Phi Help

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Layouts & Navigation ​

Phi organizes browsing around a vertical sidebar and a choice of layout modes. If you are switching from Chrome or Safari, this is the biggest change — and the thing most worth getting comfortable with first.

Why a vertical sidebar? ​

Most modern screens are wide, not tall. Horizontal space is usually abundant, while vertical space is what you run out of first — especially when reading, writing, researching, or working inside web apps. A vertical sidebar makes better use of the shape of modern displays and leaves more room for the actual page.

Layout modes ​

Phi offers three layout modes so you can choose how much screen space goes to content versus browser controls. You pick one during onboarding and can change it anytime.

  • Performance — gives the most room to the page. It uses the vertical sidebar for tabs and bookmarks and removes the URL bar from the content area.
  • Balanced — keeps the vertical sidebar but adds the URL bar above the content. It is the middle ground between space efficiency and familiarity.
  • Comfortable — looks closest to a traditional browser: tabs on top, a visible URL bar, and a layout close to Chrome. Tabs move to the horizontal strip, so the sidebar steps back from day-to-day navigation.

Which should I start with? ​

  • Switching from Chrome or Safari: start with Comfortable.
  • Prefer a modern sidebar browser: start with Balanced.
  • Want maximum page space: use Performance.

For broader migration advice, see Switching to Phi.

Tabs, pinned tabs, and bookmarks ​

In Phi, tabs, pinned tabs, and bookmarks all live together in the sidebar, because they are really ends of the same thing — the pages you care about. Tabs are open right now, pinned tabs sit at the top for pages you live in, and bookmarks sit below for pages you want to keep. A simple way to think about it: pinned tabs are pages you live in; bookmarks are pages you want to keep.

For how bookmarks open in place as tabs, and how to pin and organize pages, see Bookmarks & Pinned Tabs. For Arc and Dia migration notes, see Switching to Phi.

Split View ​

Split View places two pages side by side in the same window — useful for reading and writing at once, comparing two pages, or keeping documentation next to a web app instead of jumping back and forth.

To create one: right-click a tab, bookmark, or pinned tab and choose Open as Split, or drag a tab onto the current page.

Tab Groups ​

Tab Groups collect related tabs into one named group — handy when several pages belong to the same project, trip, research topic, or shopping session.

Split View and Tab Groups are designed to work together: you can use Split View inside a group and move split tabs into or out of a group, keeping related work organized instead of floating as loose tabs.

A simple split of responsibilities: Split View is for comparison and multitasking; Tab Groups are for organizing a task, project, or topic.

The assistant understands your layout ​

When you chat from a Split View, Phi can use context from both pages. When you chat from a Tab Group, it can use context from the whole group — so you can ask across related pages without explaining your setup. (Tip: use ctrl+tab to cycle through your recent tabs, and ctrl+shift+tab to go back.)