Customize preferences¶

Stillwater's Preferences drawer lets each user tune the interface to their liking. Changes are per-user, saved automatically, and take effect without reloading the page. Preferences are separate from application Settings (which control server behavior and require admin access).

Open the drawer¶

Three entry points in the next/ UI open the drawer:

Click Preferences in the left sidebar (the sliders icon near the bottom of the nav).
Click your avatar / user name at the very bottom of the sidebar.
Navigate directly to /next/preferences (a full-page fallback for bookmarks or when JavaScript is disabled).

The drawer slides in from the left, overlaying the sidebar. Press Esc or click the X button in the drawer header to close it.

Search preferences¶

A search box at the top of the drawer filters settings by name or help text as you type. Sections whose settings don't match the query collapse automatically; type opacity to jump straight to Background Opacity, font to see all typography controls, and so on. Clear the box to return to the full view.

Appearance¶

The Appearance section is expanded when the drawer opens.

Theme¶

Switches the color scheme for the entire application.

Option	Behavior
Light	White surfaces, dark text
Dark	Dark surfaces, light text
System	Follows your operating system's dark/light preference (auto)

Background Opacity¶

Sets the opacity of frosted-glass card surfaces, the sidebar, and the drawer itself. The slider ranges from 85% to 100% in steps of 5.

The global opacity floor is 85%. No surface in the app goes below this value -- at 85% cards and panels are subtly translucent over the backdrop; at 100% every surface is fully solid. Lite Mode (see below) ignores this slider and forces full opacity.

Layout¶

Controls how the left navigation bar appears when you load the app.

Option	Appearance
Full	Navigation icons plus text labels
Icon-only	Icons only; labels are hidden to reclaim horizontal space
Hidden	Sidebar removed entirely; access pages from the keyboard shortcut or the `[` key

You can also cycle the sidebar state at any time using the collapse/expand button in the sidebar header, or the [ key.

Content Width¶

Determines how wide the main content column grows.

Option	Description
Narrow	Caps line length at a comfortable reading measure regardless of screen size
Full	Expands content to the viewport edge so wide tables and image grids use every available pixel

Thumbnail Size¶

Sets the size of artist artwork in lists and the Action Queue on the Dashboard.

Option	Pixel size
Small	32 px
Medium	44 px (default)
Large	56 px

Layout Density¶

Controls vertical spacing in lists and grids.

Option	Effect
Compact	Tighter padding; fits more rows on screen
Comfortable	Balanced spacing (default)
Spacious	Extra padding; easier to scan each row

Page Size¶

Sets how many rows appear per page on the Artists list and Reports screens. The value is applied server-side and normalizes to the nearest multiple of 5 on blur. Accepted range: 10 to 500.

Typography¶

Font Family¶

The typeface used for all body copy, table rows, and UI labels.

Option	Description
Inter	Default; a geometric sans-serif designed for screens
System	Your operating system's native system font
Atkinson	Atkinson Hyperlegible; designed to boost legibility for low-vision readers

Inter and Atkinson Hyperlegible are bundled under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

Monospace Font¶

The typeface used for keyboard shortcut badges, IDs, timestamps, and code values.

Option	Description
System	Your operating system's native monospace font
JetBrains	JetBrains Mono; a programming font with clear glyph differentiation
Cascadia	Cascadia Code; Microsoft's coding font with ligature support

Font Size¶

Scales all text in the application off a single base size. The control is a five-stop slider.

Stop	Approximate size
Small	13 px
Medium	14 px (default)
Large	16 px
X-Large	18 px
XX-Large	20 px

Letter Spacing¶

Adjusts the horizontal gap between characters across the entire UI. Wide and Extra Wide are useful readability aids for users with dyslexia or low vision.

Option	Tracking
Normal	0 (default)
Wide	0.025 em
Extra Wide	0.05 em

Accessibility and Performance¶

Reduced Motion¶

Controls whether transitions and animations play.

Option	Behavior
Auto	Follows your operating system's "reduce motion" accessibility setting
Full	Plays all animations regardless of OS setting
Reduced	Disables animations regardless of OS setting

Lite Mode¶

Turns off visually expensive features in one switch: frosted-glass blur, CSS transitions, BlurHash image placeholders, and full-resolution prefetching. Use it if pages feel sluggish.

Option	Behavior
Off	All visual features enabled (default)
On	All expensive features disabled
Auto	Enables Lite Mode automatically when fewer than 4 CPU cores or less than 4 GB RAM are detected

When Lite Mode is active it overrides Background Opacity and forces fully solid surfaces.

Keyboard Hints¶

Toggles the inline keyboard-shortcut badges shown throughout the UI (for example the r badge next to Run Rules on the Dashboard).

Turning hints off removes the visual clutter; the full shortcut cheat sheet (accessible with ?) stays available regardless of this setting.

Behavior¶

Prefetch Images¶

When enabled, Stillwater automatically searches providers for artwork when you open an artist's image page. Turn it off if you prefer to trigger image searches manually or want to reduce bandwidth usage.

Notifications¶

Shows in-app toast messages when rule violations are detected during background evaluations. This controls in-app toasts only; email and webhook notifications are configured separately in Settings > Automation.

Language¶

Sets the interface language. Only English ships today; additional languages appear here as translations are contributed. Note: Biography language preferences (which metadata language to prefer from providers) are configured separately in Settings > Providers.

Artist Detail Layout¶

Reorder, show or hide, and collapse the sections on every artist's detail page. The sections available are:

Section	Contents
Details	Name, Sort Name, Type, Born/Formed, and other metadata fields
Artwork	Thumb, Fanart, Logo, and Banner image slots
Findings	Open rule violations for the artist
Providers	Source attributions per field
Discography	Album entries from the artist NFO
Identifiers	External provider IDs (MusicBrainz, AudioDB, Discogs, etc.)

To reorder sections:

Grab the drag handle (the dot-grid icon on the left of a row) and drag it to the desired position, or use the up/down arrow buttons on the right (keyboard-accessible fallback).
The new order saves automatically and takes effect on the next artist page you open.

To hide a section:

Click the eye button on the right of the row. The eye becomes crossed out and the row dims.
The section disappears from artist pages immediately.
Click the eye again to restore it.

To collapse a section in place:

Click the chevron button next to the section's heading. The section body hides and the chevron rotates; the header stays visible so you can still reorder or expand the section.
The collapsed state saves automatically and persists across reloads and across every artist page.
Click the chevron again to expand the section.

The hero image, artist name, and action bar at the top of each artist page are fixed chrome and are not reorderable.

Click Reset layout to restore the default section order, visibility, and expanded state (it also expands any sections you had collapsed).

Reset all preferences¶

The Reset to defaults button in the drawer footer restores every preference to its factory default. This affects all groups at once. Individual sections with a separate reset button (Artist Detail Layout) can be reset independently.