Personal Tricorder

Personal Tricorder is an incredibly important tool. New players always start with it. Even if you lose it, you have a spare Tricorder in your Ship Locker. You can also craft and/or buy a replacement.

Shift + left-click
Holding Shift and left-clicking opens Research interface (here you "unlock" the recipes to craft new items).

Left-click
Left-click opens a menu with:
 * Information about player, bonuses/penalties of the chosen race, temporary immunities, etc.
 * GPS: information about current planet: its weather, gravity, surface biomes, surface dungeons, etc.
 * Tool to create mobility Techs like Microsphere or Phase Sprint, and tool to equip them.
 * Tool to refuel your Mech.
 * Tool to replace weapons, thrusters, etc. on your Mech.
 * Tool to upgrade all weapons/armors (for Upgrade Modules, up to tier 6) and tools (for Manipulator Modules, to the maximum tier that the tool supports).
 * Codex reader (it's more convenient than usual codex reader of Starbound, and also doesn't truncate long pages).

Right-click
Right-click opens the list of Tutorial quests (you can accept these quests in Tricorder without going to any NPCs). Not only can they be a guidance to new player, they also have some good rewards. It's a good idea to sometimes check if your current situation (discovered resources, etc.) allows you to complete some of them.

Shift + right-click
Tricorder also allows to configure the Matter Manipulator (hold Shift and right-click):
 * temporarily reduce 5x5 mining area (e.g. to 3x3 or 2x2) when you are building delicate houses and don't want to accidentally remove the blocks that you don't intend to remove,
 * temporarily disable collection of liquids (e.g. to not anger the Erchius Ghost by accidentally collecting Liquid Erchius Fuel while mining Moonstone/Moondust),
 * temporarily replace some functions of your Matter Manipulator (like Paint or Scan) with some other tool or weapon (e.g. Gravity Wand or Void-Warp Locus).
 * replace the basic Matter Manipulator with a highly advanced Manipulator (like Morphite Manipulator or Quantum Manipulator).