Appearance
The new tab
Everything outside the apps themselves: the dock, the search bar, the wallpaper, the home cards, and where the settings actually are.
The dock
Your installed apps sit along the bottom. Click one to open it.
- Clicking a running app closes it. The dock is a toggle, not a taskbar — if a window is already open, clicking its icon puts it away.
- Right-click a tile for two options: Open, and Pin to the left (or Unpin from the dock). Pinned apps stay in a fixed cluster on the left; the rest scroll.
- A small badge shows a count on some apps: open tasks on Tasks, unread books on PDF Library.
Apps you have not installed are not in the dock. Add them from the App Store — the grid button, top right.
The search bar
Focused automatically on every new tab, so you can just start typing. Enter a search, or paste a URL to go straight there.
Searches go to your browser's own search engine — whichever one you have set in Chrome. KimtOS does not choose one for you and has no engine setting of its own, so changing your default in Chrome changes what this bar does. Paste a full URL (one starting http:// or https://) and it goes straight there instead of searching; anything else is a search, so typing package.json looks it up rather than guessing at a website.
The bar has a second mode. In Settings ▸ Preferences ▸ Search input, choose KimtAI instead of Web search, and the bar becomes "Ask KimtAI anything…" — whatever you type opens the AI chat with your question already sent.
Wallpaper
The bar in the bottom right has three buttons: Shuffle wallpaper, Favorite this wallpaper (the star), and Toggle full screen.
By default the wallpaper follows your theme — a light one in light mode, a dark one in dark mode. It does not change on every new tab. Press Shuffle to change it, or ★ Favorite one to pin it so it stays.
Settings ▸ Wallpaper has the gallery. You can Upload a wallpaper of your own (up to 25 MB; it is cropped to fit your screen and pinned automatically), delete any you have added, or Restore default wallpapers to bring back the ones that ship with KimtOS.
To soften the wallpaper behind your text, use Settings ▸ Personalization ▸ Background blur.
The home cards
Optional cards above the dock. Each is switched on or off in Settings ▸ Preferences, under Home screen:
| Card | What it shows | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Trending | One article from DEV, Hacker News or Lobsters. Click the circular arrow for another. | Pin Readit |
| Today | Up to five open tasks, overdue first. Tick one to complete it. | Pin today's tasks |
| Continue reading | Your most recent PDFs — click to resume. | Pin last read book |
| Notes | Recent collections, and a shortcut to make a new one. | Pin notes |
| Weather | Local conditions. Asks your browser for your location the first time. | Pin weather |
| Focus | A Pomodoro timer — 25, 15 or 5 minutes. Keeps running across new tabs. | Pin focus timer |
| Tips | The rotating hint line under the dock. | Show tips |
Two things worth knowing:
- The setting is called Pin Readit, but the card is titled Trending. Same thing.
- A card with nothing to show hides itself. Turn on Pin notes before you have written any notes and you will see nothing — that is the card waiting, not a bug.
The KimtAI and NotaBoard cards appear automatically when those apps are installed.
Where the settings are
There is no gear icon. Click your avatar in the top right, then Settings.
Seven sections, and two of them are not where you would guess:
| Section | What is in it |
|---|---|
| Personalization | Your display name, and the background blur slider |
| Wallpaper | The gallery, uploads, restore defaults |
| Preferences | The light/dark theme, the search input mode, the clock, and all the home-card switches |
| Apps | Per-app settings, grouped by app |
| Data | Export and import your backup |
| Account | Sign in, your plan, billing, sign out |
| About | Version, report an issue |
Looking for dark mode?
It is Settings ▸ Preferences ▸ Appearance — System, Light or Dark. Not under Personalization, which is where most people look first.
Keyboard shortcuts
KimtOS is mostly mouse-driven, with one global shortcut and a few inside apps.
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Alt+Shift+V | Open your clipboard history to paste an earlier item — works on any page |
| Alt+Shift+1 / 2 / 3 | Paste the 1st, 2nd or 3rd most recent clip straight into the field you are typing in |
| ⌘/Ctrl+Enter | Submit, in Tasks, Rewordit and Thoth |
| ⌘/Ctrl+F | Find, inside Notes |
The clipboard shortcuts need the Clipboard app installed.