Polaris Studio has a small number of panels that show different views of the same underlying pipeline. They all stay in sync - change the graph and every panel updates; click a panel item and the corresponding node is selected on the canvas.
This page is a quick index. Each panel has its own deep-dive page.
| Panel | What it shows | How to open | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Node Palette | Every node type, search and browse | Always visible by default | Left dock |
| Properties | Parameters of the selected node | Always visible by default | Right dock |
| Spreadsheet | The active node's data, editable | Always visible by default | Bottom |
| AI Assistant | Chat with the AI about your data | Ctrl+Shift+A | Right dock |
| Chart | Visualisation of the active chart node | F4 | Right dock |
| Profile | Column-by-column statistics | Right-click a column header → Statistics | Right dock |
| Search | Find and replace across the grid | Ctrl+F | Bottom dock |
| Status Bar | Selection, row count, exec time, AI status | Always visible | Bottom |
| Command Palette | Quick launcher (overlay) | Ctrl+P | Centre (overlay) |
Panels never reference each other directly. They all subscribe to AppState - a single reactive object that emits signals when things change. When you click a node on the canvas, AppState emits node_selected, and the Properties Panel updates. When the engine finishes a run, AppState emits table_data_ready, and the Spreadsheet, Chart, and Profile panels all update.
This means:
- Panels can be shown, hidden, and rearranged without breaking anything.
- You can replace any panel's contents with a different view (e.g., a future "Heatmap" panel) without touching the others.
- The same panel can be docked in different positions (left, right, bottom, floating).
To re-arrange panels: drag a panel's title bar. Drop it on another panel's title to tab-stack them. Drop it on a dock edge to dock them.
- View → Panels →
<panel name>- toggle visibility. - Right-click a panel's title bar → Hide.
- The keyboard shortcut for the panel (if it has one) toggles it.
If you've moved panels around and want the default back:
- View → Reset Layout (or Window → Reset Layout on some versions).
This restores the canonical arrangement: Node Palette on the left, Properties on the right, Spreadsheet on the bottom, AI/Chart/Profile/Search as dockable overlays.
- Node Palette - see below.
- Properties Panel - see below.
- Spreadsheet - full guide.
- AI Assistant - full guide.
- Charts - full guide for the Chart Panel and chart nodes.
- Command Palette - full guide.
The left dock. Lists every node type, grouped by category. Use the search box at the top to filter by name (fuzzy match).
Categories:
| Category | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Source | CSV Reader, Parquet Reader, JSON Reader, XLSX Reader, Clipboard Paste, Manual Entry, Cross-Tab Reference |
| Transform | Filter, Select Columns, Add Column, Rename Columns, Drop Columns, Cast Column, Fill Null, String Operations, Date Parse, Sample, Slice, Deduplicate, Unpivot, Explode |
| Aggregate | Group By Aggregate, Rolling Window, Pivot Table |
| Join | Inner Join, Left Join, Right Join, Full Outer Join, Cross Join, Anti Join |
| Sort | Sort |
| Chart | Bar Chart, Line Chart, Scatter Chart, Histogram, Box Chart, Heatmap |
| Output | Table View, Export CSV, Export Parquet, Export JSON, Export XLSX |
To add a node:
- Drag it onto the canvas.
- Double-click it (lands in the centre).
- Right-click → Add Node → submenu of all types.
Hover a node to see a one-line description. Right-click → What's this? for more detail.
Type in the search box. The palette filters in real time:
- "fil" → Filter, Fill Null
- "joi" → all six joins
- "csv" → CSV Reader (and anything with "csv" in the description)
- "exp" → Export CSV/Parquet/JSON/XLSX
Press Esc to clear the search.
The right dock. Shows the parameters of the currently selected node.
If no node is selected, it shows a placeholder: "Select a node to view its properties".
If multiple nodes are selected, it shows only the common parameters (the ones every selected node has). For example, selecting two Filter nodes lets you change the expression for both at once. Selecting a Filter and a Sort shows an empty state (no common parameters).
┌────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Filter │ ← Display name (Instrument Serif)
│ filter-2 │ ← Type and ID (mono)
├────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Keep only rows matching a │ ← Description
│ condition. │
├────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Expression │ ← Parameter label
│ [ pl.col('price') > 50 ] [?] │ ← Parameter field + help button
├────────────────────────────────────┤
│ [Execute] [Preview Output] │ ← Actions
└────────────────────────────────────┘
Different parameter types have different controls:
| Type | Control |
|---|---|
| string | Single-line text input |
| filepath | Text input + "..." button (opens a file dialog) |
| bool | Checkbox |
| enum | Dropdown (predefined options) |
| integer | Spinbox (with arrows) |
| float | Double-spinbox (with arrows) |
| column_single | Editable dropdown (lists available columns) |
| column_multi | Multi-select list |
| expression | Text input + expression editor button (opens the Expression Editor) |
For nodes with an expression parameter (Filter, Add Column, etc.), click the ? icon next to the field to open the Expression Editor - a full dialog with:
- A multi-line text area with syntax highlighting.
- Autocomplete for Polars functions as you type.
- A live preview of the expression evaluated against the upstream data.
- A schema viewer showing available columns and their types.
- Common snippets (clickable inserts).
At the bottom of the Properties Panel:
- Execute - run the pipeline up to and including this node. Same as Shift+F5.
- Preview Output - show this node's output in the Spreadsheet without running downstream. Useful for inspecting a long pipeline without re-running it all.
The thin strip at the very bottom. Four sections, left to right:
- Node info - name and type of the currently selected node, or "No node selected".
- Row count - for the active node, e.g.
Rows: 12,345. - Execution time - for the most recent run, e.g.
Time: 47ms. Animates a count-up from 0. - AI pill - small badge showing AI status:
Ready(idle),Thinking(waiting for AI),Off(no key configured). Click to open the AI panel.
The status bar also shows transient messages like Auto-layout complete, Loaded 1,234 rows, Cached: filter-2, sort-1, bar_chart-1. These fade after a few seconds.
- The AI assistant - chat, previews, auto-approve.
- The spreadsheet - grid, formula bar, sorting, freezing.
- Charts - bar, line, scatter, histogram, box, heatmap.
- Command palette - Ctrl+P, the keyboard-first launcher.
- Saving and preferences -
.polarisfiles, settings, AI keys.