Chat as default
Every conversation-primary surface in aeqi opens on the chat. The other things — settings, configuration, tools, integrations — live one click deeper, or inline on the same page beneath the conversation. The chat leads; the chrome follows.
The rule
A surface whose primary verb is "talk" defaults to its transcript.
| Surface | Default URL | Configuration |
|---|---|---|
| Agent (drilled) | /company/<address-or-id>/agents/<id> |
Inline on the same agent detail page — persona, tools, model, all one scroll from the chat |
| Entity sessions | /company/<address-or-id>/sessions |
Company settings at /company/<address-or-id>/settings |
| Idea detail | /ideas/<id> |
(no separate settings — the body is the thread) |
| Gateways (Telegram, WhatsApp, …) | bridged sessions render in /company/<address-or-id>/sessions |
The Apps register, filtered to gateways (/company/<address-or-id>/apps?category=gateway) |
The default surface leads with the chat. Configuration never interposes itself between the user and the composer; you don't wade through a tab tray to say something.
Why
Chat is what people do on these surfaces. Configuration is what people did once, weeks ago, when they hired the agent or wired the channel. Surface the doing; bury the meta.
The cost of one click for settings is zero — anyone editing tool permissions can wait a tap. The cost of one click for chat is enormous — every message you send pays it.
This matches the inbox-is-the-chat lock from the other direction. That page says every conversational surface in aeqi is a session view. This page says every session view defaults to its session, not to its chrome.
The pattern
A drilled-agent surface is the canonical reference.
Agent detail (/company/<address-or-id>/agents/<id>):
- The chat leads. The agent's conversation is the first thing on the page.
- Configuration — persona, tools, model — lives on the same page, one scroll below. No tab tray, no separate settings rail. There used to be one; it collapsed into the detail page because a drilled agent doesn't need the whole app recreated under it.
The same shape extends:
- Idea detail already shipped this way. The body is the thread; "settings" is degenerate because an Idea's properties are inline-editable in the header. Reference shape.
- Gateway-bridged sessions (Telegram, WhatsApp, email per-thread views) inherit the rule by default — the bridged session renders like any other session; gateway configuration lives in the Apps register.
Backward compatibility
Old /<scope>/agents/<id>/<tab> URLs — the retired per-agent tab tray (overview, quests, events, ideas, integrations) and the old settings sub-URLs — replace-navigate to the bare agent URL, the chat, via a RELOCATED_AGENT_TABS map in the router. The SPA equivalent of a 308 — the bookmark survives, the URL upgrades silently, the user lands on the new shape.
When a future surface relocates a rail this way, mirror the pattern: a constant map, a router-level redirect, no broken links.
What this is not
This is not "hide the configuration." Settings is one click away, linked from the surface header, discoverable. The point is the default — what a returning user sees when they type the URL or click the agent in the sidebar.
This is also not "every page is a chat." Surfaces whose primary verb is configuration (/company/<address-or-id>/settings, /account, billing) default to their config. The rule is asymmetric: chat-primary defaults to chat; config-primary defaults to config. Neither steals the other's default.
Related
- The inbox is the chat — sister methodology page; every conversation surface in aeqi is a session view, every session view defaults to its session.
- Sessions — the data primitive every chat-as-default surface renders.
- Composition — the same minimalism applied to the substrate: one Composer, one rail, one detail view, composed five ways.