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Files is ADE’s review workbench: the place you read exactly what an agent changed, fix anything that’s off, and turn a reviewed diff into a commit. It pairs a lane-scoped file tree and a full Monaco editor with diff and conflict views and a Git panel for staging, committing, stashing, and pushing — all without leaving the tab.
Files review workbench inside ADE
The Git panel inside ADE

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What Files is for

Inspect agent edits

Read every hunk an agent touched before it ever reaches a commit.

Make manual fixes

Open a file in Monaco and edit it directly when a small human adjustment beats another prompt.

Commit cleanly

Stage related files together, write a message, and push the lane’s branch from the Git panel.

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Pick a workspace

The file tree is scoped to one workspace at a time. A workspace is a directory Files can browse, and there are three kinds:
WorkspaceWhere it comes from
PrimaryYour repository root — always present.
Lane worktreeThe isolated worktree behind a lane, under .ade/worktrees/.
AttachedAn external worktree path you linked in.
ADE shows the active workspace name prominently so you never edit the primary checkout when you meant to edit a lane. Switching workspaces changes the tree, diffs, and Git panel together — confirm the selector before you save.
Choose the lane worktree to review in Files

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Read the diff

Open a changed file to inspect its hunks. Diffs come from a few sources — staged vs. working tree, HEAD vs. working tree, or commit-to-commit — and you can switch how they render:
  • Preview for prose and markup, where you want the rendered result.
  • Raw for the unified diff, where you want to read code line by line.
The file tree itself carries Git status decorations, so changed, added, and deleted files are colored in place before you even open them.
Toggle between rendered preview and raw diff

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Edit in Monaco

Files opens in a real Monaco editor with syntax highlighting and read/write semantics. Saves are atomic — ADE writes to a temp file and renames it into place — so a dev server watching the file never catches a half-written save. Markdown files add a per-tab preview toggle that swaps the editor for a rendered view.
Read-only workspaces are enforced end to end: the editor opens read-only and the create, rename, and delete controls are disabled, so you can browse a protected worktree without risking an accidental write.

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Stage, commit, and push

The Git panel turns a reviewed diff into a commit. Stage related files together, write a message, stash or amend when you need to, and push the lane’s branch — all from the same surface.
Stage, commit, and push from the Git panel

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The review flow

1

Open the changed lane

Choose the lane worktree an agent worked in from the workspace selector.
2

Read the diff

Open each modified file and inspect the hunks, raw or rendered.
3

Fix anything obvious

Edit directly in Monaco, or send the agent back with specific review notes.
4

Stage and commit

Stage related files together, commit once the work is coherent, then push.

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Conflicts

When a merge or rebase produces conflicts, Files opens a three-way merge view with Base, Ours, Theirs, and Result panes, plus Accept Ours, Accept Theirs, and Accept Both actions. Resolve the file, then continue the Git operation from the lane or PR workflow. See Conflicts for the full risk model and prevention tips.
Use Files as the final human checkpoint. Even when an agent reports that tests passed, read the diff yourself before you push.

Pull requests

Turn a reviewed, committed lane into a GitHub PR.

History

Trace any commit back to the lane and session that produced it.