Features

Full-Text Search

Two-tier search. Quick mode searches session summaries, branches, repositories, and directories instantly as you type. Deep mode kicks in after 300ms and extends into conversation messages, checkpoint content, file paths, and external references — commits, PRs, and issues.

• 128-character input limit
• "Searching…" spinner while deep search runs
• Result count displayed in the header
• Quick results appear immediately; deep results stream in

Sorting

Six sort fields cycled with s: updated, created, turns, name, folder, frecency. Direction toggled with S (Shift+S). The active sort field and direction are shown in the header.

• Descending by default
• Ascending via S toggle
• Sort applies within groups when a pivot mode is active

Time Range Filtering

Four ranges via keys 1–4: last 1 hour, last 1 day (default), last 7 days, all time. Displayed as selectable badges in the header bar.

• Clickable badge buttons in the header
• Active range highlighted with a visual indicator
• Default range is "last 1 day"

Preview Position

Cycle the preview pane through four positions with the Pkey: right (default), bottom, left, and top. The chosen position is saved to configuration and restored on next launch.

• Right — preview beside the session list (default)
• Bottom — preview below the session list
• Left — preview to the left of the session list
• Top — preview above the session list

Launch Modes

Four launch modes: in-place (replaces the TUI), new tab, new window, and split pane (Windows Terminal only). Resume interrupted sessions with N. The default is configurable via settings. Override per-session with w (window), t (tab), or e (pane).

• Ctrl+double-click forces a new window
• Shift+double-click forces a new tab
• Pane mode supports directional splits: auto, right, down, left, up (see pane direction semantics below)
• Windows: uses wt commands for Windows Terminal
• macOS: supports Terminal.app and iTerm2
• Linux: detects and delegates to the active terminal emulator

Pane Direction Semantics

The pane_direction config value maps to Windows Terminal's-H / -V split-pane flags:

• down → -H — horizontal split (divider runs horizontally, new pane below)
• up → -H — horizontal split (WT controls actual placement)
• right → -V — vertical split (divider runs vertically, new pane right)
• left → -V — vertical split (WT controls actual placement)
• auto / empty — no flag; Windows Terminal decides automatically

Note: -H / -V control splitorientation only. Windows Terminal decides actual pane placement based on available space.

Launch behavior is platform-specific and adapts to the detected terminal. No screenshot — the result is a new Copilot CLI session opening in your configured terminal.

Attention Indicators

Colored dots next to each session show real-time AI activity status. Dispatch scans session-state directories for lock files and event logs to determine which sessions need your input, which are actively working, and which have gone quiet.

• Waiting (purple ●) — AI finished, waiting for your input
• Active (green ●) — AI is currently working
• Stale (yellow ●) — running but no activity for 15+ minutes
• Interrupted (orange ⚡) — session was killed by crash/reboot mid-work
• Idle (gray ○) — session not running
• n to jump to next waiting session
• N to resume all interrupted sessions
• R to scan work status across sessions with plans
• ! to open the attention status filter picker (includes "Has plan", "Favorites only", and work status rows)

Work Status Detection

Dispatch analyzes plan.md files to identify sessions with incomplete planned work. A three-pass scan chain runs automatically: quick plan parsing detects unchecked checkboxes, a full pass extracts task counts, and an optional AI pass uses the Copilot SDKanalyze_completion tool for deeper analysis. Sessions display colored dot indicators in the session list so you can spot unfinished work at a glance.

Status Indicators

• Complete (green ✓) — all planned tasks are done
• Incomplete (yellow !) — unchecked tasks remain (shows task count, e.g. "2/5 done")
• Analyzing (magenta ~) — scan in progress

Scan Chain

• Quick scan — parses plan.md for unchecked checkboxes and pending items
• Full scan — counts total/done tasks and extracts remaining items
• AI scan — Copilot SDK analyze_completion for nuanced completion analysis (requires API access)

Features

• Work status displayed in preview panel metadata (Work: ✓ Complete / ! Incomplete)
• Filter by work status via the ! status picker (incomplete, complete)
• Press R to scan work status across all sessions with plans
• Scans also run automatically on reindex and periodic attention ticks
• Continuation plans — sessions with remaining items get a "Remaining Work" section auto-appended to their plan.md

Session Favorites

* stars or unstars the currently selected session. Use the ! status picker "Favorites only" row to filter the list to show only favorited sessions. Starred sessions display a ★ indicator. Favorites are persisted in config as favoriteSessions.

• Per-session persistence — favorite state saved to config
• Star indicator (★) on favorited sessions in the list
• Quick filter to show only starred sessions

Tree View Navigation

When grouped (any pivot mode except flat), sessions display under collapsible folder headers. Each header shows the path and session count. Double-click a folder header to launch a new Copilot CLI session in that directory.

• ← to collapse, → to expand
• Folder icon changes between open and closed states
• Home directory paths abbreviated with ~

Word Filtering

Hide sessions whose name or conversation content contains specific words. Configure via the Settings panel (,) in the "Excluded Words" field. Enter a comma-separated list of words; matching is case-insensitive.

• Matches against session summary (the name shown in the list)
• Matches against user messages in conversation turns
• Case-insensitive: "MANDATORY" matches "mandatory", "Mandatory", etc.
• Multiple words: each word filters independently (OR logic)
• Persisted to config, applied on every session load

Shell Selection

Modal picker shown when multiple shells are detected. The default shell is listed first with a "(default)" label. Navigate with ↑/↓, select with Enter, cancel with Esc.

• Auto-detects installed shells: PowerShell, bash, zsh, fish, cmd.exe
• Default shell marked and listed first

Nerd Font Detection

Dispatch auto-detects whether a Nerd Font is active in your terminal. When detected, the UI uses rich Nerd Font icons for folders, files, sessions, and status indicators. When no Nerd Font is found, it falls back to clean ASCII icons.

• Automatic detection — no configuration needed
• Rich icons with Nerd Fonts, ASCII fallback without
• Works across all platforms and terminals

Install any Nerd Font ↗ (opens in a new tab)and set it as your terminal font to enable rich icons.

Help Overlay

? to show. Two-column layout with grouped keyboard shortcuts: Navigation, Search & Filter, View, Time Range, General. A short help bar is always visible in the footer.

• Grouped by category for quick scanning
• Persistent help bar in footer shows common shortcuts

Loading & Empty States

A loading spinner is shown while sessions are fetched from the database. An empty state message appears when no sessions match the current search query or active filters.

• Spinner visible on startup during initial database read
• Empty state differentiates "no results" from "no sessions"

Markdown Export

Press X to export the selected session (or all selected sessions) as a structured Markdown document. Exports include session metadata, full conversation history, checkpoints, referenced files, and external refs. Files are saved to ~/.config/dispatch/exports/.

• One Markdown file per session
• Multi-select support — export many at once with Space + X
• Status bar confirmation shows the exported file path
• Also available via the command palette (:)

Export creates self-contained Markdown suitable for archiving, sharing, or feeding into other tools. Secrets are redacted if redaction is enabled.

Git Status Overlay

Press i on any session to see the full Git status of the folder it is mapped to, without leaving the TUI. Git commands run under a bounded timeout so the interface never blocks.

• Current branch and upstream ref
• Push/pull stats — commits ahead to push and behind to pull
• Working-tree counts — staged, modified, untracked, deleted, and conflicts
• A scrollable changed-file list with status codes
• c copies a plain-text summary; Esc closes the overlay

The same push/pull stats also appear inline on each session row and in the preview pane's Git section.

Search Tokens

Type structured filters directly in the search bar for precise results. Tokens are parsed as you type and applied alongside free-text search.

• repo:name — filter by Git repository
• branch:name — filter by Git branch
• folder:path — filter by working directory
• host:name — filter by machine hostname
• status:waiting — filter by attention status
• has:plan — only sessions with a plan.md file
• is:favorite — only starred sessions
• is:hidden — show hidden sessions

Session Notes

Press m to attach a personal note to any session. Notes appear as a styled indicator in the session list and are displayed at the top of the preview pane. Stored locally in your config — never sent to the cloud.

• m to add or edit a note (up to 200 characters)
• Note indicator (📝) in session list for annotated sessions
• Full note text shown at the top of the preview pane
• Enter to save, Esc to cancel
• Clear a note by saving an empty value

Open Touched Files

Press F to open a file picker showing all files the selected session interacted with (edits, creates, views). Select a file to open it in your system editor.

• Files listed with their operation type (edit, create, view)
• Navigate with ↑/↓, open with Enter
• Warning shown if a file no longer exists on disk
• Esc to close without opening

Compare Sessions

Select two sessions (use Space to select) then press Dto see them side-by-side. The comparison shows metadata differences, file diffs, and reference variations with diff highlighting.

• Metadata comparison: directory, branch, timestamps, turn counts
• File diff: shows files unique to each session
• Reference diff: commits, PRs, issues unique to each side
• Scrollable with ↑/↓
• Esc to close

Demo Mode

dispatch --demo loads a fake session database for testing and screenshots. Non-destructive — the real session store is untouched. Every screenshot on this site was captured using demo mode.

• Synthetic sessions with realistic metadata
• Safe for experimentation — no data modified
• Used for all documentation screenshots

Run dispatch --demo in any terminal to try it.