Interface Overview

REvoDesign runs as a PyMOL plugin. Its main window is organized into functional zones around a tabbed workflow.

REvoDesign main interface with functional zones labeled

Interface Zones

1. Molecule and Chain Selector — Appears after loading a structure. Select the target molecule and chain for analysis.

2. CPU Core Limit — Caps the number of CPU cores used for parallel computation. Maximum equals available system cores.

3. Color Preset — Select a matplotlib colormap for result coloring. The preview bar shows the low-to-high gradient (top-left to bottom-right). The adjacent checkbox inverts the color scale.

   

   Color preset dropdown with gradient preview icons

4. Core Function Tabs — The main workspace, organized by workflow stage: Prepare, Mutate, Evaluate, Cluster, Visualize, Interact, Socket, and Config.

5. Progress Bar — Shows task status:

   • Scrolls during background computation.
   • Shows design/calculation progress percentage.
   • Shows your position during rational screening (e.g., mutant index within the MutantTree, co-evolution pair index in the queue).

6. Tooltip Area — Hover over any control to see usage hints here.

Drop-Down Menus

Auxiliary design tools are organized in the menu bar by function category.

Drop-down menus provide additional task functions

Complete menu function reference with categorized tool entries

Many menu items open a parameter dialog for user input. For example, Tools → Relax w/ Ca Constraints runs Rosetta sidechain relaxation with Cα restraints.

Task parameter window — fill in the fields and run

Dialog wrapper pattern — parameter dialogs for various task configurations

Parameters are ephemeral

Task dialog inputs are stored in memory only — closing the window discards them. Click Save to persist the parameters as a JSON file for reuse.

Saved parameter files can be reloaded via Load or by drag-and-drop onto the dialog window.

Save parameters to JSON; reload via Load button or drag-and-drop

Language Switching

REvoDesign supports internationalization (i18n) for the main window. The language selector is in the top-right area.

Interface language switching

REvoDesign main interface in Chinese

Note

Translation covers the main window only. Log messages, task dialogs, and tooltips remain in English.

Configuration Management

All UI changes modify the in-memory configuration immediately but are not persisted to disk automatically.

Configurations can be saved and loaded as experiment snapshots

Configuration save options in the Edit menu

Action	Shortcut	Description
Save Configurations	Ctrl+S	Write current config to disk. Loaded on next startup.
Save Configuration As…	Ctrl+Alt+S	Save to a different location.
Save to Experiment	Ctrl+Shift+S	Save config as a named experiment for reproducibility.
Load Experiment	Ctrl+Shift+L	Load a previously saved experiment.
Edit Configuration	—	Open config files in the Monaco editor (external browser).
Reconfigure	—	Reload config from disk and apply to UI.
Initialize Configuration	—	Delete user config and restore factory defaults.

Broken config?

If REvoDesign won't start due to a bad configuration, use the Package Manager's right-click menu to Reset REvoDesign's configuration. This restores factory defaults.

Socket — Multi-User Collaboration

The Socket tab enables real-time peer-to-peer collaboration between multiple REvoDesign instances. Users can share views, mutant trees, and design data over a WebSocket connection.

Figure: Socket-based collaborative design workflow between multiple REvoDesign instances