Preferences

Core Feature

This feature is available in all Portrai Explorer deployments.

Configure application settings, such as the theme, the app color, the GPU backend and the colorscales, and view version information.

Accessing Settings

Click the Settings icon (gear) at the bottom of the Activity Bar.

The Settings dialog displays with a search bar and organized sections.

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All settings are stored locally in your browser and persist across sessions.

Settings Search

Use the search bar at the top of the Settings dialog to quickly find settings:

1. Type a keyword (e.g., "theme", "color")
2. Settings are filtered in real-time
3. Only matching items are displayed

Settings Sections

Appearance

Configure visual preferences for the application.

Theme

Choose your preferred visual theme:

Theme	Description
System	Matches your operating system setting
Light	Bright background, dark text
Dark	Dark background, light text

Theme changes apply immediately without requiring a page refresh.

App Color

Customize the application accent color used for buttons, highlights, and interactive elements throughout the interface.

• Select from a range of color options (e.g., Blue, Purple, Green, Red, etc.)
• Each option shows a preview color dot
• Default: Portrai Blue
• Changes apply immediately to the entire application

Performance

GPU Backend

Choose which GPU interface filters and draws the data points:

Option	Description
WebGPU (default)	Modern GPU interface, used whenever the browser supports it
WebGL2	Older GPU interface, supported by all browsers that run the viewer

• The line below the selector shows the backend that is Active in the current page
• The backend is chosen when the page loads, so a change applies after a reload. Click Reload now when the hint appears
• If the browser does not support WebGPU, the WebGPU option is disabled and WebGL2 is used
• If WebGPU fails to start, WebGL2 is used automatically and the reason is shown below the selector

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Keep the default unless points render incorrectly or the viewer is slow on your machine. Switching to WebGL2 is a quick way to check whether a problem is specific to WebGPU.

Colorscale

Configure default colormaps used throughout the application for data visualization.

Continuous Colormap

Select the default colormap for continuous data (gene expression, numeric values).

Category	Colormaps
Sequential	Cool, Viridis, Inferno, Plasma, Magma, Cividis, Turbo, Blues, Greens, Reds, Purples
Diverging	Red-Blue, Red-Yellow-Green, Red-Yellow-Blue, Brown-Blue-Green, Pink-Yellow-Green, Spectral

Choosing a colormap:

• Sequential colormaps are best for expression data where higher values are more important
• Diverging colormaps are ideal for data with a meaningful center point, like fold changes

Categorical Palette

Select the default palette for categorical data (cell types, clusters).

Colormap	Description
Rainbow	Full spectrum of distinct colors
Sinebow	Smoother rainbow with perceptual balance
Turbo	Vibrant colors with high contrast

How Colormaps Are Applied

Global colormap settings affect:

• Map Viewer - Point coloring in spatial view
• Scatter Plot - Point coloring in embedding views
• Feature Detail Panel - Category color previews
• Signature Detail Panel - Score visualizations

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Individual views may override the global colormap if specific settings are available. The global setting serves as the default.

About

View application version information.

Version Display

Field	Description
Core Version	Version of the core library
App Version	Application version with Git commit hash (if available)

Copying Version Info

Click the Copy button next to each version field to copy to clipboard. Include this information when reporting bugs or requesting support.

Settings Storage

Local Storage

The following settings are stored in your browser's local storage:

Setting	Description
Theme	Light, Dark, or System preference
App Color	Application accent color preference
GPU Backend	WebGPU or WebGL2 preference
Continuous Colormap	Default colormap for continuous features
Categorical Palette	Default palette for categorical features
Custom Category Colors	Per-feature category color customizations

All settings:

• No account required
• Persist on your device
• Are reset when clearing browser data

Per-Browser

• Settings are specific to each browser
• Different devices have separate settings
• No automatic sync between browsers

Troubleshooting

Settings Not Saving

• Ensure browser allows local storage
• Check privacy/cookie settings
• Disable strict privacy modes temporarily

Theme Not Applying

• Try selecting a specific theme instead of System
• Check your OS dark mode settings
• Refresh the page if needed

Related Topics

• Interface Overview - Application layout
• Quick Start - Getting started guide
• Color Mapping - Detailed colormap usage