Files & Editor

An IDE-style workbench powered by Monaco — full syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, diff views, conflict resolution, and git operations, all scoped to the selected lane’s worktree.

Overview

The Files & Editor view is ADE’s built-in IDE workbench, powered by the same Monaco engine that drives VS Code. What sets it apart is lane awareness: a workspace scope selector switches the file tree, open tabs, and diff views to any lane’s worktree instantly — letting you compare the same file across lanes without leaving the editor.

Monaco Engine

Full VS Code editor quality: IntelliSense, multi-cursor, bracket matching, and syntax highlighting for every major language.

Lane-Scoped

The file tree and every open file are scoped to the selected lane. Switch lanes and the editor instantly shows that worktree’s state.

Conflict Resolution

A 3-way merge editor handles conflicts inline — accept yours, theirs, or both with a single click.

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The Workspace Scope Selector

The workspace scope selector is a dropdown at the top of the Files view. It lists all active lanes in your project. Selecting a lane switches the entire file explorer and editor context to that lane’s worktree.

When you switch lanes in the scope selector, open file tabs remain open but reload to show the version of each file in the newly selected lane’s worktree. If a file does not exist in the new lane, its tab shows a “File not found in this lane” placeholder.

The selector also shows a quick status summary next to each lane name: the number of modified files and any conflict indicators, so you can see at a glance which lanes have pending changes before you switch.

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File Explorer

The left panel is a full project file explorer for the selected lane’s worktree.

Git Status Annotations

Every file and directory in the tree displays a git status badge:

Badge	Status	Meaning
M	Modified	File has been changed since last commit
A	Added	New file staged for commit
D	Deleted	File has been staged for deletion
?	Untracked	New file not yet staged
C	Conflict	File has unresolved merge conflict markers
R	Renamed	File was renamed

Directories show a badge if any file inside them has a status. Clicking a directory badge expands it to reveal the affected files.

Right-Click Context Menu

Right-clicking any file in the explorer reveals git and file operations:

Action	Description
Stage	Stage the file for commit (git add)
Unstage	Remove the file from the staging area
Revert	Discard all working-tree changes to this file (with confirmation)
View History	Open a commit log filtered to this file’s history
Blame	Open the blame view showing per-line commit attribution
Copy Path	Copy the absolute or relative file path to clipboard
Reveal in Finder	Open the file’s directory in macOS Finder

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Editor Modes

The editor renders in one of four modes depending on the file’s state.

Normal Mode

Standard editing mode. The full Monaco editor with syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, bracket matching, and all standard editing features.

Files open in Normal mode when they are unmodified or when you open a file that has not been touched since the last commit.

Diff Mode

When you open a file that has been modified (status M), the editor automatically splits into a side-by-side diff view:

• Left pane: The base version (last commit on this lane’s branch)
• Right pane: The current working-tree version

You can edit the right pane directly in diff mode. Changes save normally. Click the Collapse Diff button in the toolbar to switch to Normal mode for focused editing, then back to Diff mode to review.

Press F7 / Shift+F7 to jump between diff hunks (next/previous change) without scrolling.

Conflict Mode

Files with unresolved merge conflict markers (status C) open in a 3-way merge view:

• Left pane: Your version (HEAD)
• Center pane: The common ancestor (base)
• Right pane: Their version (incoming)

A resolution toolbar above each conflicting hunk provides:

• Accept Mine: Keep your version of this hunk
• Accept Theirs: Take the incoming version
• Accept Both: Append both versions (yours first, then theirs)
• Edit Manually: Collapse to a single editable pane for custom resolution

Once all conflicts in a file are resolved, the status badge updates from C to M and the file is automatically staged.

Read-Only Mode

Files in archived lanes, pack exports, or history views open in Read-Only mode. The editor displays normally but saves are disabled. A banner at the top of the editor indicates the file is read-only and why.

To edit a file from an archived lane, you must first unarchive the lane or cherry-pick the file’s content into an active lane.

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Conflict Resolution Workflow

When a rebase or merge produces conflicts in a lane, here is the complete resolution workflow inside ADE:

1. Identify conflicted files

   Files with conflicts appear in the file explorer with a red C badge. The lane’s status in the Lanes list also shows conflict. Open the Files view scoped to the affected lane.

2. Open the first conflicted file

   Click the file in the explorer. It opens automatically in Conflict Mode — the 3-way merge view with your version, the base, and their version side by side.

3. Resolve each hunk

   Work through each conflicting hunk using Accept Mine, Accept Theirs, Accept Both, or by editing the result manually. A progress indicator in the editor toolbar shows “3 of 7 conflicts resolved” as you work.

4. File is auto-staged on full resolution

   Once the last conflict in a file is marked resolved, ADE automatically stages the file. The badge changes from C to M (staged).

5. Repeat for all conflicted files

   Continue until all C-badged files are resolved. The commit/continue bar at the bottom of the editor activates when all conflicts are cleared.

6. Commit or continue the rebase

   Click Complete Merge (for a merge operation) or Continue Rebase (for a rebase). ADE runs the appropriate git command (git commit or git rebase --continue) and the lane’s status returns to idle.

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Saving Files

Manual save: Cmd+S saves the current file immediately. ADE writes atomically — it writes to a temporary file first, then performs an atomic rename — so there are no partial saves or corruption if the process is interrupted mid-write.

Auto-save: Configurable in Settings → Editor. Options:

• Off: Files are only saved on Cmd+S
• On focus loss: File saves when you click away from the editor pane
• After delay: File saves N milliseconds after the last keystroke (default: 1000ms)

External change detection: ADE watches each open file using filesystem events. If a file is modified outside the editor (by an agent’s tool call, a terminal command, or a script), a yellow “File changed on disk” banner appears at the top of the editor with Reload and Ignore buttons.

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Searching

Quick Open

Press Cmd+P to open the quick file finder. Type any part of a filename to fuzzy-search across all files in the current lane’s worktree. Arrow keys navigate results; Enter opens the selected file.

Find in Workspace

Press Cmd+Shift+F to open workspace-wide search. Searches all files in the current lane’s worktree with full regex support. Results appear in a side panel; clicking a result opens the file at that line.

Workspace search supports:

• Regex mode: Toggle with the .* button
• Case sensitivity: Toggle with the Aa button
• Include/exclude patterns: Filter results to specific globs (e.g., src/**/*.ts) or exclude directories (e.g., !node_modules)
• Replace: Enter a replacement string to replace individual matches or all matches in the workspace

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Split Editors

Drag any open file tab to the right edge, bottom edge, or center of the editor area to split the editor pane. ADE supports up to 4 split panes in any combination of horizontal and vertical splits.

Each pane is independent — you can have Diff Mode in one pane and Normal Mode in another, or view the same file in two different lanes by switching the scope selector per-pane (right-click a pane’s header to set its lane scope independently).

To close a split, click the × on the pane’s header or drag its last tab back into another pane.

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Terminal Panel

The optional terminal panel slides up from the bottom of the editor area. Press `Cmd+“ (backtick) to toggle it. The terminal is scoped to the same lane as the current editor scope — it opens a PTY session in that lane’s worktree.

See Terminals & Sessions for full documentation on terminal session management.

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Breadcrumb Navigation

The breadcrumb bar at the top of the editor (just below the tab strip) shows the full path of the currently open file, segmented by directory. Click any path segment to:

• Open a directory: Shows a dropdown listing all siblings at that level, letting you navigate laterally without returning to the file explorer
• Navigate up: Jump directly to any ancestor directory

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+P	Quick open — fuzzy search files
Cmd+S	Save current file
Cmd+Z	Undo
Cmd+Shift+Z	Redo
Cmd+/	Toggle line comment
Cmd+D	Select next occurrence of current selection
Cmd+Shift+L	Select all occurrences of current selection
Option+Up / Option+Down	Move current line up / down
Cmd+Shift+F	Find in workspace
Cmd+F	Find in current file
Cmd+H	Find and replace in current file
F7 / Shift+F7	Next / previous diff hunk
`Cmd+“	Toggle terminal panel
Cmd+\	Split editor right
Cmd+K Cmd+0	Fold all regions
Cmd+K Cmd+J	Unfold all regions

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Git Operations from the Editor

Beyond the file explorer’s right-click menu, ADE embeds a lightweight git operations bar at the bottom of the Files view. It shows the current branch name, staged/unstaged counts, and provides quick-action buttons:

Button	Action
Stage All	Stage all modified and untracked files
Commit	Open an inline commit message composer and commit staged files
Amend	Amend the most recent commit with the current staged changes
Stash	Stash all current changes with an optional message
Push	Push the current branch to its remote tracking branch

All git operations show their output in a small inline log panel that auto-dismisses after 3 seconds on success, or stays open on error.

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Related Pages

Terminals

Manage PTY terminal sessions inside lanes, including agent sessions and session transcripts.

Conflicts

ADE’s dedicated conflict detection and analysis tooling, beyond in-editor resolution.

Lanes

Understand lane types and worktree isolation before using the lane scope selector.

History

Browse commit history, checkpoints, and session transcripts for any lane.