Smart Island
The Smart Island is the floating dock at the bottom of the canvas. Despite the name, it doesn’t try to be smart in a million ways — it has two jobs.
What’s actually on it
The dock shows one of three layouts depending on mode and selection:
1. Create mode + nothing selected → Add toolbar
Seven icons in a row. Each adds a new material node at the center of your current viewport:
| Icon | Adds | Node type |
|---|---|---|
| Box | 3D model | addModelNode |
| FileText | Document | addFileNode |
| Image | Image | addImageNode |
| Type | Text | addTextNode |
| Video | Video | addVideoNode |
| Music | Audio | addAudioNode |
| Link | URL | addLinkNode |
Image / Audio / Video nodes have their own internal pickers — you can drop a file, capture from camera / mic, or paste a URL, all from inside the node after it lands on the canvas. The Smart Island just creates the node; it does not pop a file picker by itself.
2. Create mode + one or more nodes selected → Contextual actions
When you select a node (or multiple), the Add toolbar is replaced by the transforms and combinations that make sense given the selection. For example:
- Select one text node → choose between Generate image, Generate video, Generate music, Generate speech, or Split text.
- Select one image node → Image editing, Image understanding, Image upscale, Image → 3D, or Image → video.
- Select one audio + one video → Lip sync, Mux audio + video.
- Select two images → Image fusion.
The contextual list is generated from the ABI’s input shapes — anything that has typed slots matching your selection appears.
3. Execute mode → Play button
In Execute mode (toggle Sparkles → Play in the top-right mode switch), the Add toolbar collapses entirely. The Smart Island shows a single large Play button.
- Click Play to run the current workflow (the system will save first if there are unsaved changes — a confirm dialog appears).
- While running, the Play button morphs into a Siri-style multicolor breathing ball. Stop is initiated from the task progress toast that appears at the top of the screen, not from the Smart Island.
What’s not on the Smart Island
For clarity, since older docs got this wrong:
- No materials / portfolio button. Uploaded files live in the Portfolio dialog opened from the left sidebar (FolderOpen icon, third button).
- No tasks / execution history. That’s the left sidebar Zap button.
- No workflow list. That’s the left sidebar Workflow button (first icon).
Keyboard tips
- Esc deselects all nodes, which collapses contextual actions back to the Add toolbar.
- Enter in Execute mode triggers the Play button (when not focused in a text input).
Related
- Workflow modes — Create vs Execute
- Node types — the full catalog of what the contextual actions can produce
- Materials — where uploaded files actually live
