Command menu

Added 23 May 2025

The invocation of commands by name, navigating the tension between discoverability and speed.

Global

Pop up in the middle of the screen…

The move recurs wherever a capability has a command space of its own. For instance choosing a block in a block-based editor TODO: Add demo.

Command menu — the mechanism: the combobox composition with hierarchical drill-in and AI fallback
Combobox — the mechanism this pattern builds on; src/components/combobox/ drives the text input, filtered list, and keyboard model
Keyboard key
Context menu — pointer-driven and target-aware; command menu is keyboard-driven and name-based
Toolbar — exposes a persistent subset of commands; the command menu offers the full set on demand

commands are reachable by name, which lifts the obligation on the chrome to display everything the surface can do; discovery moves from scanning to typing a guess
the menu shows only what applies here, so commands that don't apply are absent rather than visibly out of reach — which is a kindness for the irrelevant ones and a mystery for the ones the actor expected to find
naming needs the name: the move is fast for actors who already have the vocabulary and no help at all to actors who came looking for it

Growing past the model, step 1 — within Add sideways paths before changing shape: the escape hatch for the actor who knows the destination's name

Unavailable actions — the menu shows only what applies here, so commands that don't apply are absent rather than visibly out of reach — which is a kindness for the irrelevant ones and a mystery for the ones the actor expected to find

Block-based editor — picking a block and placing it; summoned at the current position

Searching — searching is the broader seeking move, applied to a command vocabulary

Autocomplete — supports command menu functionality by reducing typing effort and increasing discoverability of commands.
Collaboration — Command menus provide quick access to collaborative actions and workflows
Embedded intelligence — helps the actor find relevant commands when exact matches aren't available
Keyboard shortcuts — surfaces shortcuts alongside each command name, making the invisible visible — the command menu is often the primary discovery mechanism for a shortcut system
Fully connected — keyboard-driven alternative for power users
Hub and spoke — For actors who know their destination, a command menu and searching reach a spoke without the hub, and deep linking reaches it from outside the structure altogether.
Mastery — key enabler of mastery, accessible to intermediates
Multilevel tree — quick access bypassing hierarchy
Workspace — provides rapid access to workspaces and contexts without navigating the interface hierarchy

Modality — overlay invocation that intersects modality without being defined by it