Lab 24 / search and TAI, one interface

One field that finds and answers.

Search and TAI are already in the same box and still behave like two products: search finds records, TAI is a fall-through at the bottom of the list. The merger is worth doing for one reason, and it is not tidiness.

A TAI answer's citations are search results. Same records, same references, same row. Once that is true, the two are not two things co-located, they are one thing with two shapes: a list when you know what you want, an answer when you do not. Everything below follows from that.

01 / the thesis

The user never picks a mode.

No toggle, no "ask" tab, no second shortcut to learn. You type, and the field reads what you typed: a reference jumps, a prefix lists, a name finds, a verb offers to act, and a question is answered. The one visible sign of the reading is the echo chip in the field, which the command bar already carries, and which now names the intent rather than just the parse.

One fieldThe box in the bar and ⌘K, and nothing else. Both land here; there is no third door.
Intent, not modeThe panel ranks by what the text reads as. A question puts TAI first; anything else puts records first and keeps TAI last.
One rowA search result and an answer citation are the same component. Reference, title, what it is. Learn it once.
One keyEnter opens what is highlighted. ⌘Enter always asks TAI, whatever is highlighted, so the question never needs the mouse.

02 / four states

Empty, finding, asking, answering.

S1 · empty · what the field can do, said once

Search, jump to a reference, or ask TAIesc
Recent
BKG-7QP2K4M9Kyoto roadshowBooking · issuing
CCN-100375Marchetti GroupCustomer
Try
BKG- to list bookings, or paste any reference
Ask a question: "what does Marchetti still owe us?"
Type a name: a customer, a traveller, a supplier or a colleague
TAI answers from your books and cites the records it used↵ open⌘↵ ask

S2 · finding · a name, so records lead and TAI waits at the foot

marchettiFindingesc
Customers1
CCN-100375Marchetti GroupCorporate · USD 196,300 lifetime
Records6
ENQ-8TVQ2M4RKyoto roadshow, 24 paxEnquiry · won
QUT-5RD9K3WPKyoto roadshow v1.2Quotation · accepted
BKG-7QP2K4M9Kyoto roadshowBooking · issuing
INV-2026-118Kyoto roadshowInvoice · partially paid
SRV-1180Room type not as bookedService ticket · resolved
Actions
New enquiry for Marchetti Group↵
Ask TAI about Marchetti GroupAnything from the books, cited⌘↵

S3 · asking · the text reads as a question, so TAI takes the top and records support it

what does marchetti still owe us?Questionesc
Answer this from the booksReads receivables, bookings and payments for Northline Travel LLC↵
Or open one of these3
CCN-100375Marchetti GroupCustomer · balances
INV-2026-118Kyoto roadshowInvoice · partially paid
BKG-7QP2K4M9Kyoto roadshowBooking · issuing

03 / the answer

Every figure has a record under it.

The answer is not a chat. It is a short statement in the platform's own vocabulary, and beneath it the records it was drawn from, set as ordinary result rows, so the reader can leave the answer for the source in one keystroke. Follow-ups are offered as text you can accept, not as a conversation you must maintain.

what does marchetti still owe us?Answeredesc
TAI, from Northline Travel LLC's books, 22 Jul
Marchetti Group owes USD 16,300 across one open invoice. The Kyoto roadshow was billed at USD 196,300 and USD 180,000 has been received, most recently USD 60,000 by bank transfer three hours ago. Nothing is past its terms: the balance falls due on 05 Sep 2026.
Drawn from
INV-2026-118Kyoto roadshowInvoice · USD 16,300 open
RCP-2026-441Bank transferReceipt · USD 60,000
BKG-7QP2K4M9Kyoto roadshowBooking · issuing
TAI is an AI assistant and can be wrong. Every figure links to the record it came from.esc back
The books, namedThe answer states whose books and at what date, because the same question has a different answer in another entity.
Figures in monoEvery number in the answer wears the platform's figure face and links to its record. Prose is Inter; facts are mono.
Citations are resultsThe rows under "Drawn from" are the same component as a search result. Enter opens one, escape returns to the answer.
Follow-ups are offeredThree at most, phrased as the next question a person actually asks. Choosing one runs it; ignoring them costs nothing.
The disclosure staysTAI is named as an AI, its fallibility is stated once at the foot, and the escape hatch is the record, not a retry.

04 / what the field reads

Six intents, one parser.

You typeIt readsWhat happens
BKG-7QP2K4M9A referenceJumps straight there on Enter. No list, no ceremony, and it works for every prefix on the platform.
BKG-A kindLists that register, most recent first, with the echo chip naming it.
marchettiA nameCustomers, then their records, then travellers, suppliers and staff. TAI waits at the foot.
new bookingA verbRecognised by the parser, and not yet offered: Actions do not ship until they are ruled, so the field never teaches a verb it will not perform.
what does marchetti oweA questionTAI takes the top, records stay beneath as the way out. Question marks are not required; the parser reads shape, not punctuation.
kyotoAmbiguousRecords first because they are certain, with the ask row offering the same text to TAI. Ambiguity resolves toward what is known.
Why the parser must never be clever

A field that guesses wrong is worse than one that asks. The echo chip exists so the reading is visible before Enter is pressed, and ⌘Enter overrides it in one keystroke. The parser is allowed to be confident only about references and prefixes, which are unambiguous by construction; everything else leads with records and offers TAI rather than assuming.

05 / the doors

The field stays. The TAI cell goes.

The instinct is that merging makes the field redundant, and it is the wrong way round. The field is the only thing that teaches the interface exists. A bare shortcut is invisible: nobody discovers ⌘K by not pressing it, and the placeholder is the single place the platform says out loud that you may ask it a question. What becomes redundant is the TAI cell, because after the merger it opens the same room by a second door.

There is a second reason, and it is the stronger one. The cell could only justify itself by opening the panel already primed to ask, and priming is choosing a mode. This lab's whole thesis is that the user never picks a mode: the field reads intent. A door that pre-selects one intent contradicts the thing it opens.

Before · three doors, one room

CRM · Dashboard Search, jump to a reference, or ask TAI⌘K 3 FT

The field, the shortcut and the cell all land in the same place. Two of those teach; the third only duplicates.

After · one door, and the block becomes purely you

CRM · Dashboard Search, jump to a reference, or ask TAI⌘K 3 FT

The group block is now two cells and means one thing: what is waiting for you, and who you are. The field keeps its 330px: it is a door, not a workspace, and the panel it opens carries the working field at 640px.

The field teaches"Search, jump to a reference, or ask TAI" is the only place the platform names all three things it can do. Remove it and TAI becomes folklore.
A door, not a workspaceIt stays 330px and does not flex. The typing happens in the panel it opens, which is 640px, so a field spanning half the bar would buy nothing and cost the bar its balance.
The shortcut is the expert path⌘K opens the same panel. A shortcut is a reward for knowing, never the only way in.
The cell contradicted the thesisIts only reason to exist was opening in ask mode, and the merger's premise is that intent is read rather than chosen.
The block gets its meaning backBell and mark are both "you". TAI never was, and its cell there was always the odd one.
Where TAI is still named

In the field's placeholder, in the empty state's three examples, on the ask row of every result list, and at the foot of every answer. Four honest namings, none of them a button that duplicates a field.

05 / decide

Three calls.

1 · The merger itselfOne field, intent-ranked, citations as results. Or keep search and TAI as neighbours in one panel, which is today.
2 · CommandsActions are out until ruled: the one part that can act rather than find, and the one part that can be wrong expensively. The empty state teaches nothing it cannot do.
3 · The TAI cellIt comes out; the group block is the bell and the mark alone.