Digital Design Studio Workspace

Use the unified RTL and ISA workspace, full project Explorer, focused search, and shared tabs.

Overview

Digital Design Studio combines RTL and ISA work in the same project. The shared workspace is used by Cloud and native hosts; an action is available only when the selected host supplies it. A browser feature is not automatically a feature of every earlier desktop package.

The Window

The workspace has a product header, a left activity rail and side panel, main editor tabs, an optional right side panel, a bottom panel, and a status bar. Panels can be resized or collapsed without changing project content. Settings controls appearance and layout; project settings controls the selected design.

ISA views use this same editor and bottom panel. They do not open a second app or a second settings shell.

Left Rail and Flow Navigator

Use the left rail to open Explorer, Search, Source Control, Analysis, ISA, and the other workflow panels exposed by the host. Flow Navigator groups work by stage, including ISA modeling, generation, execution, analysis, and verification.

The ISA panel is a searchable function navigator, not a source-document index. Expand or collapse its groups, then open the desired function. Main tabs use function names such as Instruction Set or Co-simulation. An empty project does not show a fabricated ISA outline. See ISA workflows.

AI assistance stays in its supported side-panel surface. The retired AI main editor tab is not an ISA function.

Explorer: Folder and Hierarchy

Explorer switches between a file-oriented Folder view and a design-oriented Hierarchy view. The Folder heading uses the project name and its toolbar provides filtering, refresh, and expand/collapse controls.

The Folder view displays the complete file listing returned by the project host, including project-root files and directories such as docs/ and analyze/. It is no longer a projection restricted to rtl/ and tb/. Hierarchy instead uses source-derived design modules and relationships.

The host can still exclude unsupported files, generated directories, symbolic links, or entries beyond a size limit. Therefore this view is not a guarantee that every physical filesystem entry is visible. See the native listing limits in Digital Design Studio.

Click a file to open it. Check the displayed root before editing. Refresh after external filesystem changes. A missing file should be investigated at the listing boundary, not recreated merely to make a row appear.

Search Follows Focus

With focus inside the left side panel, Ctrl+F opens a search for the current panel’s folders or items. It does not open the main editor’s find bar. The panel search sits close to its toolbar and does not replace project-wide search.

With focus in a source editor, Ctrl+F searches that editor. Use the dedicated Search panel for project-wide search; use Ctrl+P for Go to File and the command palette for available workspace commands.

Tabs and Editor Groups

Click a tab to activate it and use its close control to close that view. A newly opened or selected tab scrolls into view when the strip overflows, including side-panel strips. Opening a view does not silently run its engine action.

ISA tabs are named by function. RTL file tabs retain their filenames and dirty state. Shared tab styling and spacing apply to both; an ISA view does not add its own duplicate toolbar above the editor.

Editor groups, context-menu placement, and detached windows depend on host support. Earlier native releases can restrict detaching to saved file tabs. Do not assume a workflow view can be detached just because a file can.

Bottom Panel and Status

The bottom panel contains the output and diagnostic surfaces supplied by the host, such as Problems, Console, and Terminal. The selected language applies to the shared shell and integrated ISA navigation. Native tool output can remain in the language emitted by that tool.

Use the status bar to confirm the project and current file state. A clear dirty marker means the editor accepted a save; reopen important files to verify persistence before replacing a project backup.

Project and Application Settings

Application Settings changes appearance, editor behavior, layout, engine-related preferences, shortcuts, language, Roofline display, and AI configuration. The exact host determines which actions behind these preferences are available.

Project settings belongs to the selected design. ISA-specific model and execution configuration belongs there, not in an unrelated RTL project or a hidden second application. See Settings and the project-opening steps in Digital Design Studio.

Local Host Boundaries

Opening and saving local source does not upload it. A terminal, analysis run, external editor, engine, or online job needs its own supported host capability. An unavailable capability must not be interpreted as an empty successful result.

The earlier Linux launcher altifigence-ide --project /absolute/path/to/project and CLI alti ide open --project /absolute/path/to/project remain compatibility interfaces. Windows native porting and product MSIX qualification are in progress; consult Downloads before installing.