The complete LiquidPad manual

Install and summon the panel

LiquidPad runs on macOS 14 Sonoma or later (Apple Silicon and Intel). After installing the app, you summon and dismiss the panel from anywhere on your Mac with a global hotkey. By default that is Command + Left Arrow (⌘←): tap it once and the borderless glass panel glides in from the edge; tap it again and it slides away. The panel floats over whatever you are doing and never steals focus.

1. 1Open LiquidPad. The app lives in your menu bar rather than the Dock.
2. 2Press ⌘← to slide the panel in. Press it again to dismiss it.
3. 3To change the summon key, open Settings → Shortcut and re-record it. The same screen also lets you re-record Previous workspace (⌥←) and Next workspace (⌥→).

Add your first app

Apps live on the rail down the side of the panel. You can add literally any website or link, and there is a searchable catalog of 500+ ready-to-add apps to start from. Recently used apps are kept warm so switching back to them is instant, without the RAM bill of a browser.

1. 1Open the app catalog from the rail and search for the service you want (Gmail, Slack, WhatsApp, and so on), or paste any URL to add a custom site.
2. 2Click the app to add it. It appears as an icon on the rail.
3. 3Click the icon to open the app in the panel. Unread counts surface as badges right on the rail icons.
4. 4Right-click the app for per-app options, including Go to home page and Set current page as home. The app then always opens on the page you choose.

Run two accounts at once with isolated sessions

Each app can use its own isolated login session, so you can run two Google or two Slack accounts side by side. Sessions persist on disk, so you stay signed in across launches.

1. 1Add the same service twice (for example, two copies of Gmail).
2. 2Right-click the second copy and choose Separate login, or use Duplicate and pick a separate session when prompted.
3. 3Sign in to each copy with a different account. Each keeps its own cookie store unless you choose to share one.

Organize apps into workspaces

Workspaces are top-level sets of apps. Think Work, Personal, or a specific client. You flip between them like separate browsers inside one panel, and each workspace can have its own login profile, notification sound, and Do-Not-Disturb.

1. 1Create a workspace from the workspace tabs at the top of the panel.
2. 2Add the apps you want into it. Drag rail icons to reorder them.
3. 3Switch workspaces with ⌘1 through ⌘9 to jump straight to one, or step through them with ⌥← / ⌥→ (also ⌘⌥← / ⌘⌥→).
4. 4Step between apps within a workspace using ⌘⌥↑ (previous) and ⌘⌥↓ (next).

Group and ungroup workspaces

When you have several related workspaces, file them under a collapsible group (a folder) so you can fold a whole set of projects away with one click. Give any workspace or group its own icon: a native SF Symbol or an emoji.

1. 1To group: drag one workspace tab onto another. They file together under a collapsible group.
2. 2Right-click the group to Rename it, set an Icon (SF Symbol or emoji) and Color, and Collapse / expand it.
3. 3To fold the whole set of projects away, collapse the group with one click. You can also Sleep the whole group to free its RAM.
4. 4To ungroup: right-click the group and choose Ungroup. The workspaces return to the top level.

Fuse two apps into a Board (and split them apart)

A Board is a shared multi-column view that shows two or more apps side by side in the panel. It's useful for keeping, say, a chat and a doc visible at once.

1. 1Drag one app onto another in the rail. They fuse into a multi-view Board with a composite icon.
2. 2Click the Board's icon to open all its apps together in columns.
3. 3To split them apart again, separate the apps from the Board. They return to standalone rail icons.

Assign a global shortcut to a workspace, app, or terminal tab

Beyond the built-in ⌘1–9, you can bind your own key combo to a specific workspace, a single app, or even one terminal tab. Workspace shortcuts work from anywhere inside LiquidPad. App and terminal-tab shortcuts are true global shortcuts: press the combo from any other macOS app and you land right there, no slide-in first.

1. 1Workspace: right-click a workspace tab and choose Assign keyboard shortcut, then press the combo you want. Use it to jump straight to Work, a client, or Personal from anywhere in LiquidPad.
2. 2App: right-click an app in the rail and bind a global key combo. Press it from any macOS app to jump straight to that app.
3. 3Terminal tab: right-click a single terminal tab and bind a global key combo the same way.

Jump anywhere with the command palette

Press ⌘K to open the command palette. Start typing to jump to any app, board, or tool, run an action, or open a saved workspace, all without lifting your hands off the keyboard.

• ⌥⇥ switches to the next recent app (keep tapping to cycle; release to land); ⌥⇧⇥ goes the other way.
• ⌘N opens a new independent LiquidPad window (window mode); ⌘W closes the focused window.
• ⌘ + / ⌘ − / ⌘0 zoom the current app or terminal in, out, or back to normal (remembered per app).
• ⎋ dismisses the app switcher or any open overlay.

Connect and save an SSH server

LiquidPad ships a built-in terminal and a native SSH manager that sits right beside your apps. No separate window, no account, no cloud. It uses your real ssh, keys, and agent, so your ~/.ssh/config, ProxyJump, and Tailscale machines all just work. Save a host once and jump back into it in a tap; connections stay warm in the background and addresses stay hidden until you need them.

1. 1Open the SSH manager from the rail.
2. 2Add a new connection with its host details. You can organize saved connections into folders.
3. 3Optionally set a startup command that runs each time you connect, and turn on per-connection lock for sensitive hosts.
4. 4Save the connection. Click it any time to reconnect, and the warm session means you are back in instantly.
5. 5Tune the look with terminal transparency, and set a terminal tab as the app's home so it opens straight into that session.

Choose your view: slide-over, desktop window, or both

LiquidPad can run as the edge slide-over that answers your shortcut, or as a normal resizable Dock window like any Mac app. You switch between them in Settings. With Multi-view you can have both at once: a desktop window stays parked on one screen while the edge slide-over answers your shortcut independently.

1. 1Open Settings and pick slide-over mode or desktop-window mode.
2. 2Enable Multi-view to keep a desktop window on screen and the edge slide-over at the same time. Your shortcut only summons the slide-over, so the desktop window is never touched.
3. 3In window mode, press ⌘N to open another independent window with its own apps, and spread your projects across displays, one window per context.

What a workspace is

Each top-level workspace holds its own set of apps and remembers its own state. The horizontal bar across the top of the panel lists your workspaces left to right; the rail below shows the active one's apps. A workspace can carry its own login profile (its own cookie jar, so the same service can be two different accounts across two workspaces), its own notification sound, and its own Do-Not-Disturb. Think separate browsers, all in one panel. The bar appears as soon as you have more than one workspace, or when you're on Pro.

Add a workspace

1. 1Click the + at the right end of the workspace bar ("New workspace").
2. 2The new workspace opens empty and active. Add apps to it from the rail's add button.
3. 3Right-click the new tab and choose Rename… to give it a name.

Switch between workspaces

• ⌘1–9 jumps straight to workspace 1 through 9.
• ⌥← / ⌥→ step to the previous / next workspace (works anywhere on your Mac).
• ⌘⌥← / ⌘⌥→ do the same while the panel is open.
• ⌘K opens the command palette so you can search for a workspace by name ("Switch to Design").

Give a workspace its own profile, sound and Do-Not-Disturb

Right-click a workspace tab for its menu. From there you can:

• Rename… changes its name.
• Icon lets you pick an emoji, or No icon.
• Notification sound chooses the chime this workspace's apps use.
• Do Not Disturb mutes the whole workspace in one click; banners and chimes stop while the badge counts keep ticking. The tab shows a "Do Not Disturb" marker.
• Separate session (own logins) gives this workspace its own login profile, so the same service can be a different account here than in another workspace.

Add a workspace with two linked apps (a Board)

A Board fuses two or more apps into a shared multi-column view under one composite icon. It's great for keeping, say, your docs and chat side by side inside a single workspace slot.

1. 1Add the apps you want to link to the workspace.
2. 2In the rail, drag one app's icon directly onto another.
3. 3They fuse into a Board: a single rail entry with a composite icon that opens both apps as side-by-side columns. The members are hidden from the top-level rail.
4. 4Drag the column edges to resize each column; your layout is remembered across launches.

Group / ungroup workspaces (folders)

Groups are collapsible folders that file a set of related workspaces together, so you can fold a whole client or project away with one click.

1. 1To group: drag one workspace tab onto another. They cluster under a collapsible group header at the group's position in the bar.
2. 2To add more: drag any other workspace tab onto the group.
3. 3To collapse or expand: click the group header, or right-click it and choose Collapse / Expand.
4. 4To remove one workspace from a group: right-click that workspace tab and choose "Remove from group".
5. 5To ungroup entirely: right-click the group header and choose Ungroup. The workspaces become standalone tabs again.

Right-click a group header to also Rename it, give it an Icon (an SF Symbol or an emoji), or set a Color.

Sleep a workspace (free its RAM)

Parking a project? Sleeping a workspace unloads every app inside it and frees its RAM on the spot. The tab stays, just dimmed with a little moon, and wakes the instant you click it (its apps reload as you enter).

1. 1Right-click a workspace tab and choose "Sleep (free RAM)". To wake it, click the tab, or right-click and choose "Wake up workspace".
2. 2To sleep a whole group at once: right-click the group header and choose "Sleep group (free RAM)"; "Wake group" brings them all back.
3. 3To sleep everything: use the moon button in the workspace bar ("Sleep all workspaces & groups") for a one-click RAM purge, and click it again to wake everything.

Assign a shortcut to a workspace

Beyond ⌘1–9, you can bind any key combo to a specific workspace so you land on it from anywhere in LiquidPad.

1. 1Right-click the workspace tab.
2. 2Choose "Assign keyboard shortcut…" (it reads "Change shortcut" once one is set).
3. 3Press the key combination you want.
4. 4To remove it later, right-click the tab and choose "Clear shortcut".

Assign a global jump shortcut to an app or a terminal tab

App and terminal-tab shortcuts are global: press them from anywhere on your Mac, even inside another app, and you land directly on that app or tab, no slide-in. A locked SSH or terminal even re-runs its command if it had stopped.

1. 1Right-click an app in the rail (or right-click a single terminal tab) and assign a key combo.
2. 2Press it from anywhere in macOS to jump straight there.
3. 3A terminal-tab shortcut follows the tab by name, so it survives relaunches and keeps pointing at the right tab.

Set a workspace's home page / move an app between workspaces

• Right-click an app for "Go to home page" or "Set current page as home", so the app always opens where you want it.
• Right-click an app and use the move-to-workspace menu to send it to a different workspace.
• Right-click an app for "Separate login" or "Duplicate (same or separate session)" to run a second account of the same service alongside the first.

Connect & save an SSH server

The built-in SSH manager saves your hosts once, Tailscale machines included, and jumps you back into any with a tap. It uses your real ssh, keys and agent, so ~/.ssh/config, ProxyJump and Tailscale all just work. Connections stay warm and addresses stay hidden until you need them. No account, no cloud.

1. 1Open the SSH tool from the rail and add a connection. Give it a name and the command you'd type after ssh (e.g. an alias or user@host).
2. 2Optionally add a startup snippet: commands that run on the remote right after connecting.
3. 3Optionally file it in a folder (Clients, Personal, Prod, Gaming…) to keep your hosts organized.
4. 4Save it. Tap the saved server anytime to reconnect; the session stays warm in the background between opens.

• Lock a connection with a per-connection password (a LiquidPad soft lock) so a glance can't open a sensitive host.
• Edit a saved server anytime to change its name, command, startup snippet or folder; rename a folder to move every host in it at once.
• Set the current terminal/SSH tabs as home so reopening restores exactly that arrangement; terminal transparency follows your chosen terminal mode.

Add an app

Any website becomes an app in LiquidPad. There's a searchable catalog of 500+ ready-to-add apps to start from, and you can paste in literally any URL. The app gets an icon and a slot in the rail, the vertical strip of icons down the side of the panel.

1. 1Summon the panel with your shortcut (⌘← by default).
2. 2Open the add-app screen from the rail (the + button).
3. 3Pick an app from the catalog, or type/paste any website URL.
4. 4The app appears in the rail of the current workspace and stays signed in across launches.

Workspaces: keep separate sets of apps

A workspace is a top-level set of apps: Work, Personal, a specific client. Switch between them and the rail swaps to that workspace's apps. Each workspace can carry its own login profile, notification sound, and Do-Not-Disturb state, so it behaves like a separate browser inside one panel. The free tier includes 2 workspaces; Pro is unlimited.

• Press ⌘1–9 to jump straight to workspace 1 through 9.
• Step through workspaces with ⌘⌥← (previous) and ⌘⌥→ (next).
• Step between apps in the current rail with ⌘⌥↑ (previous) and ⌘⌥↓ (next).
• Drag a workspace tab left or right in the top bar to reorder it.

Add a workspace with two linked apps

A "board" is a multi-column, multi-view layout: two or more apps shown side by side in one slot, sharing a composite icon. Here's how to set up a fresh workspace and link two of its apps into a board.

1. 1Create or switch to the workspace you want (use the top workspace bar; on Pro you can add as many as you like).
2. 2Add the two apps you want to pair, each from the catalog or by URL, so both sit in the rail.
3. 3Drag one app's rail icon directly onto the other, and LiquidPad fuses them into a shared multi-column board with a composite icon.
4. 4Open the board and the two apps render side by side in their own resizable columns; hand-tuned column widths are remembered across launches.

Group / ungroup workspaces

When you have many workspaces, file related ones into a collapsible group (a folder) so you can fold a whole set of projects away with one click. Each group (and each workspace) can carry its own SF Symbol or emoji icon, shown as text, icon-only, or both.

1. 1To group: drag one workspace tab directly onto another. They file together under a collapsible group.
2. 2To name and style the group: right-click the group header and use Rename, Icon (SF Symbol or emoji), and Color.
3. 3To fold or unfold: right-click the group and choose Collapse / expand, or click the group header.
4. 4To ungroup: right-click the group header and choose Ungroup. The workspaces return to the top level.

Isolated login sessions for multiple accounts

Each app can keep its own cookie store, so you can run two Google accounts (or two Slacks) side by side without logging in and out. By default apps in a workspace share that workspace's profile; you choose per app whether an app gets its own isolated session. Sessions persist on disk, so you stay signed in across launches.

1. 1Right-click the app in the rail.
2. 2Choose Duplicate to make a second copy, either sharing the same session or using a Separate login for a different account.
3. 3The duplicated app gets its own isolated cookie store, so the two accounts stay independent.

Assign a jump shortcut to a workspace, app, or terminal tab

Beyond ⌘1–9, you can bind your own global key combo to a specific workspace, a single app, or even one terminal tab. Global shortcuts fire from anywhere on your Mac, even from another app, and land you right there instantly, with no slide-in animation.

1. 1To a workspace: right-click the workspace tab → Assign keyboard shortcut, then press the combo you want.
2. 2To an app: right-click the app in the rail and bind a global key combo. Press it from anywhere and you jump straight to that app.
3. 3To a single terminal tab: right-click that tab and bind a global combo, handy for one specific shell or server.
4. 4Press your combo from any macOS app to land directly on the target.

Sleep a workspace

Parking a project? Put a whole workspace to sleep and every app in it unloads and frees its RAM on the spot. The tab stays, just dimmed with a small moon, and the workspace wakes the moment you click it. It's a clean focus mode that keeps your panel light.

• Right-click a workspace group → Sleep to unload everything inside it at once.
• Pause a single app (right-click → Pause) to free just that app's RAM; it reloads when you come back.
• Idle apps also throttle themselves like background browser tabs, so an open working set stays light on its own.

Lock an app with the Vault (PIN)

Vault any app behind a 4-digit PIN. It re-locks the instant the panel closes, so a passing glance can't open your inbox or DMs.

1. 1Right-click the app in the rail.
2. 2Choose Lock with the Vault (PIN) and set a 4-digit PIN.
3. 3The app now asks for the PIN to open, and re-locks automatically every time the panel closes.

Picture-in-Picture & Float

Universal Picture-in-Picture pops any video out into a resizable, always-on-top mini-player that keeps playing when the panel closes, even over full-screen apps. A music app's mini-player keeps audio going too. Float does the same for a whole app, pinning it on top.

• Right-click an app → Picture-in-Picture to pop its video into the floating mini-player.
• Right-click an app → Float (always on top) to keep the whole app pinned above everything.
• Right-click → Mute to silence a noisy app without closing it.

Built-in Terminal

LiquidPad ships a real native terminal alongside your web apps: actual shells with reorderable tabs and a dark theme. Sessions stay alive in the background between opens, so a long-running command keeps going while you switch away.

• Add the Terminal tool from the rail, then open new shells as tabs.
• Drag tabs to reorder them; each tab is an independent live shell.
• Bind a global jump shortcut to a single tab (right-click the tab) to land on a specific shell from anywhere.
• Zoom any terminal with ⌘+ / ⌘− / ⌘0, just like an app.

Connect & save an SSH server

The built-in SSH manager is a native, account-free take on Termius. Save your hosts once and jump back into any with a tap. It uses your real ssh, keys, and agent, so Tailscale, ProxyJump, and your ~/.ssh/config all just work. Connections stay warm and addresses stay hidden until you need them.

1. 1Open the SSH manager from the rail and add a new connection (host, user, and any options your ssh already knows).
2. 2Save it, optionally filed into a folder to keep many hosts organized.
3. 3Tap the saved connection to open it; it reuses your keys and agent, so authentication just works.
4. 4Set a startup command if you want the session to run something on connect.

• Lock a connection with a per-connection PIN for sensitive servers.
• Set tabs as home so a server opens to where you left off.
• Adjust transparency on a connection to suit your setup.
• Saved Tailscale machines connect over your tailnet using your real ssh config.

Boards: two or more apps, side by side

A Board fuses several apps into one tile with a composite icon. Open it and the apps render as scrollable, resizable columns in a single view: your chat next to your docs next to your tracker, all live at once. Members of a board are folded out of the main rail and live inside the board tile instead, and the tile's unread badge sums every app it holds.

Add a workspace with two linked apps (create a Board):

1. 1Make sure both apps are already in your rail (add them from the catalog or by URL first).
2. 2Drag one app's rail icon directly onto the other and drop it.
3. 3The two fuse into a single Board tile with a composite icon. Click it to see both apps as side-by-side columns.
4. 4To add a third (or more), drag another app onto the Board tile and it joins as a new column. You can also drag a whole Board onto a single app to pull that app in.

Resize a column: drag the divider between two columns. LiquidPad remembers each board's hand-tuned column widths across restarts, so your layout comes back exactly as you left it.

Split a board apart (ungroup the apps):

1. 1Right-click the Board tile in the rail.
2. 2Choose Split board.
3. 3The board dissolves and each member returns to the rail as its own standalone app. Nothing is lost; only the grouping is removed.

Multi-view: desktop window and slide-over together

LiquidPad can run two ways: as the borderless edge slide-over that answers your shortcut, or as a normal resizable Dock window like any Mac app. Multi-view keeps both on screen at the same time: a desktop window parked on one display AND the edge slide-over you flick in and out.

Turn on Multi-view:

1. 1Open Settings from the rail (the gear icon).
2. 2Under Tools & power features, enable Multi-view.
3. 3A desktop window appears alongside the slide-over.

Multiple windows

In window (desktop) mode you can open several independent LiquidPad windows, each with its own apps: one window per context, spread across your displays, the way Chrome or Arc handle windows.

• ⌘N opens a new independent LiquidPad window.
• ⌘W closes the focused window.

Workspace groups (folders)

Workspaces are separate sets of apps (Work, Personal, a client). When you have a lot of them, file related workspaces into a collapsible group, a folder in the top workspace bar, and fold a whole set of projects away with one click.

Group workspaces into a folder:

1. 1In the workspace bar along the top, drag one workspace tab onto another and hold briefly until it highlights.
2. 2Drop it, and the two are filed together under a new collapsible group.
3. 3Drag any other workspace tab onto the group to add it to that folder.
4. 4Click the group header to collapse or expand the whole set.

Customize a group: right-click its header to Rename, set an Icon (a native SF Symbol or an emoji), choose a Color, Collapse / expand it, or Sleep the whole group to free its RAM at once.

Ungroup:

1. 1Right-click the group header and choose Ungroup to dissolve the folder. Every workspace inside it returns to the bar as a standalone tab.
2. 2To pull just one workspace out, right-click that workspace tab and choose Remove from group.

Jump shortcuts for any workspace, app, or terminal tab

Beyond the built-in ⌘1–9 (jump to workspace 1–9), you can bind your own global key combo to a specific workspace, a single app, or even one terminal tab, then trigger it from anywhere, even from another macOS app.

Assign a shortcut to a workspace:

1. 1Right-click the workspace tab in the top bar.
2. 2Choose Assign keyboard shortcut (it reads Change shortcut once one is set).
3. 3Press the key combo you want and confirm. Press it from anywhere in LiquidPad to jump straight to that workspace.

Assign a shortcut to an app or a terminal tab:

1. 1Right-click the app's rail icon, or right-click a single terminal tab.
2. 2Choose Assign keyboard shortcut and press your combo.
3. 3Press it from anywhere on your Mac, even inside another app, and you land right there instantly, no slide-in first.

Built-in terminal & SSH manager

Alongside your web apps, LiquidPad ships a real native terminal and an SSH manager: saved hosts you jump back into in a tap. It uses your real ssh, keys and agent, so Tailscale, ProxyJump and ~/.ssh/config all just work. No account, no cloud. Connections stay warm in the background and addresses stay hidden until you need them.

Connect & save an SSH server:

1. 1Open the SSH manager from the rail.
2. 2Add a new connection with its host (including a Tailscale machine name) and any options; it uses your existing keys and ~/.ssh/config.
3. 3Optionally file it into a folder, give it a startup command to run on connect, and lock it behind a PIN.
4. 4Connect once; the saved host stays in your list and the session stays warm for an instant tap back in later.

Set a terminal or SSH tab as its home:

1. 1Get the tab into the state you want to return to.
2. 2Right-click the terminal/SSH app in the rail and choose Set current tabs as home.
3. 3That tab layout is snapshotted, so reopening the tool restores exactly those tabs.

LiquidPad is built to be driven from the keyboard. Every shortcut below works while the panel is open, except the global summon and the jump shortcuts, which fire from anywhere on your Mac, even from inside another app.

Summon and navigate

These three work anywhere, even when LiquidPad is in the background. They are the only built-in shortcuts you can re-record yourself, under Settings → Shortcut.

• ⌘ + ← Summon or dismiss the panel. It slides in from the screen edge, and slides back out on the same keys.
• ⌥ + ← Go to the previous workspace.
• ⌥ + → Go to the next workspace.

Switch between apps and windows

Once the panel is open, move between your apps and workspaces without touching the mouse.

• ⌥ + ⇥ Switch to the next recent app. One tap is one switch; keep tapping to cycle through your recents.
• ⌥ + ⇧ + ⇥ Cycle recents the other way.
• ⌘ + ⌥ + ↑ Previous app in the rail.
• ⌘ + ⌥ + ↓ Next app in the rail.
• ⌘ + K Open the command palette and jump to any app by name.
• ⌘ + N Open a new window: a second, fully independent LiquidPad window.
• ⌘ + W Close the focused window.
• ⌘ + 1…9 Jump straight to workspace 1 through 9.
• ⌘ + ⌥ + ← Previous workspace.
• ⌘ + ⌥ + → Next workspace.
• ⎋ Dismiss the app switcher or close an open overlay.

Control the current app

These act on whichever app is in front. Zoom is remembered per app, so each one keeps its own size.

• ⌘ + + Zoom in (saved per app).
• ⌘ + − Zoom out.
• ⌘ + 0 Reset zoom to 100%.
• ⌘ + L Copy the current page's URL.
• ⌃ + ⌘ + F Toggle full-screen / window mode.

Jump shortcuts: your own combos

Beyond the built-in keys, you can give any workspace, app, or terminal tab its own custom global jump shortcut. Assign each one once from its right-click menu and it sticks.

1. 1Right-click the workspace tab you want.
2. 2Choose "Assign keyboard shortcut…".
3. 3Click the recorder button in the dialog, then press your combo (it must include ⌘, ⌥, ⌃, or ⇧).
4. 4Save. While LiquidPad is focused, that combo now jumps straight to this workspace.
5. 5To change it later, right-click the tab again and pick "Change shortcut"; to remove it, choose "Clear shortcut".

1. 1Right-click an app in the rail.
2. 2Choose "Set jump shortcut…".
3. 3Press a combo with ⌘, ⌥, or ⌃. Each app's combo is kept unique, so no two apps clash.
4. 4Save. This combo jumps straight to that app from anywhere, even from another Mac app with LiquidPad in the background.
5. 5Right-click the app again any time to change the combo or remove it.

Terminal tabs work the same way: each saved tab can carry its own global jump shortcut, registered independently so the terminal need not be open for the key to fire. Set it from the tab's context menu, exactly like an app's.

Every tool here is genuinely native (AppKit + WKWebView, not Electron), so it stays light on RAM and battery. Add the ones you want from the app catalog just like any web app. They appear in the rail and answer the same shortcuts, drag-and-drop, and right-click actions as everything else. All native tools are included on the Free plan.

Terminal

A real shell, with reorderable tabs and a dark theme, that you can summon over any app. Sessions stay alive in the background between opens, so a long-running build or log tail keeps going while the panel is closed.

1. 1Add the Terminal tool from the catalog; it lands in your rail like any app.
2. 2Open it and you get a live shell. Use the tab bar to open more tabs and drag them to reorder.
3. 3Tap the little appearance button in the tab bar to cycle the background between Dark, Light, and Transparent (the desktop or panel glass shows straight through).
4. 4Zoom the text with ⌘+ / ⌘− and reset with ⌘0; it's remembered per tool.
5. 5Mute the tool from its right-click menu if a script is noisy.

SSH Manager

Save your hosts once and jump back into any of them in a tap. It's a fast, native take on Termius with no account and no cloud. It uses your real ssh, your keys, and your agent, so Tailscale, ProxyJump, and your ~/.ssh/config all just work. Connections stay warm and addresses stay hidden until you need them.

To connect and save a server:

1. 1Open the SSH Manager tool and start a new connection.
2. 2Enter the connection command, whatever you'd type after ssh, e.g. -p 42820 lab@station.example.com or -i ~/.ssh/key user@10.0.0.5.
3. 3Give it a friendly name (this is what you'll see and search for).
4. 4Optionally add a startup snippet: commands run on the remote right after connecting (e.g. tmux attach).
5. 5Connect. The host is saved and stays warm, so next time it's a single tap to jump back in.

To organize saved servers into folders:

1. 1Assign any connection to a folder (Clients, Personal, Prod, Gaming, your call) when you save or edit it.
2. 2Leave a server's folder empty to keep it ungrouped.
3. 3Rename a folder to move every server in it at once.

To put a per-connection lock on a sensitive server:

1. 1Edit the saved connection and set a LiquidPad lock password.
2. 2From then on, that password is asked before the connection opens: an extra gate on top of your SSH credentials.
3. 3Clear it by setting an empty password to remove the lock.

Set current tabs as home (Terminal & SSH)

Both the Terminal and the SSH Manager can snapshot their open tabs as a "home" arrangement, so reopening the tool restores your exact layout. Your local shells and SSH tabs all come back, like a web app's home page.

1. 1Arrange your tabs the way you want them.
2. 2Right-click the tool in the rail and choose "Set current tabs as home".
3. 3Reopen the tool any time to get that arrangement back; SSH tabs auto-reconnect.
4. 4To clear it, right-click again and choose to clear the saved arrangement.

Per-tab global jump shortcuts

Beyond per-app shortcuts, you can bind a global key combo to a single terminal tab. Press it from anywhere on your Mac, even inside another macOS app, and you land right on that tab instantly. If the tab was a locked SSH or terminal session that had stopped, it re-runs its command on the way in.

1. 1Open the Terminal or SSH tool and go to the tab you want.
2. 2Assign that tab a global keyboard shortcut.
3. 3Press the combo from anywhere to jump straight to that tab. The shortcut survives a relaunch; it's tied to the tab's name, which the home/auto-save restores.

Focus / Pomodoro

A built-in timer that keeps you in the zone, right beside the apps you're working in. Start a focus session, and the timer rides along in the panel. No separate window, no extra app to install.

Habits

A full calendar-year grid for the things you want to do every day. Fill a cell a day and watch the streak build across the year: a glanceable, satisfying record that lives one keystroke from any app.

All of these tools behave like first-class apps: they sit in the rail, respond to the command palette (⌘K), can be muted, zoomed, and given their own global jump shortcut, and they ship fast. Something new tends to land most weeks.

Your account

An account is what turns LiquidPad from a single-Mac tool into one that follows you everywhere. Signing in unlocks cloud sync, ties your Pro plan to you, and lets you manage billing, but it's entirely optional. The free tier works fully without ever signing in.

1. 1Look at the top of the side rail (the vertical strip of icons): the round avatar button there is your account. Signed out, it shows a generic person icon; signed in, it shows your profile photo.
2. 2Click the avatar to open the account menu.
3. 3Choose "Sign in to LiquidPad…" and complete sign-in in the window that appears.
4. 4Once you're in, the avatar updates to your photo and the menu now shows your email, your plan, and billing options.

The account menu

Click the avatar at the top of the rail to open the account menu. What you see depends on whether you're signed in.

• Email: your signed-in address, shown at the top as a label.
• Plan: Pro / Free shows your current plan at a glance.
• Manage account & billing… opens liquidpad.space/account in your browser to handle your subscription, payment method and invoices.
• Settings… jumps straight to LiquidPad's settings.
• Sign out signs this Mac out of your account.
• Account diagnostic… is a troubleshooting view if your plan or sync ever looks out of date.

Free vs Pro

LiquidPad is free to use for as long as you like. The free tier covers a focused setup plus every native tool; Pro lifts the limits and adds sync across your Macs.

• Free gives you 3 apps, 2 workspaces, 1 board, and all the native tools (Terminal, SSH manager, Focus/Pomodoro, and Habits).
• Pro gives you unlimited apps, workspaces and boards, plus cloud sync across your Macs and export / import of your whole setup.
• Pricing is $4.99 / month or $47.88 / year, with a 14-day trial. No telemetry, on any plan.

Hitting a free limit never deletes anything. Extra workspaces beyond the free allowance are locked (their apps and data are preserved) rather than removed, and they unlock the moment you go Pro. A small upgrade nudge appears in the top bar for free users; clicking it starts the upgrade.

Start the 14-day Pro trial

1. 1Click the avatar at the top of the rail and sign in if you haven't already.
2. 2Choose "Manage account & billing…" to open your account page in the browser.
3. 3Start the 14-day trial from there and finish checkout.
4. 4Back in LiquidPad, the avatar menu now reads "Plan: Pro" and all limits lift. If it lags, run "Account diagnostic…" to refresh.

Cloud sync across your Macs (Pro)

With Pro, your apps, workspaces, boards and layout follow you to every Mac. Set it up once and it stays in sync automatically. Change your setup on one machine and the others pick it up.

1. 1On your first Mac, sign in to your account and make sure your plan shows Pro.
2. 2Build your setup as usual: apps, workspaces, boards, groups and layout.
3. 3On a second Mac, install LiquidPad and sign in with the same account.
4. 4Your full setup pulls down automatically; from then on both Macs stay in sync.

Export / import your whole setup (Pro)

Beyond live sync, Pro lets you export your entire setup to a file and import it back. It's handy for backups, migrating to a new Mac on your own terms, or keeping a known-good snapshot before a big rearrange.

Invite friends for a free month

You can invite friends to LiquidPad and earn a free month for doing so. Look for the invite option in your account, then share your link with people who'd live in a panel like you do.

Signing out

1. 1Click the avatar at the top of the rail.
2. 2Choose "Sign out".
3. 3This Mac returns to the signed-out state; cloud sync pauses until you sign back in. Your local setup stays exactly where it is.

Build a workspace with two linked apps

A board fuses two or more apps into a single shared multi-column view with a composite icon, so you can watch them side by side in one tab. Here is how to set one up inside a workspace.

1. 1Open the workspace where you want the pair to live (or create a new one and switch to it).
2. 2Add the first app from the rail's add button: pick from the 500+ catalog or paste any URL.
3. 3Add the second app the same way.
4. 4Drag one rail icon directly onto the other. They fuse into a multi-view Board with a composite icon.
5. 5Open the board and drag the divider to set each column's width. Your hand-tuned layout is remembered across launches.

Group and ungroup workspaces

Groups are folders for your workspace tabs. File a whole set of projects under one collapsible heading and fold them away with a click.

1. 1To group: drag one workspace tab onto another. They fold under a collapsible group.
2. 2Right-click the group to Rename it, give it an Icon (an SF Symbol or an emoji) and a Color.
3. 3Click the group heading to Collapse or expand it.
4. 4To add more workspaces later: drag any workspace tab onto the group to file it inside.
5. 5To ungroup: right-click the group and choose Ungroup. The workspaces become standalone tabs again.

Assign a jump shortcut to a workspace, an app, or a terminal tab

LiquidPad lets you bind a global key combo to three different things. Press the combo from anywhere on your Mac, even inside another app, and you land right there instantly, no slide-in animation.

1. 1For a workspace: right-click its tab and choose Assign keyboard shortcut, then record the combo you want. (Workspaces 1–9 already answer ⌘1–⌘9.)
2. 2For an app: right-click its rail icon and choose Assign keyboard shortcut, then record your combo.
3. 3For a single terminal or SSH tab: right-click the tab and choose its shortcut option, then record the combo.
4. 4To change or remove any of them, right-click again. The menu shows the current combo so you can re-record or clear it.

Set a home page (or home tabs)

Pick exactly where an app opens, instead of whatever page you left it on.

1. 1Navigate the app to the page you want as its landing spot.
2. 2Right-click the app's rail icon and choose Set current page as home.
3. 3From then on, Go to home page (also in the right-click menu) snaps it back there.
4. 4For the terminal: arrange the tabs you want, then right-click and choose Set current tabs as home. Reopening the terminal restores that exact set.

Connect and save an SSH server

The built-in SSH manager uses your real ssh, keys and agent, so ~/.ssh/config, ProxyJump and Tailscale all just work. No account, no cloud. Saved connections stay warm and their addresses stay hidden until you need them.

1. 1Open the SSH manager from the rail.
2. 2Enter the connection command (your host, just like you'd type ssh on the command line).
3. 3Optionally fill in Startup commands, which run on connect to auto-run a snippet the moment the session opens.
4. 4Connect once with a name, and the connection lands in your Saved Connections list.
5. 5Next time, tap the saved name to jump straight back in; the session stays warm in the background between opens.

Run multiple accounts of the same service

Each app can keep its own isolated login session, so two Gmail or two Slack accounts run side by side without signing in and out.

1. 1Add the service once and sign in to your first account.
2. 2Right-click the app and choose Duplicate (separate session) to spin up a second copy with its own cookie store.
3. 3Sign in to your second account in the duplicate.
4. 4To give an existing app its own account instead of the shared store, right-click it and choose Separate login (own account).

Float a video or an app on top with Picture-in-Picture

Universal Picture-in-Picture pops any video into a resizable, always-on-top mini-player that keeps playing after the panel closes, even over full-screen apps. You can also float a whole app.

1. 1Right-click the app playing the video and choose Picture-in-Picture to pop the video out.
2. 2Or choose Float (always on top) to keep the entire app floating above everything.
3. 3Resize and reposition the mini-player anywhere on screen.
4. 4Close the panel, and playback (plus audio, for a music mini-player) keeps going.

Lock private apps behind a PIN

The Vault hides an app behind a 4-digit PIN so a glance can't open your inbox or DMs. It re-locks itself the instant the panel closes.

1. 1Right-click the app you want to protect and choose Lock with the Vault (PIN).
2. 2Set your PIN.
3. 3From now on the app asks for the PIN to open, and re-locks automatically the moment you dismiss the panel.

More small power moves

• Free RAM on demand: right-click any app and Pause it (or Sleep a whole workspace) to unload it on the spot; it reloads when you come back.
• Keep comms alive: right-click a chat app and choose Keep active so calls and notifications from WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord or Slack still ring with the panel closed.
• Mute a noisy tab: right-click an app and Mute it without pausing it.
• 1-click site tweaks: right-click an app for ready-made native fixes (force dark mode, hide cookie banners), or add a Custom script (JavaScript or CSS) that runs on every load when no Chrome extension exists.
• Reorder anything: drag rail icons or workspace tabs to put your most-used items where your hand expects them.
• Run multiple windows: in window mode, ⌘N opens another independent LiquidPad window with its own apps and ⌘W closes it, so you can spread projects across displays.
• Multi-view: keep a desktop window parked on one screen and still flick the edge slide-over in and out with your shortcut; the desktop window is never touched.
• Save a scene: capture a set of apps as a Workspace scene ("Morning", "Standup") and bring the whole layout back in one keystroke.

Workspace scenes

A scene is a saved snapshot of a set of apps, for example "Morning", "Design", or "Standup". Instead of manually opening and arranging the apps you need for a given context, you save that set once and bring the whole layout back in a single move. LiquidPad remembers which apps belong to the scene and which one should be active when you reopen it.

Scenes live in the command palette (⌘K), so saving and restoring a layout is always one keystroke away. You never leave the keyboard and never hunt through settings.

1. 1Press ⌘K to open the command palette.
2. 2Choose "Save current as scene…" and type a name (e.g. "Morning" or "Design"). LiquidPad captures the current workspace's apps and remembers which one is active.
3. 3Later, press ⌘K again and pick "Open scene: <name>" to bring that whole set back instantly. The palette shows how many apps each scene contains.
4. 4To update a scene, save again with the same name; it overwrites the existing scene rather than creating a duplicate.