ADR 0036: Split Settings into AI and Shortcuts destinations

• Status: Accepted
• Date: 2026-07-30
• Deciders: PI-Desktop core
• Related: D090, D133, ADR 0013, ADR 0026

Context

ADR 0026 froze the Settings directory at five destinations: Basics, Model configuration, Import, Project archive, and Info. Over time Basics accumulated six unrelated cards — Appearance, Defaults, Permissions, Context management, Keyboard shortcuts, and Developer — making the single page long to scan and burying two conceptually distinct concerns:

1. Global AI behavior (the permission mode that governs how autonomously the agent acts, and context management that governs how the agent compacts its context) is an AI-runtime concern, not a look-and-feel basic.
2. Keyboard shortcuts is a self-contained, frequently referenced surface that benefits from its own destination, especially now that the global search dialog and command palette route users to shortcut configuration.

The Model configuration destination already owns which provider/model the AI uses; the global AI-behavior controls currently share a page with theme and language, which is the wrong neighborhood. Developer mode is a system/advanced concern that fits better beside versions, logs, and updates than beside appearance.

Changing the frozen five-destination directory (D133) requires an explicit baseline decision rather than a silent rewrite.

Decision

Keep the full-page Settings shell, Back to app action, search control, rail metrics, content cards, and theme behavior unchanged. Replace the five- destination rail with seven destinations in this exact order:

1. Basics (general, Lucide SlidersHorizontal) — Appearance and Defaults
2. 全局 AI / AI (ai, Lucide Sparkles) — Permissions and Context management
3. Shortcuts (shortcuts, Lucide Keyboard) — Keyboard shortcuts
4. Model configuration (agent, Lucide Bot) — provider studio and default model
5. Import (import, Lucide Download) — session import
6. Project archive (projects, Lucide Archive) — durable project index
7. Info (about, Lucide Info) — versions, logs, updates, and Developer

Content moves only; no setting is added, removed, or renamed:

• Permissions and Context management cards move from Basics to the new AI destination.
• The Keyboard shortcuts card moves from Basics to the new Shortcuts destination.
• The Developer card moves from Basics to Info.
• Basics keeps only Appearance and Defaults.
• Model configuration, Import, Project archive, and their contents are unchanged.

Destination IDs ai and shortcuts are added to the settingsTab state union and the shared settings-search index (SETTINGS_NAV), so global Settings search surfaces the new destinations and deep-links to them. Provider setup deep links and model-menu actions continue to target Model configuration. Settings search indexes the relocated rows under their new owning destination.

Consequences

• Basics is shorter and focused on look-and-feel; AI behavior, shortcuts, and developer controls are each one click away without scrolling a single long page.
• The frozen five-destination count and order from D133/ADR 0026 is superseded for the destination count and ordering only; no IPC, host RPC, database, security, or project-activation contract changes.
• Specs and E2E scenarios that assert the exact five-item rail order must be updated to the seven-item order, including the assertion that there is "no Keyboard destination" (now reversed).
• Developer mode moves from Basics to Info; Settings search and the developer- tools gating behavior are unchanged.
• The shared settingsTab union and SETTINGS_NAV index grow by two entries; existing persisted/default tab (general) is unaffected.

Alternatives

Keep all six cards in Basics

Rejected because the single page is long to scan and groups unrelated concerns (appearance alongside AI permission policy and shortcut recording).

Merge AI behavior into Model configuration

Rejected because Model configuration owns which provider/model to use (a connection/identity concern), while permission mode and context compaction are runtime behavior concerns. Merging them overloads the provider studio page and hides global AI behavior behind provider setup.

Move Developer to a dedicated Advanced destination

Rejected because a one-card destination is not worth a rail row; Info already groups system/advanced surfaces (versions, logs, updates) and is the natural home for developer-tool gating.

References

• docs/spec/00-baseline.md
• docs/spec/04-ux/01-ui-ia.md
• docs/spec/04-ux/06-settings-ia.md
• docs/spec/06-delivery/04-e2e-test-plan.md
• docs/spec/08-meta/decisions-log.md (D166)