Helios / Features
The whole task belongs in view.
Use the conversation to work with your agent, and the workspace beside it to inspect what the work produced.
Short loops show real Helios 0.114.4 interactions with a fictional project and staged provider replies. Watch the narrated full tour and transcript →
Find the right thread
Projects and sessions in one sidebar.
Follow conversations by project, return to a saved session, and see which work is active or needs an answer. The transcript brings streaming text, code, thinking and tool results into one readable view.
Each conversation keeps its working folder and provider identity. A new chat can use another project without losing the task you were following.
Start with the folder
Ctrl + Shift + N opens a chat in a chosen folder. Fresh chats in the home directory are read-only, so choose the actual project before asking for edits.
Make the choice visible
Model, effort and permissions.
The toolbar above the composer holds the model picker and Execution control. Select from the models your provider advertises, with its supported reasoning levels and permission modes.
Native questions and approval dialogs are shown where the provider supports them. Context and usage information help you follow a session; quota windows and cost estimates depend on what the provider reports.
Keep the objective separate from the plan
A Work can carry the objective, definition of done and acceptance checklist you chose. The model’s evolving plan is a separate record. Completing a plan step does not prove the whole task is finished.
Bring the context
A prompt, a file and the next step.
Write a task in the composer, reference a project file or attach the context it needs, then review the message before sending. Supported providers also accept images and screenshots.
Keep a follow-up ready while a reply is running. Session and provider capabilities determine which attachment and queue controls are available.
Make the task concrete
Name the file or behaviour you want changed and say how you will check the result.
Read the messages and attachments guide →
Look at the result
A browser beside the conversation.
Open local HTML, reports or a development server in a tabbed WebKit browser. Use back, forward, reload and the address bar as you would expect. It keeps a separate browser profile for its own sign-ins.
Supported providers can open, read and screenshot the preview, inspect console output, and interact with page elements through Helios browser tools. The project’s files and loopback previews use the project scope; other destinations require the browser’s consent flow.
Pages are untrusted content. Browsing a page yourself does not automatically share it with an agent. Gemini’s Antigravity integration uses its own browser.
Open Browser
Press Ctrl + Shift + B. Enter a local address such as localhost:5173 or a file path. Use the camera button, labelled Add a screenshot of this page to the chat, to attach a snapshot when you want the agent to see it.
Run it yourself
A terminal in the project’s directory.
The Terminal pane provides shell tabs next to the chat. Run a test, inspect a command or start a development server without leaving the workbench.
Send to chat puts selected terminal text into the composer for you to review; it does not send the message automatically. Supported run configurations can start a local app and open its preview.
Real shell, real commands
The terminal uses your shell and project environment. Review the command before running it. It needs the VTE library on source installs.
Read the diff
Git changes, checkpoints and a way back.
The Changes pane shows the working tree’s modifications. Review the diff and choose what to stage or commit rather than treating an agent’s summary as the final result.
Helios can checkpoint a Git-backed project before a turn. Message actions let you rewind to a recorded checkpoint. Claude supports a fork from a message; Codex and Kimi expose supported conversation-head forks through the command palette. Checkpoints exclude ignored files and paths outside the repository, and cannot undo external effects.
Make review part of the task
Ask for a small change, run the relevant check, inspect the preview and read the diff. A green tool result is evidence for that check, not proof of every requirement.
Read the Rewind guide →
Give an experiment its own folder
Opt-in Git worktrees.
Start a new chat in a worktree from the new-chat menu. Helios creates a separate working directory and branch from the repository’s current HEAD, then starts the conversation there.
The Changes pane offers removal for Helios-managed worktrees and refuses dirty ones. Worktrees are an explicit choice; starting two ordinary chats does not automatically isolate their writes.
Use a worktree when changes can overlap
Keep independent experiments on separate branches and working directories. You still review, commit and merge the result through your normal Git workflow.
Make it feel at home
A native GTK4 and libadwaita app.
Helios follows system light and dark preferences and supported accent colours. Optional sidebar transparency works with the surrounding desktop and compositor. It remains a native Linux application, with system libraries and normal project files underneath.
Start with one project
Bring your next task to Helios.
Install the app, connect one provider and choose a project folder.