Dashboard/Crawler-Factory/Decisions/2026-05-03-TwoChromeRule.md
Crawler-Factory

Decisions/2026-05-03-TwoChromeRule.md

Decision — Two-Chrome Rule

Decision

Crawler Factory's UI uses two distinct chrome modes:

  1. Outer dashboard chrome — when browsing assets (the list of crawlers, dashboards across multiple crawlers, summaries).
  2. Focused workspace chrome — when operating one asset (configuring, monitoring, editing one specific crawler).

Entering a focused workspace fully replaces the outer chrome. Exiting (close X or Escape) returns to outer chrome. Never both at the same time.

Why

This is exactly how Algolia's existing dashboard works (verified in 32 screenshots, Session 2). When you click into a crawler, the entire outer chrome (Algolia mark, product rail, Data Sources sub-nav, top bar) is replaced by the focused workspace chrome (CRAWLER wordmark with green dot, scope indicator, three-section vertical nav, persistent top-right CTA, close X).

Reasons this works: - Cognitive focus. When operating a single asset, all UI affordances on the page should be relevant to that asset. Hiding the outer-dashboard chrome eliminates noise. - Spatial cue. The chrome change tells the user "you have entered something." The close X tells the user how to leave. - Scales to N modules. Each future Algolia Central module (Connectors, Transformer, Enrichment, Indexing, Agent Studio) gets its own focused workspace with its own wordmark. The pattern is shared; the wordmark differentiates.

How this affects Crawler Factory's redesign

The current Crawler Factory React UI is a 4-step horizontal wizard with a single chrome mode (top bar + side panel) that never changes. This is wrong. The redesign:

  • List view of crawlers lives in outer dashboard chrome. This is a new screen we don't have yet — currently we only have the wizard.
  • The 4-step wizard (Discover → Review → Configure → Crawl) is a creation flow that opens as a modal-or-overlay over the list view. When done, it drops the user into the new crawler's focused workspace.
  • Each crawler's detail view lives in focused workspace chrome with the three-section nav (SETUP / STATUS / CONFIGURATION), exactly matching Algolia's dashboard.
  • The persistent top-right CTA changes per state (see **2026-05-03-RunControlSurface**).

Open questions

Question Status
When Crawler Factory eventually merges into the main Algolia dashboard, what is the navigation path that gets a user into Crawler Factory? Open. Likely "Data sources → Crawlers → Crawler Factory" but needs Algolia internal product alignment.
Should the focused workspace's wordmark say "CRAWLER FACTORY" or just "CRAWLER" (matching Algolia)? Open. Default to "CRAWLER FACTORY" since that's our differentiation.

Source materials

  • 32 dashboard screenshots: **00-findings** §1 (the two-chrome rule)
  • Design pack §2.1: **01-design-language**