Songs & Workspace

Manage your songs with the kanban workspace, inline badges, and audio uploads.

Everything in Nitesong revolves around your songs. The workspace at /songs is where you organize, track, and manage your songwriting projects — from the first spark of an idea through to a finished piece.

The Kanban Workspace

When you open /songs, you land on the kanban workspace. Think of it as your bird's-eye view of every song you're working on, organized by status.

Project tabs

Along the top of the workspace sits a row of tabs that let you switch between different views and projects:

• My Songs — the default view. Shows every song in your personal collection (songs not assigned to a named project).
• Shared with me — shows songs that other users have invited you to collaborate on. Each card displays the project name so you know where it lives.
• Named project tabs — any projects you create (e.g., "EP 2026" or "Jazz Standards") appear as individual tabs after the separator.
• + New Project — creates a new named project via a dialog where you set the project name and details.

Project tabs are draggable — grab the drag handle on a tab and slide it left or right to reorder your projects. The new order saves automatically.

Each active project tab shows a three-dot menu with options to edit the project details, archive it, or delete it. Deleting a project moves all its songs back to your personal collection.

Status columns

The kanban board organizes songs into three status columns:

Each column header shows the column name and a count of how many songs it contains.

Song cards

Every song appears as a card inside its status column. Each card shows:

• Title — click to open the song editor
• Key and BPM — displayed below the title (e.g., "Am" and "120 BPM")
• Description — a short preview, truncated to two lines
• Tags — up to three tag badges, with a "+N" indicator if there are more
• Collaborator avatars — circular initials of up to three collaborators
• Project name — shown in the "My Songs" and "Shared with me" views when the song belongs to a named project
• Colored left border — matches the status color for quick scanning

Drag and drop

To change a song's status, just drag its card from one column to another. Grab the drag handle (the dots icon on the left of the card) and drop it into the target column. The status updates instantly.

Keyboard navigation

You can also manage songs without a mouse:

• Tab to focus a song card
• Left/Right arrow keys to move the song between status columns
• Enter to open the song

Card context menu

Hover over a card to reveal a three-dot menu on the right side with options:

• Open — navigate to the song editor
• Move to project... — reassign the song to a different project (owner only)
• Delete — permanently delete the song (owner only)

Archive list

If you have archived projects, an "Archived" link appears at the far right of the tab bar. Click it to open a dialog listing all your archived projects. From here you can:

• Restore a project back to the active tab bar
• Delete an archived project permanently (with a confirmation step)

Each archived project shows its name and song count.

Creating & Editing Songs

Creating a new song

Navigate to /songs/new (or click the "+ Add song" link at the bottom of any kanban column) to create a new song. The creation form has the following fields:

Why are Key and BPM required? Several tools in the song editor depend on knowing your song's key and tempo. The metronome uses BPM to set the correct beat. The key panel, scale reference, fretboard tool, keyboard tool, and circle of fifths all reference the song's key to show you the right scale degrees, diatonic chords, and note highlights. Setting these up front means every tool works from the moment you open a song.

Musical keys

The key selector uses a two-step picker: first choose a root note, then choose Major or Minor. Nitesong supports 25 keys across all 12 pitch classes:

Major keys: C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, Gb, Db, Ab, Eb, Bb, F

Minor keys: Am, Em, Bm, F#m, C#m, G#m, Ebm, Bbm, Fm, Cm, Gm, Dm

For enharmonic equivalents (like C#/Db or F#/Gb), the root note selector shows both names so you can pick whichever spelling you prefer.

Editing an existing song

You can edit a song's details from two places:

1. Song actions menu — click the three-dot menu in the song header and select "Edit song" to open a dialog with the full form.
2. Inline-editable badges — click the status, key, or BPM badges in the song header for quick single-field edits (see the next section).

When editing through the full form, all the same fields are available. Changes save and the page refreshes to reflect the updates.

Inline-Editable Badges

When you're inside a song, the header displays three clickable badges next to the song title. These let you make quick adjustments without opening the full edit form.

Status badge

The status badge shows the current status with a color-coded background:

• Idea — violet
• In Progress — amber
• Finished — green

Click the badge to open a dropdown menu. Each option shows a colored dot next to the label. Select a new status and it saves immediately.

Key badge

Click the key badge to open a popover with the two-step key selector (root note + major/minor quality). Select your new key and it saves right away. The key panel and all sidebar tools that reference the song's key update automatically.

BPM badge

Click the BPM badge to open a popover with a number input. Type the new tempo and press Enter to save, or click the "Save" button. Valid values are integers between 1 and 999. The metronome and any tempo-dependent features pick up the change immediately.

Each badge updates just that single field — no need to open a form or save manually.

Song Audio Player

You can attach audio files to any song for quick reference — demo recordings, rough mixes, voice memos, whatever helps you remember how it should sound.

Uploading audio

Click the "+ Upload MP3" button in the song header to attach an audio file. The file uploads to secure cloud storage and a playback widget appears in the header.

• Accepted formats: MP3 (audio/mpeg)
• Maximum file size: 25 MB per file
• Multiple files: You can upload multiple versions of a song. The most recently uploaded file becomes the "main" playback file.

Playback

Once uploaded, a native audio player appears in the song header with standard playback controls (play/pause, scrubbing, volume). The currently selected "main" file plays by default.

Managing versions

When you have more than one audio file, a "N versions" button appears next to the upload button. Click it to open the Audio Versions dialog where you can:

• Set main — choose which file plays in the header
• Delete — remove a file you no longer need
• Upload new version — add another recording directly from the dialog
• Each file shows its name and upload date

There is a limit of 10 audio versions per song. When you reach the limit, the oldest file is removed on the next upload.

Plan limits

Audio upload availability depends on your subscription plan:

Song Actions Menu

Every song has a three-dot menu (displayed as "...") in the song header, right next to the title. This menu provides quick access to the most common song management actions.

Edit song

Opens a dialog with the full song editing form — the same fields as the creation form (title, status, key, BPM, tags, description). Make your changes and save. The page updates without a full navigation.

Collaborators

Opens the Collaborators dialog where you can manage who has access to your song. This option is only visible to the song owner.

From the dialog you can:

• View current collaborators — see each person's name and email
• Invite by email — type an email address and click "Invite" (or press Enter) to send a collaboration invite. The invited user receives a notification in their inbox.
• Remove a collaborator — click "Remove" next to any collaborator to revoke their access

Invited collaborators appear on song cards as avatar initials, and they can access the song from their "Shared with me" tab.

Delete song

Permanently deletes the song and all its sections, lyrics, chords, tabs, drum patterns, piano rolls, and audio files. A confirmation dialog appears before anything is deleted, so you won't lose work by accident. This option is only available to the song owner.

Tip: If you're not sure about deleting, consider changing the song's status to "Idea" or moving it to a different project instead. There's no undo for deletion.

Quick Reference