The editor: tabs, modes and editing
Open tabs, switch between source, rich and preview, edit code, find and replace, save and autosave.
Tabs
- Opening a file creates a tab. Opening another from the tree in preview replaces the previous tab; opening as a permanent tab keeps the new one beside the others.
- The tab bar lets you close, pin and switch between open files.
- The same file can be open in different tabs — for example, an editing tab and a diff tab. Each tab keeps its own scroll state.
Display modes
The mode switcher changes what the tab shows, and the labels depend on the file type:
| Mode | What for |
|---|---|
| Source | The file’s text, as it is |
| Rich | Markdown editing with formatting |
| Preview | The rendered result, without editing |
| Edit | Code editing (code files) |
| Changes | The file’s own diff, inside the same tab |
Two details that avoid confusion:
- “Changes” mode is orthogonal to the Markdown modes — it replaces the tab’s content, it does not coexist with the others.
- CSV and notebook reuse the “rich” slot, with their own metadata, but without editing: there the mode is a table or a viewer, not text editing.
Edit code
- The code editor synchronizes content, cursor position and scrolling.
- A read-only file or tab disables editing.
- Pasting very large content may be refused, with a notice that the pasted text is too large.
Find, replace and search in the project
| Action | Shortcut | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Find | the editor’s search shortcut | Uses the editor’s native search |
| Replace | its own replace shortcut | Also in the editor |
| Search in the project | the editor’s context menu | Uses the selection or the cursor position as the query and opens the side search |
- Repeats of the find shortcut do not reopen the search: they are consumed so as not to interfere with what is already open.
- Search in the project with no derivable query does nothing — if there is no selection and no word under the cursor, there is nothing to search.
Copy line reference
The editor’s gutter menu copies the path with the cursor’s line number, in two forms: absolute path and relative path. It is the practical format for pointing at an exact spot in the code in a message to the agent or in an issue.
Rename from the header
The editor header has a path menu with the rename action, which opens an inline field:
- Enter confirms, Escape cancels, leaving the field confirms.
- The action only exists when the file can be renamed.
- Virtual tabs do not offer renaming — they do not correspond to a file on disk.
Renaming here is the same operation as renaming in the tree: the file changes name on disk.
Saving and autosave
- Save has its own shortcut and works in any editable tab.
- Autosave writes by itself after an interval, but does not apply to every tab:
- editing tabs and unstaged diffs of a file may have autosave;
- combined diff tabs and conflict review tabs have no autosave;
- autosave is suspended when the file changed on disk outside the app or when the comparison baseline was not verified.
- New untitled files are written to disk at creation, and the name is defined afterwards.
Limits
- The editor does not keep its own backup copy: what protects your work is git and autosave.
- Pasting and opening very large files have limits; there is no promise of opening any size.
- Autosave does not replace a
commit.