Stars — apps, folders & rituals

What a star is. A star is anything you've placed on your sky — your home screen — to open with a slide. Every star is the same kind of thing under the hood, so it can carry a color, an icon, a label, and its own ring of child stars.

#The seven kinds of star

A star is one of seven types. The type decides what happens when you release on it:

• App — opens an installed app.
• Folder — opens its own ring of stars nested inside. Drawn as a small cluster: a center with three moons.
• Widget — opens a home-screen widget in a floating window. See Widgets & floating widgets.
• Shortcut — opens an app's own published shortcut (like "new message").
• System — fires a built-in action, such as the camera or a timer.
• File — opens a file, photo, or folder you pinned.
• Link — opens a web address, an email draft, or a Zenith link. Any other kind of address is copied instead, with "copied — that kind of address doesn't open from a star".

#Adding a star

Where. New stars come from the add sheet — the add-a-star menu for one ring. Its tabs each add a different kind of star to the ring you're on: "Apps", "Folder", "Widgets", "Shortcuts", "Direct", "Files", "System", and a tab for the shuttle — the suite's shared tray for passing things between Zenith apps (shown as a 🚀 rocket). You don't pick a "type" directly — the tab you use chooses it for you. You open it by sliding onto ✛ from an open ring. Where you lift sets the new star's spot, and what you pick in the sheet fills it. See Place a star.

• Apps lists your installed apps, searchable. Only personal-profile apps show here; work-profile apps live in deep sky.
• Folder names and creates a folder with "create ✦".
• Widgets lists every widget an app offers; picking one starts the system's bind flow.
• Shortcuts drills into an app's published shortcuts. It needs Zenith to be your default launcher; if it isn't, you'll see a notice to set that first.
• Direct is the inbox of things other apps have sent into Zenith — bookmarks, files, notes. Place any of them as often as you like; "forget" drops one from the list without breaking stars already using it.
• Files pins a file, photo, or folder through Android's own pickers. Nothing is copied or uploaded.
• System adds single-tap system actions like the camera, timer, or dialer.
• 🚀 holds three groups. "zenith actions" places a Zenith surface as a star that opens it: "ask the sky", "shuttle", "deep sky · star index", "add a node", "region editor", "inscribe a talisman", and "settings". "shuttle" lists what is in the Shuttle right now; tap one to place it as a star. "zenith specialties" gathers your other Zenith apps and their widgets.

#Editing a star

Where. Each placed star has a ✎ affordance that opens the node-edit sheet — the editor for one star. Its header reads "✎" plus the star's type, such as "✎ app".

What you can change.

• "name" — the star's text, saved as you type.
• "light color" — a swatch row from your current theme; the star glows in that color.
• "◈ change icon" — pick a Zenith icon, an icon pack, or your own image. If the star already wears a custom icon, "reset to default icon" appears.
• "show label" — turn the star's text on or off.
• "show app icon" and "breathe before opening" — shown only for app and shortcut stars.
• "ritual — release launches everything inside" — shown only for folders (see below).
• "haptic signature" — an eight-slot timeline you tap to build a vibration pattern felt as you pass the star. The hint reads "tap a slot to cycle still · small · big — feel it as you pass this star". "▶ feel" plays it, "clear" resets it, and "preset →" steps through four ready-made patterns: pulse, triple tick, swell, and double knock.
• "uninstall app from device…" — shown only for app stars; opens the system uninstall dialog.
• "− remove" takes the star off its ring at once, with no confirmation. On a folder, it takes everything inside with it and releases any widgets inside. "done ✦" closes the editor.

To move a star, you re-place it on the ring itself with the "re-place" button in the dock — the row of edit buttons shown while a ring is open — not from here.

#Folders and rituals

Folders. A folder holds its own ring of stars. While a ring is open, resting on a folder for a moment blooms its children as a nested ring you can slide into — so you drill inward without ever lifting your finger.

Rituals. A ritual is a folder that opens everything inside it at once. Turn on "ritual — release launches everything inside" in the folder's editor. After that, lifting on the folder no longer drills in — it launches every star inside, in order. Good for a morning set of apps you always open together.

#Breathe — a pause before an app opens

What it is. Breathe is an optional held pause before a chosen star opens. Turn on "breathe before opening" in a star's editor. When you launch that star, a full-screen pause with a pulsing circle and the word "breathe" appears for about two and a half seconds before the app opens. A line reads "opening", the star's name, and "· tap to stay". Tap anywhere to change your mind and stay on the sky. Two kinds of opening skip the pause: stars a ritual opens, and stars opened from the quick ring — the ring you can open over any app. It's a gentle brake for apps you'd rather open on purpose.

#See also.

Stars, nodes & regions · Place a star · Move a star · All apps — Deep Sky & the star index