codus
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How do I keep the preview visible while I work?

You have two ways to keep the page in view while you type: float it as a small window over your quadrant (picture-in-picture), or blow it up into its own large window (maximize). Float it with the button on the preview's toolbar. Maximize it with the green dot at the top-left of the preview.

Float it over your work (picture-in-picture)

Picture-in-picture shrinks the preview into a small window that hovers over the quadrant's terminal, so you can watch the page and keep working underneath it.

  1. Click the button on the preview's toolbar. On hover it reads "Picture-in-picture: float this preview over the quadrant, chromeless, terminal behind".
  2. The preview becomes a small floating box in the top-right of the quadrant.
  3. Drag its top strip to move it. Double-click that strip to snap it back to the corner.
  4. Drag an edge or the bottom-left corner to resize it.
  5. There is a mini address bar in the strip. Type a URL and press return to send the floating page somewhere new.

Two small buttons sit in the strip:

  • restores the full preview panel.
  • × hides the preview. The page keeps running in the background.

codus remembers the size and position for each quadrant.

Float every preview at once

There is a second button up in the codus title bar, at the very top of the app. It floats the preview for every switched-on quadrant at the same time, up to four, which the docked panels cannot do. On hover it reads "Picture-in-picture ALL quadrants: float every browser over its quadrant at once". Click it again to put them all away.

Maximize it into a big window

To see the page large, click the green dot at the top-left of the preview. It reads "Maximize preview to full window". codus opens the same live page in its own large window, with developer tools and a Git panel beside it, and a row of tabs so you can flip between your quadrants. The window follows whichever terminal you click into. Its × drops the preview back into the grid.

How do I know it worked?

For picture-in-picture, the full panel collapses into a small floating box you can drag around. For maximize, a new large codus window opens with the page filling most of it.

Common problems

I floated the preview and cannot find the full panel. Click in the floating box's strip to restore it, or × to hide it entirely.

The floating preview is in the way. Drag its top strip to move it, or click × to hide it. The page keeps running, so nothing is lost.

The preview is covering the Brain panel. They share the same space. See The browser is covering the Brain panel.

Read as markdownUpdated 2026-07-21