Caret

#Anatomy

1. 1Person-only fieldEmpty-ring reach. Only the ink caret appears.
2. 2Shared fieldHalf-ring reach. The model drafts ahead in flowing pigment.
3. 3Take controlsTake one word or the whole draft. Mirror Tab and →.
4. 4Model-only fieldFull-ring reach. The model writes; people accept or ask for a rewrite.

#When to use

• A reply, note or message the model can help write.
• A field the model fills on its own, such as a summary, which people review but don’t type in.
• Not for passwords, amounts or anything a person must enter themselves: those fields are person only.

Caret is not autofill. Autofill copies values you stored. Caret writes from context and shows its hand: every word it adds stays pigment.

#Behaviour

The model caret blinks while it thinks, holds steady while it writes, and leaves when the draft is ready. Words taken from the draft settle into still pigment, so the field keeps a record of who wrote what.

#Best practices

• Put the reach mark in the field’s header, next to its name.
• Draft only at the end of the text and only when the person pauses. Never draft mid-word.
• Send the model’s caret back the moment the person types something else.
• If someone types in a model-only field, explain once in a murmur rather than ignoring the keys.

#Accessibility

• The shared field’s label says how to take the draft: “Tab accepts its draft, right arrow accepts one word.”
• The model-only field is a read-only textbox labelled “written by the model”.
• Take controls are real buttons, so touch and switch users don’t need Tab or arrows.

#Specifications

Draft delay

600 ms after the person pauses at the end of the text

Thinking

Model caret blinks for 700 ms

Writing

50 to 110 ms per word

Keys

Tab takes all · → takes one word · Esc dismisses

Model caret

2 px bar of pigment; blinks on the beat while thinking