Dashboard

The dashboard is shown when no other view is active. It displays a customizable set of sections including commands, recent sessions, git status, and commit history.

Overview

The dashboard layout consists of sections arranged in a two-column grid (or single column on narrow screens). Each section has a header and displays content based on its type.

Default Sections

Section	Column	Description
Logo	Full width	ASCII art logo with random ANSI color
Commands	Left	Shows commands and their keybindings
Sessions	Left	Lists recent sessions with quick-open keys
Git Status	Right	Shows uncommitted file changes
Commit History	Right	Shows recent git commits

Configuration

Customize settings in ~/.nev/settings.json. See settings.md for how settings work.

Layout Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
dashboard.min-two-col-chars	int	160	Minimum width in characters for two-column layout
dashboard.pad-x	float	0.02	Horizontal padding as fraction of width (0-1)
dashboard.pad-y	float	0.02	Vertical padding as fraction of height (0-1)
dashboard.section-gap	float	0.01	Gap between sections as fraction of height (0-1)
dashboard.col-gap	float	0.02	Gap between columns as fraction of width (0-1)

Section Configuration

Sections are configured via the dashboard.sections setting. Each key in the object defines a section, with the value being the section properties:

Field	Type	Default	Description
name	string	(required)	Section type (see below)
title	string	same as name	Section header title
side	int	0	Column: -1 = full width, 0 = left, 1 = right
border	bool	true	Whether to draw a border around the section
maxItems	int	varies	Maximum number of items to display

Section Types

• logo - ASCII art logo. Supports a custom logos property (array of array of strings) to define custom ASCII art. Falls back to built-in logos.
• commands - Command list with keybindings
• sessions - Recent sessions list
• gitStatus - Git file status
• commitHistory - Git commit log

Logo

The logo type displays ASCII art with a random ANSI color. Custom logos can be defined using the logos property:

{
  "name": "logo",
  "border": false,
  "logos": [
    [
      " _   _  _____  _____ ",
      "| \\ | ||  ___||  ___|",
      "|  \\| || |__  | |__  ",
      "|     ||  __| |  __| ",
      "| |\\  || |___ | |___ ",
      "\\_| \\_/\\____/ \\____/ "
    ]
  ]
}

Each entry in the logos array is an array of strings representing the lines of one logo. One logo is randomly selected on each load.

Commands

The commands type reads its command list from the commands field:

{
  "name": "commands",
  "title": "Commands",
  "side": 0,
  "commands": ["command-line", "explore-help", "choose-file", "choose-open"]
}

Each command name is looked up in the active keybinding contexts (determined by editor.base-modes). All matching keys are displayed, sorted by length, with shortest first.

Sessions

The sessions type shows recent sessions. Keybindings for dashboard.session.open <index> are displayed next to each session.

Git Sections

gitStatus and commitHistory fetch data asynchronously. Use maxItems to limit the number of entries displayed (defaults: gitStatus=25, commitHistory=50).

Example Configuration

{
  "dashboard.pad-x": 0.03,
  "dashboard.pad-y": 0.02,
  "dashboard.col-gap": 0.01,
  "dashboard.sections": {
    "logo": { "name": "logo", "title": "", "border": false },
    "commands": {
      "name": "commands",
      "title": "Commands",
      "side": 0,
      "commands": ["command-line", "choose-file", "explore-files", "quit"]
    },
    "sessions": {
      "name": "sessions",
      "title": "Recent Sessions",
      "side": 0,
      "maxItems": 5
    },
    "gitStatus": {
      "name": "gitStatus",
      "title": "Git Status",
      "side": 1,
      "maxItems": 20
    },
    "commitHistory": {
      "name": "commitHistory",
      "title": "Commits",
      "side": 1,
      "maxItems": 30
    }
  }
}

Commands

Commands	Arguments	Description
dashboard.session.open	index (int)	Open recent session at index
dashboard.logo.randomize	none	Randomize logo style and color

Example keybindings (in the dashboard context):

{
  "dashboard": {
    "1": ["dashboard.session.open 0"],
    "2": ["dashboard.session.open 1"],
    "3": ["dashboard.session.open 2"],
    "r": ["dashboard.logo.randomize"]
  }
}