I was in the middle of bringing my app's store description up to date in five languages when I restarted Antigravity and found an unfamiliar question waiting for me: what best describes your work? Software Engineering and Knowledge Work were among the choices.
It was translation work, so I picked Knowledge Work without much thought. The screen got calmer, the agent's progress folded into a single line, and commands were described in plain language. It was far easier to read.
At the end of the session, though, I was slow to notice that the agent had also edited a config file sitting next to the description files. The diff view was hidden. Nothing was broken, but it was the kind of moment that tightens your stomach.
So the point I want to make isn't which layout is better. It's a simpler line: choose by whether today's task ends up changing files.
What the release notes actually say
The Knowledge Work layout arrived in v2.30.0 on November 9, 2026. The official changelog describes it like this:
| Item | What v2.30.0 says |
|---|---|
| Where to switch | Settings > General > Interface Layout |
| What it hides | Code changes and developer tools |
| What else changes | Progress updates fold into one line; commands are described in plain language |
| First sign-in | You pick from Software Engineering, Knowledge Work, Data & Analytics, Science, Design and more, and a matching layout is set up |
| Not available on | Business and enterprise accounts |
The thing worth holding onto: what gets hidden is the display, not the agent's permissions. Switching layouts doesn't stop the agent from editing files.
The same release also made the permission preset in the message box apply only to the current conversation (outside business and enterprise accounts). Treating layout and permissions as two separate dials saves a lot of confusion.
Comparing the two layouts by task
As an indie developer, I went through the kinds of work I hand to Antigravity and sorted them by layout.
| Task | Layout | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Researching release notes or specs | Knowledge Work | No files change, so there's no diff to read |
| Drafting or translating store copy inside the chat | Knowledge Work | Folded progress keeps attention on the text itself |
| Writing translations into files in the repo | Software Engineering | I want to see which files changed, right then |
| Fixing app code and building | Software Engineering | The diff and terminal output are the evidence |
| Drafting replies to reviews | Knowledge Work | Comparing drafts in the conversation is enough |
The middle row is where I tripped. I chose by the word "translation," but the real task was writing translations into files. I should have chosen by whether files change at the end, not by what the task is called.
Checking hidden changes yourself
Even so, a conversation that starts as research sometimes turns into a file edit halfway through. So on days I work in Knowledge Work, I check the repository once at the end.
This script records the state before you start and, afterwards, shows only what changed. It works as-is in any folder under Git.
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# layout-check.sh — see what changed during a Knowledge Work session
# Usage: run "bash layout-check.sh start" before, "bash layout-check.sh end" after
set -euo pipefail
cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)" # stops here if run outside a repo
MARK=".git/layout-check-start"
case "${1:-}" in
start)
git rev-parse HEAD > "$MARK"
git status --porcelain >> "$MARK"
echo "Recorded start point: $(head -1 "$MARK" | cut -c1-8)"
;;
end)
[ -f "$MARK" ] || { echo "Run start first"; exit 1; }
START_HEAD=$(head -1 "$MARK")
echo "== Commits since start =="
git log --oneline "${START_HEAD}..HEAD" || true
echo "== Uncommitted changes =="
git status --short
echo "== Change size per file =="
git diff --stat "$START_HEAD"
rm -f "$MARK"
;;
*)
echo "Pass start or end"; exit 1
;;
esacgit status --short alone looks like it should be enough, but if the agent already committed its work, nothing shows up there. That's why the script keeps the starting commit and compares with git log and git diff --stat.
The marker file lives inside .git so it never touches the working tree the agent sees, and it can't be committed by accident.
Three questions when you're unsure
You can switch layouts from Settings at any time, so when I hesitate I ask three things in order:
- Will today's task end by changing files? If so, Software Engineering.
- Even if I don't plan to change files, could it turn into an edit midway? If so, record
startbefore the conversation begins. - Does readability matter more here? For research and drafting, Knowledge Work keeps my hands moving.
On business and enterprise accounts, the Knowledge Work layout isn't available at all. If you move between a work account and a personal one, it helps to know this before the screens look different.
When I ask what this "show less" design makes possible, I think it's about extending what we hand to agents to people who don't read code. The trade is that you need one way, on your own side, to confirm how far you let it go.
Before you close the tab
Readability belongs to the layout; checking belongs to me. Picking a layout isn't a matter of taste — it's a statement about how closely I'll be watching that day.
Next time you work in Knowledge Work, try recording start once before the conversation begins. The few lines you get at the end are what let you confirm that nothing changed that you didn't expect.