orqos · unified sidebar mockups

Ten interactive prototypes for one idea: the sidebar shows every session from every server in one list, filterable per server — and New Chat lets you pick the target server (or let Orq pick) with per-model usage limits visible before you commit. All ten share the real Orq OS design tokens and the real fleet (Mac Mini, Hetzner, Mac Mini 2, Orq VPS 1–3; VPS 2 is shown offline). In every mockup the filters work, and the compose button (top right of the chat pane) opens the New Chat dialog. The floating bar bottom-right jumps between variants and cycles Light / Dark / Obsidian themes.

How visible should servers be?

The ten variants span a dial — from “servers are a first-class filter” to “servers disappear behind Auto”.
1Filter Chips

A chip row above the list — All plus one chip per server with live count and health. Rows carry a small server avatar. The safest, most conventional read.

Server visibility: high · Dialog: server cards with full meters + Auto
2Server Rail

A slim Discord-style avatar rail on the far edge. One glance shows fleet health; one click filters. Keeps the list itself clean.

Server visibility: high, but spatially separated · Dialog: avatar row + detail panel
3Grouped by Server

One scroll, sticky collapsible per-server sections with usage chips in the headers. A toggle flips to a flat recency view.

Server visibility: structural · Dialog: rich dropdown + capacity panel
4Unified Switcher

The minimal-change option: today’s server switcher stays where it is, but becomes a filter that defaults to “All servers”. Easiest to ship.

Server visibility: medium · Dialog: dropdown field + capacity panel
5Server Tabs

A scrollable tab strip — ALL plus one tab per server. Familiar browser-tab mental model; counts at a glance.

Server visibility: high · Dialog: segmented control + detail card
6Command Bar

Search-first: filter tokens (server:, repo:, status:) become removable pills. Powerful once learned, invisible until needed.

Server visibility: on demand · Dialog: Auto + expandable comparison table
7Color Keys

The quietest visible option: a 2px color strip per row keyed to its server, with a clickable legend. Nothing else changes.

Server visibility: low, ambient · Dialog: compact color-keyed rows
8Fleet Strip

Small server cards (health, sessions, worst-limit bar) in a horizontal strip that doubles as a multi-select filter. The most ops-flavored.

Server visibility: high + capacity · Dialog: card grid with full meters
9Smart Facets chosen ✓

A facet panel (servers, repos, status) behind one funnel button, with filter pills. The dialog ranks servers by headroom for the model you picked.

Server visibility: on demand · Dialog: model-aware ranked list
10Invisible Fleet

The thesis extreme: no server UI at all in daily use. Auto-routing by headroom; servers appear only on row hover, in a fleet overlay, and behind “choose manually”.

Server visibility: none by default · Dialog: Auto + best-per-model + manual disclosure

Round 2 — ten UI interpretations of V9 · Smart Facets

V9 won on functionality: one funnel → facet panel (servers / repos / status, OR within, AND across), removable filter pills, and a New Chat dialog that ranks servers by headroom for the model you picked. These ten keep that behavior identical and vary only the visual language.
9·1Data Grid

Ultra-dense ops console: single-line rows, square corners, mono server codes, aligned columns. Maximum information per pixel.

Voice: terse, technical
9·2Soft Cards

Airy and rounded: sessions as floating cards, filled search field, soft-shadow facet sheet, filled chips. The gentlest read.

Voice: calm, spacious
9·3Terminal

Full TUI: monospace everywhere, ❯ prompt search, [x] checkbox rows, bracketed tabs, token-style pills. For the terminal-native.

Voice: hacker
9·4Editorial

Magazine typography: serif titles, hairline rules, no hover fills, filters in a full-height slide-over drawer, italic text-link pills.

Voice: literary
9·5Glass Layers

Translucent depth: floating frosted sidebar, blurred facet popover, glowing accents and meter fills over a soft gradient wash.

Voice: futuristic
9·6Inbox

Linear-style flatness — and the filters expand inline between tabs and list as checkbox chips instead of an overlay.

Structural twist: inline disclosure, no overlay
9·7Bubble

Chunky rounded surfaces, segmented pill tabs, server-hued pills — and the facet panel arrives as a bottom sheet with a grab handle.

Structural twist: bottom sheet
9·8Outline

Flat brutalism: 2px borders, hard offset shadows, solid accent blocks, square status marks, thick outlined meters. Loudest hierarchy.

Voice: bold, graphic
9·9Split Dock

Filters as a persistent inline column that the funnel slides open beside the list; the dialog gains a two-pane ranked-list + detail layout.

Structural twist: docked column, two-pane dialog
9·10Zen Production

The implementation candidate: V9 rendered strictly in the app’s existing component recipes (context-menu panel, repo-chip pills, backend-card rank rows). Nothing new to design.

Voice: ship it
What to judge each on: (1) how fast you can answer “what’s running right now, anywhere?”, (2) how naturally you’d target a server with headroom when starting a chat, (3) how much chrome it adds to a 296px sidebar, and (4) how well it scales past six servers. Variants 1, 4 and 7 are the least disruptive to the current app; 9 and 10 lean hardest into the “one seamless frontend, Orq delegates” idea — mixable, e.g. v10’s Auto-first dialog works with any sidebar variant.