While your agent waits for an SSH gateway action to be approved, a bar above the page says "An action is waiting for your approval." with Review, and the title of the browser tab starts with the number of waiting actions in brackets, such as (2). Approvals and rules describes the decision.
On the Settings page, the Notifications section turns on desktop notifications, for this browser only. They tell you when an action waits for approval and when a service on one of your connections goes down or recovers. Services and health checks describes the service alerts.
Live updates in the web UI
Every page of the web UI reads its content again when something in it changes. That covers changes from another browser tab, from your AI agent through the Athenode MCP server and, on Athenode Pro, from other members of the project. While an apply run works, the Specifications page shows each leaf turn Processing and then Completed, and the questions the agent asks appear on the Questions tab as it asks them.
The pages of specifications, ToDo cards, plugins and the SSH gateway update this way. When the connection between the browser and the server breaks, for example while the daemon restarts, the page reconnects by itself and reads its content again. On Athenode Pro, a change reaches only the accounts that have a role in its project.
The pages of the plugin library show the state at the moment you opened them. Reload a library page to see a later change.
A change that arrives while you edit the same specification does not overwrite your text. The form says the specification was "Changed in the meantime" and offers Re-read, as specifications in the web UI describes.
The language of the web UI
The web UI is in English, with British spelling, and it shows dates and numbers in British formats. It has no setting for another language. Your specifications, ToDo cards and plugin files keep the language you write them in.