Compose · mobile design shotgun · CT Ledger light

Four ways Compose could live on a phone

The desktop studio is three zones — sources rail, document, refine chat — which collapses illegibly at 390px. Rather than one responsive patch, here are four genuinely different mobile directions, each preserving the non-negotiables: read/edit the document, see and steer sources (pin/mute), refine by chat, ship-gates visibility including the compliance hold, bakeoff compare, and a reading view. Same content, same tokens — different bets on what the phone should optimise for. Tap a screen to open the live variant (both states).

Variant A
Doc-first + bottom sheets
The document is the whole screen; Sources, Refine and Mode are bottom sheets you summon with a thumb.
Variant A — doc-first with bottom sheets open ›

Pros

  • The reading/editing surface is as large as the phone allows — the core job gets the whole screen.
  • Bottom sheets are a native, one-thumb gesture; Sources/Refine are a tap away without leaving the doc.
  • Gates ride along as a compact scroll row, always in context above the content.

Cons

  • A half-open Refine sheet hides the lower half of the doc — hard to see the paragraph you're editing and the chat at once.
  • Sheet-over-doc for both Sources and Refine gets modal-heavy; easy to lose track of what's open.
  • The 3-way toolbar mixes two panels and a setting (Mode) — an uneven mental model.
Variant B
Chat-first
Compose is a messaging app: the refine thread is the screen; the doc is a rich card that expands to a full reader.
Variant B — chat-first thread open ›

Pros

  • Matches how people already steer AI — composer is home base, lowest learning curve of the four.
  • Doc-as-card keeps grounding and gates glanceable in the flow; expand only when you read deeply.
  • Source chips above the composer make steering a lightweight, inline act.

Cons

  • The document is second-class — real editing means popping a full-screen reader, so heavy sessions feel indirect.
  • A long refine history scrolls the doc card out of view; you hunt the chat for your own document.
  • Per-paragraph precision is awkward when everything routes through one global thread.
Variant C
Segmented single column
One calm column; a Draft · Sources · Refine segment control swaps it. Composer stays docked on every segment.
Variant C — segmented single column open ›

Pros

  • Calmest model — no overlays, nothing hidden behind a gesture; always obvious where you are.
  • Composer docked on every segment lets you refine while looking at Draft, Sources or Refine.
  • Badge counts (Sources 6/14, Refine 3) give ambient awareness without opening anything.

Cons

  • Only one facet at a time — you can't see the doc and its sources/chat together, which grounded writing wants.
  • Three segments cap the model; Bakeoff, gates detail and reading need somewhere else to live.
  • Tab-hop to check a source then back to the doc adds friction to a tight edit loop.
Variant D · wildcard
Section-threaded reader
Refine scoped per section: each section card has its own inline mini-thread; a floating cluster holds Sources · Gates · @bi · Bakeoff.
Variant D — section-threaded reader wildcard open ›

Pros

  • Refine is scoped to the exact section you're steering — the most precise grounded-editing model here.
  • Grounding stays in-context per section (citations, source footer, compliance where it bites), not in a distant panel.
  • Floating cluster keeps global actions one thumb-tap away without permanent chrome.

Cons

  • Most novel = highest learning curve; per-section threads and a satellite FAB break phone conventions.
  • Many small inline threads can fragment the "one conversation" model and clutter a long doc.
  • A floating cluster occludes content and is a known discoverability/accessibility risk on mobile.
Shotgun's lean C as the spine, steal D's per-section refine and A's big-doc reading. C is the safest daily driver (calm, conventional, composer always present); D has the best grounded-editing idea but is the riskiest cold-open. A combined "segmented column whose Refine can scope to the tapped section" may be the real winner.
Pick a direction — or combine.

Reply a / b / c / d and say what to steal from the others (e.g. "c, but borrow d's per-section refine and a's full-bleed reader"). I'll build the chosen direction out as the mobile Compose spec.

ADoc-first
BChat-first
CSegmented
DThreaded