Configuration
Configuration options and persistence — how Rift Panel stores your preferences, workspace layouts, and session state.
Settings
Open the settings panel with Ctrl+, to configure Rift Panel to your preferences. Settings are applied immediately and persisted to local storage.
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Theme | Visual theme for the application. Controls all color tokens and surface styles. | Dark |
| Default Shell | The shell executable used when creating new Shell sessions. Detected automatically on first launch. | System default (bash, zsh, or PowerShell) |
| Default Working Directory | The initial working directory for new sessions. If unset, sessions start in the user's home directory. | ~ |
| Font Size | Terminal font size in pixels. Applies to all xterm.js terminal emulators. | 14 |
| Font Family | Monospace font used in terminal panels. Falls back to the system monospace font if the specified font is unavailable. | System monospace |
| Scrollback Lines | Maximum number of lines retained in the terminal scrollback buffer per session. | 5000 |
Settings changes take effect immediately for all open sessions. You do not need to restart Rift Panel or re-create sessions after changing a setting.
Persistence
Rift Panel persists all workspace state to the browser's localStorage API provided by the Tauri webview. State is saved automatically whenever the workspace changes — there is no manual save step.
The persistence layer uses a versioned schema (currently schema v7) to structure stored data. When Rift Panel launches and detects stored data from an older schema version, it runs an automatic migration to upgrade the data to the current schema. Migrations are non-destructive — they add new fields with sensible defaults and restructure existing data without discarding it.
Schema Versioning
Each schema version is identified by a numeric version number stored alongside the persisted data. The migration pipeline applies each incremental migration in sequence. For example, data at schema v5 is migrated through v5 to v6, then v6 to v7, before being loaded by the application.
// Stored state structure
{
"schemaVersion": 7,
"workspace": { ... },
"settings": { ... },
"presets": [ ... ]
}Schema migrations run automatically on launch. If a migration fails, Rift Panel falls back to the default workspace configuration and logs the error to the developer console.
Data Storage
The following categories of data are saved to local storage:
Panel Layout Tree
The full recursive binary tree structure that defines your workspace layout. This includes every split direction (horizontal or vertical), the size ratio between sibling panels, the nesting depth, and which panel is currently focused. When you reopen Rift Panel, the exact same panel arrangement is restored.
Session Metadata
For every open session, Rift Panel stores the session type (Shell, Claude Code, or Codex), the working directory, the custom label (if set), and the tab position within its host panel. On restore, sessions are re-created with matching parameters — a new PTY process is spawned with the same type and working directory.
Output Buffers
Terminal scrollback content from the most recent session run is stored up to the configured scrollback limit. This allows you to review previous output after restarting the application, though the underlying process is no longer running.
Workspace Presets
Saved workspace presets capture a snapshot of the current panel layout and session configuration. Presets are stored as named entries in local storage and can be loaded at any time to restore a particular workspace arrangement. You can create, rename, and delete presets from the command palette or settings panel.
Reset
To reset Rift Panel to its default configuration:
- Open the command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P.
- Type Reset to Defaults and select the command.
- Confirm the reset in the dialog. This clears all persisted state — settings, workspace layout, session metadata, and saved presets.
After a reset, Rift Panel restarts with a single empty panel and all settings at their default values. Workspace presets are permanently deleted.
Resetting configuration is irreversible. If you want to preserve your current layout before resetting, save it as a workspace preset first — though note that the reset will delete all presets as well. Consider exporting your preset manually if you need a backup.
You can also reset configuration manually by clearing Rift Panel's local storage entry from the Tauri webview developer tools (Ctrl+Shift+I, then Application > Local Storage).