Live session topbar — every button explained

The topbar at the top of /interview is the live-session control center. Left to right: status pills, model + tone, fire-AI control, timer + credits, settings, End Session. Here's what each one does and when to touch it.

Layout (left → right)

Position	Button / pill	Action
Far left	🎙 Mic pill (green dot when on)	Click to mute/unmute mic. Shortcut: Ctrl+M. Doesn't affect interviewer audio.
	🖥 Screen pill	Indicates screen-share status. Green = sharing the tab the AI is reading. Click to re-share or stop.
	🔊 Audio pill	Toggle interviewer-audio capture. Green = capturing. Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+S.
	Model selector	Dropdown — pick which AI generates answers. See Model picker.
Center	⚡ Fire AI button	Manual trigger: sends the latest interviewer question to the AI. Shortcut: Ctrl+Enter.
	⏱ Timer	Running session duration. MM:SS until the hour mark, then HH:MM:SS.
	Credits pill	"N min left" or "Unlimited" depending on plan. Shows secondary "N free min left this month" on Free tier.
Right	⚙️ Settings (gear)	Opens topbar Settings: tone, Auto-Answer, Coaching tips, Inline advice, microphone selector.
	🚪 End Session	Two-step inline confirm — first click reveals "Yes, end" + "Cancel". Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+E.

There's no Back button in the topbar by design. Leaving = End Session. Pinned by apps/web/tests/no-back-button.spec.ts (Frozen UX decision).

What each does in depth

Mic / Screen / Audio status pills

Three independent channels — all need to be green for the AI to hear everything:

• Mic — captures YOUR voice. Required for diarization (which line is yours vs interviewer's).
• Screen — captures system audio from the tab you shared. This is how the AI hears the interviewer through Zoom/Meet/Teams.
• Audio — controls whether system audio is being processed. Toggle off temporarily if you don't want the AI listening for 30 seconds.

If any pill is grey/red, that channel is broken. Click it; browser will re-prompt for permission.

Model selector

Compact pill between status group and center cluster. Click → dropdown with 3 free + 3 pro models. Free users see pro models locked with a 🔒 — clicking one shows an upgrade toast. Pro+ users never get downgraded under load.

Fire AI button (⚡)

The big center button. Click or press Ctrl+Enter → AI generates an answer for the latest interviewer line in the transcript. In Auto-Answer mode it fires automatically; in Manual mode (default) it only fires when you trigger it.

Timer + Credits pill

Timer = elapsed session time. Credits pill shows your remaining live-AI minutes. Free tier: a 15-min slab counter + total "N free min left this month" (60-min monthly cap). Hour Pack: minutes from your purchased hours. Pro/Pro+: "Unlimited" (infinity icon).

Settings (gear ⚙️)

The control panel. Opens a popover with:

• Tone dropdown (6 tones — see Tone settings)
• Auto-Answer toggle (see Auto-Answer)
• Coaching tips toggle (see Coaching mode)
• Inline Advice toggle (see Inline advice pills)
• Microphone selector (pick which mic to capture from — useful with multiple connected mics)

Open settings BEFORE the interview starts, not mid-call. Changes are session-scoped.

End Session

Two-step inline: click once → reveals "Yes, end" + "Cancel" inline next to the button. Click "Yes, end" → session terminates immediately, you're routed to /sessions/[id] for the retrospective. Ctrl+Shift+E is the keyboard shortcut.

The X button on a paywall modal also ends the session (fixed 2026-05-17 to prevent zombie "Live" cards). Don't trust browser refresh / tab close to clean up — always use End Session.

Common questions

Q: Why is the Screen pill grey? A: Your browser hasn't been granted screen-share permission, OR the tab you shared was closed. Click the pill, re-share the Zoom/Meet/Teams tab.

Q: Why can't I click the Pro models in the dropdown? A: You're on Free or Hour Pack — Pro models are locked. Either upgrade to Pro, or stick with the 3 free models (Haiku 4.5, GPT-4o-mini, Llama 3.3).

Q: Where's the gear / settings icon? A: Top-right, just before End Session. Looks like a gear ⚙️. Click it to change tone, Auto-Answer, Coaching, Inline Advice.

Q: How do I change tone mid-session? A: Gear icon → Tone dropdown. Switching mid-session is intentional — the next AI answer uses the new tone immediately.

Q: The fire AI button isn't doing anything when I click it. A: Three possible causes — (1) Mic pill is grey (no transcript = nothing to send to AI), (2) you're at the 60-min monthly cap on Free tier, (3) the WebSocket connection dropped (check the connection-status indicator at the bottom).

Q: I accidentally hit End Session. Can I undo it? A: No — End is destructive. But all your transcript + AI answers were saved. Open /sessions/[id] to review them. You can start a new session with the same job context, but the in-progress one is gone.

Q: What's the difference between End Session button and just closing the tab? A: Closing the tab leaves a "Live" zombie session in your list (it'll auto-clean after ~5 min). End Session immediately finalizes the row, saves the transcript, and shows the scorecard. Always end cleanly.

Q: Why doesn't my mic shortcut Ctrl+M work? A: Two reasons — (1) Zoom uses Ctrl+M for its own mute and may be intercepting the key, (2) you're on web (not desktop) and the page lost focus. Click into the InterviewChamp tab first.

Where it lives in code

Topbar component: apps/web/app/interview/_components/topbar.tsx. Settings popover: topbar-settings.tsx same dir. End Session two-step: apps/web/app/sessions/_components/end-session-button.tsx.

Still stuck?

Help & Feedback → Contact us with category "Something is broken" + which button + what it did vs what you expected.

Video walkthrough

Coming soon.