AddThisFeature

Resizable Panels

Let users resize sidebars, inspectors, and work areas to fit the task.

moderate UI & Polish

What it adds

Drag handles between panels, with minimum and maximum sizes, keyboard control, and sizes that persist.

What your agent is told to do

5
  1. 1

    Identify the panel boundaries worth making adjustable — usually a sidebar, a list, and a detail area. Not every divider needs a handle.

  2. 2

    Give every panel a minimum and maximum size expressed relative to the container, and clamp to them during the drag rather than after it.

  3. 3

    Make each handle focusable and operable with arrow keys, with a visible focus ring and an accessible name saying what it resizes.

  4. 4

    Persist each size against the user and the specific layout it belongs to, and validate a restored size against the current container before applying it.

  5. 5

    Do not resize on every mouse move if the panels contain expensive content. Move the handle during the drag and commit the layout on release.

Edge cases it handles

6
  • A saved size from a wide monitor must not swallow the whole layout on a laptop — clamp restored values.
  • If the layout changes in a later release, stale saved sizes must be discarded rather than applied to panels that no longer exist.
  • Dragging must not select text or trigger drag-and-drop inside the panels.
  • Below the responsive breakpoint, panels should collapse to a stacked or single-pane layout and the handles should disappear entirely.
  • Double-clicking a handle should reset that boundary to its default, and there must be a way to reset the whole layout.
  • A panel dragged to its minimum must still show something meaningful, or collapse fully with an obvious way to bring it back.

Definition of done

8
  • Every handle enforces a minimum and maximum size during the drag.
  • Handles can be focused and moved with the keyboard, with a visible focus state.
  • Sizes persist per user and are re-validated against the viewport on restore.
  • The layout collapses to a single-column arrangement on small screens with no orphaned handles.
  • There is a reset for an individual boundary and for the whole layout.
  • Dragging never selects text or leaves the pointer capture stuck.
  • The feature matches the existing design system.
  • No existing functionality is broken.

Related features

How it works

  1. 1

    Copy the link

    Grab the Markdown instruction URL for this feature.

  2. 2

    Give it to your AI

    Paste it into Claude Code, Cursor, v0, Lovable — whatever you build with.

  3. 3

    It inspects, then implements

    Your agent reads your existing app first, then adds the feature to fit it.

Works with your stack

These instructions are written to adapt. They tell the agent to detect your framework, match your existing design system, and reuse what you already have — rather than assuming a particular stack.

Need it tighter than that? Customize the feature and tell it exactly what you're running.