> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.tempoweave.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.tempoweave.com/tempoweave-mobile/thread-assistant-mobile.md).

# Thread Assistant (Mobile)

### What It Does

The Thread Assistant is your at-the-loom companion for **threading the warp** — sleying each warp end through its heddle on the correct shaft. On a tablet or phone propped by the loom, it walks you through the warp a small group at a time, showing exactly which shaft each end goes through and what color it is. You mark each group as you thread it (with the big button or a foot pedal) and it advances to the next group automatically.

It's the mobile companion to the desktop Thread Assistant and works the same way — but as a full-screen, touch-friendly panel instead of a window. Best of all, **threading progress is shared with the desktop**: start threading on your computer and finish at the loom on the tablet, or vice versa. Your marks travel inside the `.twa` / `.wif` file.

***

### Opening the Thread Assistant

1. Open a draft first (the assistant works on the active draft).
2. Tap **Tools** on the rail (tablet) or the bottom dock (phone).
3. Under **ASSISTANTS**, tap **Thread Assistant…**.

The Thread Assistant opens as a **full-screen panel** over your draft. If no draft is open, you'll see "Open a draft first" — open one and try again.

To close it, tap the **✕** in the top-left corner. Your progress is kept.

***

### The Thread Assistant Panel

From top to bottom:

* **Top bar** — close (**✕**), the title, and **⚙ Settings**.
* **Navigation bar** — direction, Prev/Next, Unmark, thread jump, and disc zoom.
* **Group display** — the large color discs for the group you're threading now.
* **MARK THREADS** button — the big red button you tap (or pedal) to finish a group.
* **Threading Overview** — a warp's-eye strip showing where you are.
* **Progress** bar — how far through the whole warp you are.

The layout adapts to your screen: iPad shows everything at a comfortable size; on a phone the buttons and strips shrink to fit. In phone landscape the whole interface tightens up — a shorter header, slimmer bars, and no bottom Progress strip — so the discs get as much room as possible at a comfortable zoom.

***

#### Top Bar

**✕ (Close)** Closes the assistant and returns to your draft. Progress is saved.

**Title** "Thread Assistant" — confirms which tool you're in.

**⚙ (Settings)** Opens the Settings sheet (covered below) for direction, group size, starting point, foot pedal, and display options.

***

#### Navigation Bar

**Direction** (pill, e.g. "Left←Right") Tap to toggle the threading direction between **Left ← Right** (the default — threading proceeds from the right edge toward the left) and **Left → Right**. The arrow shows which way you'll move across the warp. The same setting also lives in the Settings sheet.

**Prev / Next** Move to the previous or next group without marking anything — for reviewing threaded groups or skipping ahead.

**Unmark** (shown as **U** on narrow screens) Clears the threaded marks for the **group on screen** only. Use it if you marked a group by mistake. (To clear the whole draft, use **Unmark All Threads** in Settings.)

**Thread \[ ] / \[total] Go** Type any end number and tap **Go** to jump straight to the group containing it. The total warp-end count is shown beside the field.

**− / +** Make the color discs smaller or larger — tap **+** for big, glanceable discs at the loom.

***

#### The Group Display

One large **color disc per warp end** in the current group, laid out in threading order. Big groups flow onto a **second row** automatically when one row won't fit the screen.

Each disc shows:

* **Disc color** — the yarn color of that end, so you grab the right thread. The disc always shows the **true yarn color**, threaded or not.
* **Shaft number** (large, centered) — the shaft to thread this end through ("—" means no shaft assigned).
* **End number** (above the disc) — which warp end it is.
* **Green ✓ badge** — the one and only "already threaded" indicator.
* **⋆ (amber star)** — the **geometric center** of the warp.
* **◆ (blue diamond)** — your **starting/anchor end** (where group 1 begins).

> **The discs are display-only — you don't tap them to mark.** Tapping the discs is intentionally disabled so that picking up the tablet (and brushing the screen) can't mark a group by accident. Always mark with the **MARK THREADS** button or your foot pedal.

When a whole group is threaded, a note appears reminding you to use Prev / Next or Unmark.

**Heddle Summary (optional)**

When **Show heddle summary** is on (Settings), a small **Shaft / Heddles** table appears in the corner of the disc area, listing how many ends in the current group fall on each shaft — so you can pre-pull the right number of heddles per shaft. On a phone it's tight, so you'll usually turn off the Threading Overview when you use it (see Display in Settings).

***

#### MARK THREADS

The big red **MARK THREADS** button marks the current group as threaded and advances to the next group — the action you'll repeat as you dress the loom. It's sized as large as possible without reaching the screen edges (so edge touches when you pick up the tablet can't trigger it), and it scales to your device.

You can also mark hands-free with a **foot pedal or keyboard key** (default **Space**, set in Settings) — ideal at the loom so you never put the tablet down.

The assistant **does not wrap around**: marking the last group completes the threading and stops.

***

#### Threading Overview

A read-only, warp's-eye strip below the discs shows your draft's threading: **threaded ends in green** and the **current group ringed in blue**, so you always know where you are. A frozen shaft-number column stays put while the strip scrolls sideways through a wide warp — and on drafts with more shafts than the strip's height can show, **drag the strip up or down** to see the rest (the shaft numbers follow). You can hide the strip or change how many shafts it fits in Settings.

***

#### Progress Bar

A thin bar at the very bottom represents the **whole warp** — threaded versus remaining — with a small range label. (Hidden in iPhone landscape to make room for the discs.)

***

#### Settings Sheet

Tap **⚙** to open Settings as a centered card; tap **Done** (or outside the card) to close it. Each section is a **collapsible card** — the everyday setup ones (Direction, Group size, Starting thread) start open; the rest start collapsed so the sheet stays compact. Tap a section header to expand it.

**Direction** **Left ← Right** (default) or **Left → Right** — the order the assistant walks the warp.

**Group size** Ends shown and marked together (1–**16**, default **4**). Smaller groups are easier to keep your place with; larger groups mean fewer taps. Groups too wide for one row of discs flow onto a second row.

**Starting thread** The end where **group 1** begins (1–40,000, default 1).

* **Position at Center** — anchors the groups at the geometric center of the warp, so you can start in the middle and thread outward (keeps the design centered in the reed). Already-threaded ends stay marked. The center end shows the **⋆** glyph and your start the **◆** glyph.

**Heddle Count** The whole-draft **heddles-per-shaft table** (the same numbers as Project Info → Heddle Count), plus the total — so you can pre-pull heddles for the entire warp without leaving the assistant. Recounts every time you expand it. (The per-group version is the optional Heddle Summary overlay under Display.)

**Tie-Up** Each **treadle with the shafts it's tied to**, comma-separated — check your tie-up (or tie up the loom) right from the threading bench. Liftplan drafts note that there's no tie-up to show.

**Position Jump** Type a warp-end number and tap **Jump** to go straight to that point in the warp. (Same idea as the Thread/Go field in the nav bar, available here too.)

**Foot Pedal** The key (or pedal mapped to a key) that marks a group threaded. Tap **Set**, then press the key/pedal you'll use. Default is **Space**. The **beep when marking** checkbox lives here too — turn it off for silent marking.

**Display**

* **Show heddle summary** — the Shaft / Heddles table for the current group (works best on iPad).
* **Show threading preview** — the Threading Overview strip. On a phone, the summary and the preview don't both fit, so turn one off.
* **Max shafts in preview** — how many shafts the strip shows (8–64, default 16). More shafts means a shorter disc area above.

**Unmark All Threads** (under **Progress**) Clears **every** threaded mark in the draft so you can start over — handy when you reopen an already-threaded draft. (To clear just the current group, use **Unmark** in the nav bar.)

***

### Typical Workflow

1. **Open your draft**, then **Tools → ASSISTANTS → Thread Assistant…**.
2. Tap **⚙** and set **Direction**, **Group size**, and **Starting thread** — or tap **Position at Center** to thread outward from the middle. Tap **Done**.
3. (Optional) Expand **Heddle Count** in Settings and pre-pull heddles for the whole warp — or turn on **Show heddle summary** to pre-pull group by group.
4. Thread the ends shown as discs, matching each to its **shaft number** and **color**.
5. Tap **MARK THREADS** — or press your **foot pedal / Space key** — to finish the group and advance.
6. Repeat, watching the **Threading Overview** and **Progress** bar fill in.
7. Slip up? Tap **Unmark** to clear the current group and re-thread it.
8. When the last group is marked, threading is done.

***

### Notes & Tips

* **Progress is saved in the file and shared with desktop.** Marks round-trip through the `[TW THREAD ASSISTANT]` section of the `.twa` / `.wif`, so you can move between the mobile app and TempoWeave Studio mid-threading and your marks carry over both ways.
* **Discs never change your draft.** Marking only records progress — it never alters your threading, colors, or shafts.
* **At the loom, go hands-free.** Pair a foot pedal (or any key) to **MARK THREADS** so you never set the tablet down, and zoom the discs up with **+**.
* **On a phone**, prefer either the heddle summary *or* the threading preview (not both), and expect the bottom progress bar to hide in landscape — it's making room for the discs.
* **Center-out threading**: tap **Position at Center**, thread one way, then switch the **Direction** toggle to thread the other half.
* **Number fields bring up the number keypad** — the Thread field and every spinner open the numeric soft keyboard instead of the full keyboard.

***

*See also: Thread Assistant (Desktop) and TempoWeave Mobile: Quick Start.*