AidaIDE User Guide

Welcome to AidaIDE — the terminal-first IDE for SSH, fleet management, embedded/IoT workflows, and AI agent hierarchies.

This guide is organized by what you see on screen. Each chapter walks through one part of the UI, defines its terms, and ends with a Terms & Setup section that explains anything the chapter assumes you already have (a working SSH server, an API key, a license, etc.).

If you know the name of the thing you are looking for, jump to the Keyword Index and it will point you at the right chapter and section.

How to read this guide

Bold UI text matches what you see on screen — menu items, button labels, tab names.
code is exactly what you type or copy.
"Click File → Open File…" means open the File menu and pick Open File….
Shortcut hints follow the Windows convention: Ctrl+S. On macOS substitute ⌘+S.
Every chapter has a Terms & Setup section at the end. If a step says "Use your SSH credentials," and you do not have any, follow the link there.

Chapters

Getting Started — From a fresh install to the main window. Vault unlock, splash, first-run wizards, what every part of the screen is called.
SSH Devices and Connections — The primary workflow. Add a host, connect, save credentials, manage keys.
File Browser and Editor — Local and remote files, the code editor, split panes, find/replace, run-file.
LCOT Panel — The Local Chain of Thought panel. READ vs. WRITE zones, the Sysadmin Quick Toolkit, adding your own commands.
Fleet Management — Manage many devices at once. Fleet Manager, Deploy Lite, OTA updates.
Network Tools — Scanner, topology map, packet capture, traffic analyzer, diagnostics.
Security Tools — Vulnerability/CVE/secret/SAST scanners, certificate inventory, PKI, IP ACL, compliance.
AI Assistant and Sidebar — Inline AI suggestions, chat, Claude Agent Manager, AI workflows, persona portal.
AI Hierarchy Builder — The SoC/IC canvas. Build, wire, and run multi-agent pipelines.
Cameras — ONVIF/RTSP discovery, Camera Manager, grid viewers.
Databases — Connect to MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis. Query Editor.
Sysadmin Tools — Windows management, patching, configuration, containers, alerts, backup/DR.
Settings, Themes, Preferences — The seven-section settings panel, themes, layout modes, display tweaks.
Shortcuts and Command Palette — Default shortcuts, Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P), Feature Browser, custom bindings.
Plugins, Widgets, Marketplace — Install, manage, and create plugins and widgets.
Workspaces and Layouts — Save layouts, switch between Classic Tabs and Grid, restore on next launch.
Updates, Licensing, Support — Enter a license key, check for updates, file a bug, contact support.
Troubleshooting & FAQ — Symptom-first lookup for "it broke" moments. Cheapest fix first; how to file a useful bug.
Glossary — Every term defined across the guide, consolidated A–Z with chapter cross-references.
Quick Reference (Cheat Sheet) — Single printable page. Every CLI flag, environment variable, file path, default port, and full shortcut table consolidated. Plus a per-OS quirks list and top "how do I…?" one-liners.
Cloud Portal and Web Access — Browser access via aidaide.app, guest passes, remote desktop in a tab, web dashboards, web Hierarchy Composer.
Input Devices in the Browser — Touch gestures, virtual cursor, on-screen shortcut bar, international keyboard layouts (QWERTZ/AZERTY/ES), presence and spectate.

Quick start (one-minute path)

Launch AidaIDE. Enter your master password to unlock the vault. (Brand-new install? Create a master password — write it down.)
The cyan $_ splash plays for ~4 seconds, then the main window opens.
The toolbar at the top has a New Tab button (+). Click it.
Pick an existing connection from the dropdown, or click Connection Manager (≡ icon) to add a host.
Once connected, the left pane is your terminal, the middle pane is the file browser/editor, and the right pane is LCOT — your one-click command library.

For anything more involved, open the relevant chapter above.

Where help lives inside the app

Help → User Guide — Opens this guide in a polished in-app viewer with TOC, cross-chapter search, bookmarks, light/dark theme, font zoom, and reader mode. See Chapter 14 §User Guide viewer for the keyboard shortcuts; Ctrl+I jumps to the Keyword Index, Ctrl+P copies the current chapter to the clipboard, F11 is reader mode.
Help → Welcome Guide — Short overview of the IDE.
Help → Setup Wizard — Re-runs the first-run wizard.
Help → Ask Macy (Interactive Guide) — Voice-narrated guided tour, including the 16-section Hierarchy Builder tour.
Help → Documentation — Opens the online docs at aidaide.app.
Help → Bug Reports / Report a Bug — Captures logs and opens a report.
Help → Check for Updates — Pulls a manifest from updates.aidaide.app.
View → Feature Browser — Searchable list of every feature tab, grouped by category. If you cannot remember where something is, this is the fastest path.
View → Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) — Type a few letters of anything (menu items, tabs, settings) and it jumps you there.

Layout reminders

The main window has three usable docks plus the menu/toolbar:

Left (sidebars) — Connections, Files (local + remote tree), AI sidebar.
Center (notebook) — Connection tabs on the left, feature tabs (Fleet Manager, Security Scanner, etc.) on the right.
Right (LCOT) — One-click READ/WRITE scripts for the currently focused connection. Hidden on feature tabs.

Switch layouts via View → Layout Mode (Classic Tabs or Grid).

Conventions used in this guide

Cyan = the AidaIDE brand accent (#4DE4E4). When you see a cyan lin

Using the User Guide viewer

The window you are reading right now is the AidaIDE User Guide viewer (Help → User Guide). It is built to feel like a small book reader:

Sidebar TOC. Chapters in the top list; click any chapter to open it. Expand the triangle to drill into the chapter's H2 sections — clicking a section jumps directly to that heading.
Search. Click in the search box (or press Ctrl+F), type, and hit Enter for Next, Shift+Enter for Prev. F3 and Shift+F3 work too. Esc clears the search.
Chapter navigation. ◂ Prev / Next ▸ in the toolbar and footer. Or Alt+Left / Alt+Right, or Ctrl+PgUp / Ctrl+PgDn. Ctrl+Home jumps to the first chapter, Ctrl+End to the last.
Font zoom. Ctrl+= makes everything bigger, Ctrl+- smaller, Ctrl+0 resets. The TOC sidebar follows the body font.
Index button. The 📖 Index toolbar button (Ctrl+I) jumps to the Keyword Index — fastest way to find a term whose name you remember.
Theme toggle. The ◐ Theme button (Ctrl+L) flips between dark and light palettes. Your choice is remembered for next time.
Reader mode. Reader in the toolbar (or F11) hides the toolbar, footer, and sidebar for distraction-free reading. F11 or Esc to come back.
Clickable cross-references. Any [link](anchor) inside a chapter — like the chapter links above — is clickable and navigates within the viewer. Try clicking SSH Devices below to see it in action.
Web docs button. Opens the same guide at https://aidaide.app/docs in your browser.

The viewer remembers the last chapter you were reading, your font size, theme, reader-mode state, last search term, and sidebar width. State lives in ~/.aidaide/user_guide_state.json (or %APPDATA%\AidaIDE\user_guide_state.json on Windows).

Tip. If you ever lose your place, Ctrl+I always lands you at the keyword index.