Collapse what you are not reading

What it is

A long decision with two deep branches pushes the rest of the document off screen. Folding hides a block’s body behind its opener line so you can work on the lines around it: the same gesture as a code editor, applied to Runic’s two-space indentation.

How it works

Any line followed by deeper-indented lines is an opener; its body runs to the last deeper line, blank lines included. A small chevron sits in the gutter at each opener, pointing right when closed and down when open, with tooltips “Collapse this block” and “Expand this block”.

Folding is view-only. The editor shows the visible lines while the textarea turns read-only, so line indexes can never shift under a fold. Gutter numbers stay the real ones, which is why a folded document can read 1, 2, 9, 10. The footer says “Folded view (N blocks) — click or type to edit”.

Navigation keys, ⌘C and ⌘A pass through. Any other key, or a click, expands every fold and maps the caret from its folded position into the full document, so you land where you aimed; the triggering keystroke is dropped rather than typed blind. The diagram is built from the full text, so it keeps showing every node. Any text change clears the folds, and so does a jump through the References panel; folds belong to one document, so another document opens unfolded.

Why it matters

A 120-line process reads better when the four decisions you already finished take four lines. Honest numbers mean “line 47” from the audit or the References panel points at the same line whether or not anything is folded.

Limits

While folded you cannot type, drag blocks, extract, or get ghost suggestions; the first editing intent expands the view. Folds are not saved. Process documents only.

How to use it

1. 1
   Find the chevron

   A faint chevron sits in the gutter beside an .if, a .then, or any line with indented lines below it. It brightens when you hover it.
2. 2
   Fold

   Click the chevron. The body disappears and the opener line gains a “⋯ N lines” chip. The footer switches to “Folded view (1 block) — click or type to edit”.
3. 3
   Fold more

   Repeat on other openers. Nested folds inside a hidden body are irrelevant; folding the outer block hides everything.
4. 4
   Read with real numbers

   The gutter keeps original line numbers, so 12 followed by 31 means lines 13 to 30 are folded.
5. 5
   Expand

   Click the chevron or the “⋯ N lines” chip to open one block, or click anywhere in the text (or start typing) to expand all folds with the caret at the spot you clicked.

Commands & shortcuts

Tips

• Fold the decisions you have finished before reading the tail of a long flow; the diagram on the right keeps showing them.
• Select-all while folded copies only the visible lines. Expand first when you want the whole document.
• Folds clear on every edit by design. Fold, read, then edit; do not expect folds to survive typing.
• Hover-sync still works: hover a visible line and its node lights up.

Questions