> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mauvely.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Compose overview

> How the Compose editor is laid out, what each panel does, and the model behind it: courses, lessons and blocks.

Compose is a desktop authoring tool. Everything you need — structure, content, styling, preview
and export — lives in one window.

## The model in one paragraph

A **course** is a list of **lessons**. A lesson is a vertical stack of **blocks**. A block is one
piece of content: a paragraph, an image, a quiz, a drag-and-drop exercise, your own HTML. Learners
see one lesson per page and move through them in order. On top of that, a course has an
**overview page** (a landing page shown before the lessons) and a set of downloadable
**resources**.

## The editor

<Steps>
  <Step title="Title bar">
    The menus — **File**, **Edit**, **View**, **Insert**, **Course**, **Help** — plus the course
    name, undo and redo, your account chip, and the **Preview** and **Export** buttons.

    The course name is clickable: it renames the course. A dot beside it means unsaved changes.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Left panel — three tabs">
    | Tab         | Shortcut   | What it does                                                                                               |
    | ----------- | ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
    | **Outline** | `Ctrl` `1` | Lessons: add, rename, reorder, delete. Also the block list within the current lesson.                      |
    | **Blocks**  | `Ctrl` `2` | The block catalogue, with search. Click to insert. Also lists blocks you have saved to your Blocks folder. |
    | **Design**  | `Ctrl` `3` | The look of the published course: presets, colours, logo, typefaces, shape.                                |

    `Ctrl` `B` hides and shows the panel. The Design tab can also be popped out into its own larger
    window.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Canvas">
    The lesson you are editing, drawn as a stack of authoring cards. Select a block by clicking it;
    reorder with `Alt` `↑` / `Alt` `↓`, duplicate with `Ctrl` `D`, delete with `Del`.

    Blocks can be grouped: select several, then **Edit ▸ Group blocks**. A group renders as one
    seamless bordered field for learners, which is how you build a call-out or a sidebar.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Inspector">
    Everything about the selected block: its title, its width, whether it is required, and every
    setting specific to its type. `Ctrl` `Shift` `I` hides and shows it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Status strip">
    Along the bottom: the file name, lesson and block counts, the export format, and a live list of
    **validation notices** — an empty text block, an image without alt text, a quiz with no correct
    answer marked. None of them prevent an export; all of them are things a learner would notice.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What launch looks like

Compose does not open the editor at launch. You see:

1. **Sign in** — if you have no session. Sign-in happens in your browser, see [Accounts](/get-started/accounts).
2. **The welcome screen** — recent courses with their titles and lesson counts, the Mauvely news
   feed, and buttons for **New course**, **From a template** and **Open**.
3. **The editor** — once a course is open.

Turning on **Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Reopen last course** skips step 2 and goes straight back into
the course you had open.

## Undo, redo and autosave

Every change goes through one undo stack (`Ctrl` `Z` / `Ctrl` `Shift` `Z`, and `Ctrl` `Y` also
works). Consecutive edits of the same kind — typing into one field, dragging one slider — collapse
into a single undo step rather than one per keystroke.

Autosave is on by default and runs a few seconds after you stop editing. It only applies to a
course that has been saved at least once; a brand-new untitled course waits for you to choose a
location.

## Where to go next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Courses and lessons" icon="list" href="/compose/courses-and-lessons">
    Structuring a course, the overview page, downloadable resources.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Blocks" icon="cube" href="/compose/blocks">
    The content blocks and the settings every block shares.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Interactive blocks" icon="list-checks" href="/compose/interactive-blocks">
    Quizzes, drag and drop, branching, hotspots, interactive video.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Design tab" icon="palette" href="/compose/design-tab">
    Presets, colours, logo, typography, shape.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Driving Compose from an AI agent

Compose can run as an [MCP server](/compose/mcp-server), which lets an AI agent build a course
start to finish — lessons, blocks of every kind, the theme, media and export — and take a real
screenshot to check what it made.