Sidebar navigation — every menu item explained

The left sidebar is the same on every signed-in page. Eight nav items grouped into three labeled sections — Main, AI tools, Account — plus your profile pill at the bottom + a collapse toggle. Here's what each does.

The nav items (grouped)

Main

Icon	Item	Where it goes	What's there
🏠	Home	/home	Dashboard — quick start cards, recent sessions, help search palette (Cmd+K)
🚀	Launchpad	/launchpad	Hub linking every tool — coding practice, system design, compiler, resume, sessions.

AI tools

Icon	Item	Where it goes	What's there
💼	Jobs AI	/jobs	The jobs board, plus tailored resumes and cover letters for the jobs you pick. See Jobs AI.
📺	Interview AI	/sessions	Your live interview history + Start Session button. See Sessions list.
🎙️	Mock AI	/mock-ai	Practice interview with a voice AI interviewer + a report card. See Mock AI.
📄	Resume AI	/resumes	Resume builder + score panel + AI rewrite per section. See Upload resume.

Account

Icon	Item	Where it goes	What's there
🛟	Help & how-tos	/support	This help center + Contact us form.
⚙️	Settings	/profile	Profile, plan, password, devices, preferences. See Settings page.

The active item gets a violet background. Active state is derived from URL — if you're on /sessions/[id] the Interview AI item is still highlighted.

Profile pill (bottom)

At the bottom of the sidebar:

• Your avatar (initials or uploaded image)
• Your name + email
• A plan badge above:
  • "FREE" on free tier
  • "HOUR PACK" if you bought hour packs
  • "PRO" / "PRO+" subscription
  • "LIFETIME" if you have lifetime

Clicking the profile pill goes to /profile.

Collapse toggle

The « icon at the very top of the sidebar (next to the logo) — click to collapse the sidebar to icon-only. State is saved to localStorage as ic_app_sidebar_collapsed so it persists across sessions. Click again to expand.

Collapsed sidebar = 4rem (64px) wide. Expanded = 14rem (224px).

Mobile vs desktop layout

• Desktop (≥ md breakpoint) — sidebar is always visible on the left
• Mobile — sidebar collapses into a hamburger menu (☰ icon top-left). Tap to open as a slide-in panel.

Upgrade CTA

If you're on Free OR running low on credits OR out of credits, a small Upgrade card appears above the profile pill. Click → /pricing.

You won't see this CTA on Hour Pack, Pro, Pro+, or Lifetime.

Theme toggle

The footer of the sidebar has a Sun/Moon icon — toggles light/dark theme. Today most app pages are light-only (cool gray); dark mode is rolling out per-page. Toggling will only affect pages already migrated.

Common questions

Q: Where's the logout button? A: Settings (gear icon) → Profile → Sign out at the bottom. We don't put logout in the sidebar to prevent accidental clicks.

Q: Why is the Interview AI link greyed out? A: It's not — but if you're on the active Sessions page already, the item has a violet pill highlight that might look "selected." Click any other nav item to navigate away.

Q: Where's the "Home" page? I see the dashboard but no separate Home tab. A: 🏠 Home = /home. That IS the dashboard. The "InterviewChamp" wordmark at the top of the sidebar also links to Home.

Q: How do I collapse the sidebar? A: Click the « icon at the very top. To expand, click » in the same spot.

Q: Can I rearrange the nav items? A: Not yet. They're grouped into Main · AI tools · Account. The grouping is intentional (the four AI tools sit together so they're easy to find).

Q: Why don't I see Help & how-tos on mobile? A: It's there — open the hamburger menu (☰ icon top-left) and scroll. The nav items are the same on mobile + desktop.

Q: What does the lifetime infinity badge mean? A: You're on the Lifetime plan — paid once, full access forever. Treats you as Pro+ for entitlements (Full Privacy Mode, always the latest model, etc.).

Q: I'm signed out unexpectedly. Why? A: Two cases — (1) your refresh token expired (7-day TTL; sign in again), (2) the dev-token TTL is 1h on DEV_MODE=true environments. Sign in again at /auth.

Still stuck?

Help & how-tos → Contact us with category "How do I…?" if you can't find a button or page.

Video walkthrough

Coming soon.