QuizuncleBeacon
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Interface tour

A map of the Beacon window — every panel, rail, and bar, and what each one does.

In this chapter

Window layout

Beacon stacks its interface top to bottom:

  1. Toolbar — the title bar, always visible. Logo, layout/theme toggles, workspace and environment selectors, sync, and account.
  2. Omnibox — the URL and command bar. It appears only when the active tab is a request; entity tabs (an environment, a collection, a flow, and so on) hide it.
  3. Main row — three columns: the Activity Rail (far left, 44px), the Peek panel (a slide-out sidebar), and the Workbench (the tab strip plus the request and response panes).
  4. Status strip — a thin 22px bar along the bottom showing request status and a row of shortcut hints.

An update toast may float in the bottom-right corner when a new version is ready, and the keyboard-shortcuts overlay appears on top of everything when you press ⌘/.

The Toolbar

From left to right, past the Beacon wordmark (tooltip Beacon — your requests and collections, all local-first.):

Control What it does
Layout toggle Switches the request/response split between side-by-side and stacked. The button reads Split (side-by-side) or Stack (stacked).
Theme cycle Cycles the theme light → dark → system. The icon shows a sun, moon, or monitor.
Workspace switcher Shows the active workspace name; the dropdown lets you switch, rename, delete, or add workspaces.
Environment selector Shows a green dot and the active environment name, or No Environment. The dropdown picks the active environment for {{variable}} resolution (⌘E).
Sync button A single icon reflecting cloud-sync state (syncing, dirty, in sync, offline, locked, error, or off). See Cloud accounts.
Account control Your avatar and name, or a Sign in button when signed out. See Cloud accounts.

The Activity Rail

The narrow icon bar on the far left toggles the Peek panel between views. The active item shows an accent bar on its left edge.

Icon Opens Shortcut
Folder Collections — saved requests grouped into collections and folders ⌘1
Clock History — every request you have sent, newest first ⌘2
Globe Environments — named sets of {{variables}} you switch between ⌘3
Workflow Flows — chain requests visually on a canvas ⌘4
Plug Connections — the mock server and WebSocket tools ⌘5
Gauge Monitors — run a request on a schedule and track its health —
Zap Load Tests — fire a request many times concurrently —
Cookie Cookies — the per-domain cookie jar —
Gear (bottom) Settings — SSL, timeouts, proxy, theme, and preferences ⌘6

Note: When an update is available, an accent dot appears on the Settings gear and its tooltip changes to Settings — Beacon <version> available.

The Connections view (⌘5) is a small launcher with two rows — Mock Server and WebSocket — each of which opens its tool in the Workbench. See Mock, WebSocket, and monitors.

The Peek panel

The Peek panel is the slide-out sidebar the Activity Rail controls. It can be pinned (docked) or unpinned (floating):

  • Pinned — docked inline; it pushes the Workbench to the right, stays open, and is not dismissed by clicking away or pressing Esc.
  • Unpinned — floats as an overlay over the Workbench; clicking outside it or pressing Esc closes it.

Toggle the mode with the Pin button in each panel’s header (tooltip Pin panel open / Unpin panel). Drag the panel’s right edge to resize it (220–560px). There is no dedicated close button — toggle a panel with its rail icon, Esc, or by clicking away when floating.

Note: The Settings and Cookies views open as full-screen modals rather than as Peek panels.

The Omnibox

The single bar above the request panes is the URL input, method selector, and command palette all in one. It changes behavior based on what you type — a URL, a > command, a {{ variable, a pasted curl command, or a search. Full details are in Sending requests.

Tabs and the Workbench

The Workbench holds your open tabs and the request/response panes.

Tab kinds. A request tab shows the first three letters of its method (GET, POS, DEL), colored by method. Other tab kinds — environment, collection, flow, monitor, load test, mock, WebSocket — show an icon instead.

Opening tabs. Click the + at the end of the strip (or press ⌘T) for a new empty request. Click a saved request, environment, or flow to open it. Entity tabs reuse an existing tab if the same entity is already open.

Managing tabs:

  • Close — hover and click the ×, middle-click the tab, or press ⌘W for the active one.
  • Reorder — drag a tab along the strip.
  • Rename — double-click a tab’s title, type, and press Enter.
  • Pin — pinned tabs show a pin icon and persist across sessions; clicking × on a pinned tab unpins it rather than closing it.
  • Context menu — right-click a tab for Close Tab, Close Tabs to the Right, Close Tabs to the Left, Close All Other Tabs, and Close All Tabs.

Note: A tab with unsaved changes shows a small pulsing accent dot in place of its close button. See Sending requests for saving.

Focus and split. Press ⌘\ to cycle Workbench focus: both panes → response only → request only → both. Drag the divider between the request and response panes to resize the split (20–80%). The Toolbar’s layout toggle switches between side-by-side and stacked arrangements. With no tab open, the Workbench shows No tab open — Press ⌘T for a new request, or open one from the sidebar.

Workspaces

A workspace is a named container that scopes its own collections. Switch, create, rename, and delete workspaces from the Toolbar’s workspace switcher. Deleting a workspace prompts you to either move its collections to another workspace or delete them; you cannot delete the last remaining workspace.

The Status strip

The bottom bar shows a status dot on the left — Sending… (yellow) while a request is in flight, Ready (green) otherwise, and the status code plus duration after a response returns. The right side shows a compact hint row: ⌘↵ Send, ⌘K Commands, ⌘P Open, ⌘\ Focus, ⌘E Env, ⌘? Keys.

See also: Getting started · Sending requests · Settings · Keyboard shortcuts

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