Perplexity — Home

AI ChatSee it liveperplexity.ai

An answer-engine home where the composer is the entire product: one question as the headline, one oversized input carrying its own mode chips and model picker, and two cards that teach the modes.

Perplexity — Home — captured interface — Page excerpt · scroll inside to explore

Source capture · 2026-08-09Open full image ↗

Navigation AI interfaces

Why this pattern works

Mode chips inside the composer. Instead of tabs or a nav switch, Perplexity puts the product's two modes — 'Search' (with a dropdown chevron) and 'Computer' — as toggle chips INSIDE the input card's bottom row, next to the + attach button, the Model picker, and the mic. Switching what the app does is part of composing the request, not a navigation act, and the input becomes a self-documenting command surface. The two suggestion cards below ('Search anything' / 'Get work done with Computer', the second wearing a NEW badge) each explain one mode in a title plus two grey lines, so the empty state doubles as the feature tour. Steal this for any multi-mode AI product: modes live in the composer, and the empty state's suggestions map one-to-one onto those modes.

Design notes

Surface: Logged-out home: notice banner, left sidebar, and the centred ask-anything hero with suggestion cards
Navigation: A ~240px light sidebar: logomark and collapse icon up top, then icon+label items at ~15px — New (with a + in a dark circle), Computer, Artifacts, Customize — followed by two collapsible sections, 'Projects' and 'Sessions', each showing a quiet grey empty line ('No projects', 'No recent sessions'). Two icon buttons float top-right of the main pane.
Layout: Sidebar plus one centred column. The hero stack — eyebrow, headline, input card, suggestion-card pair — sits slightly above vertical centre; everything else is off-white breathing room. A full-width teal notice banner runs across the very top.
Density: Extremely sparse. One headline, one input, two cards. The sidebar holds six items and two empty sections. The screen bets everything on the composer.
Color: Warm off-white canvas with a paper feel, near-black text, grey secondary text. The accent is a deep teal, spent on the top banner, the submit button in the input, and small highlights; the active 'Computer' chip gets a light tint. No other colour anywhere.
Type: A quiet serif-inflected face for the headline — 'What do you want to know?' at ~32px regular, warm not shouty — over a tiny grey 'Search' eyebrow at ~13px. Sidebar and chips at ~14-15px; card titles ~15px medium with ~13px grey body lines.
Pattern: The composer as command surface: a large rounded input card (~640px wide) whose bottom row is a toolbar — + attach, a 'Search ⌄' chip, a 'Computer' chip, then right-aligned Model ⌄ picker, mic icon, and a round teal submit button. Every capability of the product is physically attached to the box where you type.
States: A fresh-account state that stays composed: Projects and Sessions sections render with grey one-line empties instead of hiding, the input shows a teaching placeholder ('Type / for search modes'), and the suggestion cards stand in for history. The NEW badge marks the newer mode without redesigning anything.
Don't: Don't move the mode switch out of the composer into tabs or the sidebar — the input stops being the product. And don't add a second accent: the page's calm depends on teal being the only saturated thing on an off-white field.

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Prompt text

# My project
[Describe the product, audience, and screen you want to improve]

Stack: Use the existing project stack
Task: Implement the interface and verify the result in the existing project.

## Tool guidance (Any AI tool)
Use available project tools to inspect, implement, and test. State any unavailable capabilities.

# Design reference: Perplexity — Home
Source: https://www.perplexity.ai
Swipefile reference: https://swipefile.design/ref/perplexity-chat/
Captured: 2026-08-09. This is a dated reference, not a claim about the current live product.
Capture scope: a page excerpt. Do not infer unseen sections or interactions.

## Objective
Adapt the interaction and layout patterns below to my project. Use my own content and identity. Do not reproduce logos, proprietary copy, or brand assets.

## Reference notes
- surface: Logged-out home: notice banner, left sidebar, and the centred ask-anything hero with suggestion cards
- nav: A ~240px light sidebar: logomark and collapse icon up top, then icon+label items at ~15px — New (with a + in a dark circle), Computer, Artifacts, Customize — followed by two collapsible sections, 'Projects' and 'Sessions', each showing a quiet grey empty line ('No projects', 'No recent sessions'). Two icon buttons float top-right of the main pane.
- layout: Sidebar plus one centred column. The hero stack — eyebrow, headline, input card, suggestion-card pair — sits slightly above vertical centre; everything else is off-white breathing room. A full-width teal notice banner runs across the very top.
- density: Extremely sparse. One headline, one input, two cards. The sidebar holds six items and two empty sections. The screen bets everything on the composer.
- color: Warm off-white canvas with a paper feel, near-black text, grey secondary text. The accent is a deep teal, spent on the top banner, the submit button in the input, and small highlights; the active 'Computer' chip gets a light tint. No other colour anywhere.
- typography: A quiet serif-inflected face for the headline — 'What do you want to know?' at ~32px regular, warm not shouty — over a tiny grey 'Search' eyebrow at ~13px. Sidebar and chips at ~14-15px; card titles ~15px medium with ~13px grey body lines.
- pattern: The composer as command surface: a large rounded input card (~640px wide) whose bottom row is a toolbar — + attach, a 'Search ⌄' chip, a 'Computer' chip, then right-aligned Model ⌄ picker, mic icon, and a round teal submit button. Every capability of the product is physically attached to the box where you type.
- states: A fresh-account state that stays composed: Projects and Sessions sections render with grey one-line empties instead of hiding, the input shows a teaching placeholder ('Type / for search modes'), and the suggestion cards stand in for history. The NEW badge marks the newer mode without redesigning anything.
- dont: Don't move the mode switch out of the composer into tabs or the sidebar — the input stops being the product. And don't add a second accent: the page's calm depends on teal being the only saturated thing on an off-white field.

Useful for: Mode chips inside the composer. Instead of tabs or a nav switch, Perplexity puts the product's two modes — 'Search' (with a dropdown chevron) and 'Computer' — as toggle chips INSIDE the input card's bottom row, next to the + attach button, the Model picker, and the mic. Switching what the app does is part of composing the request, not a navigation act, and the input becomes a self-documenting command surface. The two suggestion cards below ('Search anything' / 'Get work done with Computer', the second wearing a NEW badge) each explain one mode in a title plus two grey lines, so the empty state doubles as the feature tour. Steal this for any multi-mode AI product: modes live in the composer, and the empty state's suggestions map one-to-one onto those modes.

## Acceptance criteria
- Existing project conventions, design tokens, working functionality, and unrelated changes are preserved.
- Two or three reference principles clearly support the user's task; conflicts are resolved in favor of usability and the existing product.
- Reusable components and semantic HTML express the interface. Available licensed assets are used; important UI text is never rendered as a bitmap.
- Every visible control has a defined behavior. Loading, empty, error, success, disabled, and long-content states are specified where relevant. Demo data is clearly labeled.
- Navigation and content adapt at 375px, 768px, and 1440px without horizontal page overflow. Keyboard use, visible focus, labeled inputs, at least 44px touch targets, readable contrast, and reduced motion are supported.
- Verification distinguishes rendered behavior from proposals and identifies anything still requiring a backend or external service.

## Quality bar
Clear hierarchy, consistent spacing, restrained surfaces, and purposeful motion. Avoid decorative gradients, excessive cards, placeholder buttons, and invented metrics unless the project calls for them. Do not claim a feature is connected or tested without evidence.

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## Objective
Adapt the interaction and layout patterns below to my project. Use my own content and identity. Do not reproduce logos, proprietary copy, or brand assets.

Perplexity — Home

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