Exploring the UI
Where things live and how to move around.
Databasin has three levels of navigation: the top bar (global controls), the left sidebar (the modules inside a project), and the right sidebar (help and notes that follow you around).
This article shows you where each one lives and what it's for.
The top bar
Across the top of every page you'll see, from left to right:
- Databasin logo — click to return to the home screen (the projects list).
- Project name — inside a project, the current project's name sits next to the logo. Click it to switch straight to another of your active projects.
- Theme switcher — Auto, Light, or Dark mode (more on this below).
- Admin (gear icon) — jump to the admin area. Shown to admins.
- Notifications (bell) — background task progress, pipeline and automation failures, and similar alerts.
- Support (headset) — replies to your support tickets. On Databasin's hosted (SaaS) edition only.
- User menu — your profile and sign out.
To switch between projects, click the project name next to the logo and pick the one you want — or click the logo to go back to the full projects list. (With only one active project, the name is just a label.)
The left sidebar
Once you're inside a project, the left sidebar is your main map. From top to bottom:
| Section | What's inside |
|---|---|
| Home | The Command Center — your project's activity home, on by default. |
| Databasin One | The AI agent. Opens /one in a new tab. |
| Integrations | Pipelines, Automations, and Connectors — all as tabs on one page. |
| Developer | SQL Editor and Notebooks. |
| Lakehouse | File Share, Clusters, Permissions. |
| Sharing | Data Exchange, Metrics Library, and the Gallery for published dashboards. |
| Tools | Excel Transform and Agent Skills. |
Below those, project admins also see Users and Configuration shortcuts. The Help & Documentation link is there for everyone, admin or not.
Connectors used to have their own sidebar section. They now live as a tab inside Integrations — the sidebar will nudge you there if you go looking. See The Integrations hub.
Not every section is visible in every project — some depend on modules being enabled. If something you expect is missing, check with an admin.
Everything the sidebar reaches, the command palette reaches faster. Press Cmd/Ctrl + K to jump to any destination or start an action — see The command palette.
The right sidebar
The right sidebar is a collapsible panel on the right edge of every page. It has two tabs:
- Help — a link out to the Learn Center and quick module cards. Click the
?on any help button to open it. - Notes — jot something down tied to the current page. Only appears when the page you're on supports notes.
Press Esc at any time to collapse the right sidebar.
On any page inside the Learn Center, press / to jump the cursor into the search bar. It searches titles, descriptions, and tags across every article.
Theme: three modes, dark by default
The theme switcher lives in the top bar — not the user menu. It's a three-way control:
- Auto — follow your operating system's light/dark setting.
- Light
- Dark
Databasin defaults to Dark, regardless of your system setting, and your choice sticks across sessions. Light and dark are both fully supported, and the preference is stored once and applied everywhere — dashboards included.
Keyboard shortcuts worth knowing
Press ? anywhere outside a text field to open the shortcuts modal. The ones that work today:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ? | Open the keyboard shortcuts modal |
| Cmd/Ctrl + K | Open the command palette |
| Esc | Close the current modal, dialog, or right sidebar |
| Cmd/Ctrl + / | Toggle the left project sidebar |
| Cmd/Ctrl + Enter | Run the statement at the cursor (SQL Editor) |
| Cmd/Ctrl + T | Open a new query tab (SQL Editor) |
| Cmd/Ctrl + W | Close the current query tab (SQL Editor) |
| Cmd/Ctrl + 1–9 | Jump to query tab 1–9 (SQL Editor) |
| / | Focus the search bar (Learn Center) |
The in-app ? modal shows five shortcuts — ?, the command palette, the sidebar toggle, run query, and Esc. The table above is the fuller inventory. Notebooks add a whole modal keyboard layer of their own; see Notebooks.