NeuralScio is a native desktop workspace, so a meaningful part of the product lives in the local UI: themes, reading surfaces, docks, tabs, status indicators, and WebEngine-backed panels. These controls are there to make long research sessions readable without changing the underlying research data.
Appearance
The desktop settings expose:
- built-in Dark, Light, and Black themes
- a Custom theme mode with editable colors for backgrounds, panels, text, buttons, accents, borders, shadows, glow, gradients, and patterns
- built-in background patterns for the main area and sidebars
- PNG background choices for the main workspace and sidebar areas, including custom PNG paths
- transparency controls for PNG backgrounds and UI controls
- theme-aware PDF, article, and web reading surfaces where the underlying renderer supports it
These are desktop preferences. Change one option at a time and restart normally if you need to check whether that preference persists. Desktop appearance is separate from the website's Black, Dark and Light theme selection.
Workspace Layout
Use the visible workspace tabs to switch between Results, Saved Articles, and Writer. Drag the divider beside the management sidebar to change its width, the divider between the Results list and reading area to resize that pane, or the left edge of the docked Help panel to resize Help.
In a verified 2560×1440 desktop run, the sidebar, Results splitter, and Help panel sizes returned after a normal close and relaunch with the same local profile. Dock hide/show and detach/reattach behavior were not verified in that run.
Open Workspace Layouts from the toolbar to use Layout Studio. It lists workspace windows, identifies which detached shells are eligible, and lets you choose a target monitor and preset. Keep the participating windows visible and stable on the target monitor. A detached Help window is not currently certified for Layout Studio placement because Help has a separate WebEngine lifecycle; a supported detached main tab such as Saved Articles can be used instead.
Select a preset and review the preview before choosing Apply. A preset named Equal columns can produce different window widths when participant windows have different native minimum sizes; the preview shows the fitted layout that Apply will use. In a verified two-window run, Apply rearranged the main window and detached Saved Articles window on one 2560×1440 monitor. Undo became available for that session and restored both windows to their exact original bounds. Persistence of an applied layout across restart has not been verified.
Help And AI Docks
Help and AI surfaces use WebEngine-backed UI where Qt WebEngine is available. In headless, test, or constrained environments, WebEngine-related behavior can be disabled or limited by the build and runtime environment.
In the tested desktop build, right-clicking the Help dock title bar opened a panel list that could hide or show Help. Dragging the Help title bar away from the main window detached it into a separate NeuralScio window. Closing that detached window reattached Help, and the Help tabs remained usable during detachment. These interactions were verified for Help only; other panels may have different controls.
Status And Comfort Controls
Settings also include several session-level comfort controls where available:
- resource monitor visibility
- session clock and Pomodoro status
- AI token counter visibility and reset behavior
- interface sounds, button animations, and tips
- frameless/native window chrome settings
Window chrome and live-resize behavior are platform-sensitive. Treat these as desktop UI controls, not as a guarantee that every platform-specific resize edge case is resolved.
Choose an appearance
- Open Settings and use the appearance or theme area available in your build.
- Preview a built-in theme before selecting custom colors or images.
- Change one background or transparency option at a time so that a contrast issue is easy to identify.
- Keep a readable text/background contrast and check both the main workspace and sidebar.
- Restart once if you need to confirm that the selected appearance persists.
Desktop appearance and the website's Black, Dark and Light themes are separate settings. Website illustrations must be captured and selected for each website theme; a desktop screenshot does not automatically adapt to the website palette.
If a panel or theme choice is unavailable
Panel controls vary by build and platform. If a Layout Studio preset or Apply is disabled, check which windows are selected, whether their detached shell is supported, and whether the preview fits the target monitor. Help's detached WebEngine shell is not certified for placement. Use only enabled controls; do not try to bypass a placement restriction. Window chrome and live resizing can also differ by operating system.
What This Does Not Change
Workspace customization does not change provider results, AI calculations, citation parsing, PDF extraction, billing, or entitlement behavior. It only changes how the desktop workspace is presented and arranged on your machine.