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ADR 0076: UI/UX - the center of principles (coherent text from the canon)

Status: Accepted
Date: 2026-04-20

Purpose: one input ADR for the reader: how we think about the interface and experience, without going through dozens of records. Details, tables of terms and exceptions are in the original ADR and in cascadeide-philosophy-v1.md.

Canon of text below - files in snippets/ui/; wording changes are made there, this ADR sets the structure and Proposed/Accepted status for the UX “center”.

ADR Role
0021 cockpit, areas
0071 Principles of AI/assistant integration in the IDE - sovereignty, locality, invisibility
0060 Chord layer (FMS-style), S/T and overlay - keyboard-first extension (ADR 0013)
0075 pointer UI/

Outside ADR

Document Role
UI/principles.md UI/principles
Build: in GitHub raw {{ INCLUDE }} are not expanded - for reading “like a book”: dotnet script build-adr.csx (expanded 0076 will go into the general workbook) or collect HTML from the root docs/adr point by point after including 0076 in your adr-book.md.

Introduction

The goal is not a “second VS/Rider” in the sense of the UX profile: not endless panels and not cloud inline by default everywhere, but a consistent contour of attention (cockpit) and transparency regarding the code and repository. Below are two blocks: attention model, then product philosophy in a condensed form.

{{ INCLUDE: snippets/ui/0076-attention-and-zones.md }}

{{ INCLUDE: snippets/ui/0076-philosophy-not-second-vscode.md }}


Consequences

  • Onboarding and external reviews can link "start with 0076", then follow the links to full ADRs.
  • Expansion of the “center” - new sections in snippets/ui/ + new INCLUDE here; There is no need to duplicate long text in several ADRs unnecessarily.

Rejected alternatives

  • Link table only - not enough for a reader who wants one coherent text (see UI/principles.md as a map, not as a replacement for this ADR).
  • Duplicate the entire standard from 0021/0071 in this file - out of sync; canon remains in the original ADR+ snippets.