Command palette
How search and AI mode share the same Cmd+K box.
The command palette is the single keyboard surface for getting around Dalea. It's a
small box you summon with ⌘K, and it's intentionally bimodal — the same box
runs both full-text search and the AI assistant, and it picks between them based on
what you type.
How the modes work
When you type something the palette tries to detect what you want:
- Search keywords like
IFN-γorDLA-7orM-12 plasma— the palette runs a workspace search and shows ranked results. - Action-style queries like "create a new document", "summarise the latest ELISA", "open the protocol from yesterday" — the palette switches to AI mode and routes to the in-product assistant.
The detection is a heuristic on the leading verb ("create", "open", "find", "compare", "summarise", "draft"…) plus question marks and length. When you don't agree with what it picked, you can override:
| Override | What happens |
|---|---|
Press Tab | Force the palette into AI mode. |
Press ⇧Enter | Send the typed query to the chat panel as a new message. |
Press Enter on a search result | Open it. |
Press ⌘Enter on a search result | Open it in a new tab. |
What search returns
Workspace-scoped, full-text, and ranked. You'll see results from:
- Documents — by title, body text and block content
- Data records — by display ID (
ANM-001) or any text-typed column - Inventory items — by SKU, name, lot
- Templates — by name and description
- Files — by filename and uploader
Each result shows its type icon, the workspace it belongs to (when you have several open), the breadcrumb (Project → Folder → name), and a relative timestamp.
Filters
The palette has a small inline filter row above the results. Click a chip to scope:
- Type — documents, data records, inventory, files, templates
- Project — limit to one project
- Environment — limit to one data environment (only shows when relevant)
- Date — Anytime, last 7 days, last 30 days, last 90 days
Filters compose. For richer filtering, see the dedicated Search syntax and filters page.
What AI mode does
When the palette detects an action query (or you press Tab), it switches to AI
mode in-place. You'll see the box turn purple and the result list become a
conversational reply.
In AI mode:
- Hit
Enterto send the query and open the chat panel with the response. - Hit
Escto bail out and stay on the page you were on. - Hit
⇧Enterto send the query AND keep the palette open for chained questions.
If the assistant proposes a destructive action (creating, updating, deleting) it asks for confirmation in the chat panel — the palette does not run destructive actions by itself.
Tips
For most users, the palette beats the sidebar. Type the first few letters of any document, project, environment or template and you're there in two keystrokes.
The palette only searches the workspace you're in. To find something in another workspace, switch first with ⌘⇧W, then search.