**Screenshot: The Files & Editor view in 3-pane layout — left file explorer showing a project tree with git status annotations (M, A, ? badges), center Monaco editor with TypeScript code and IntelliSense dropdown open, right inspector showing the file diff. Include the workspace lane selector dropdown at the top.
Overview
The Files & Editor view is ADE’s built-in IDE workbench. It is powered by Monaco — the same editor engine that drives VS Code — giving you full syntax highlighting, IntelliSense code completion, multi-cursor editing, and find/replace across all major programming languages. What makes ADE’s editor different from a standalone IDE is its lane awareness. The workspace scope selector at the top of the view lets you switch between lanes instantly. The file tree, open files, and diff views all update to reflect the selected lane’s git worktree. You can compare the same file across different 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.
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.
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 |
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 |
Editor Modes
The editor renders in one of four modes depending on the file’s state.- Normal Mode
- Diff Mode
- Conflict Mode
- Read-Only 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.
**Screenshot: The 3-way conflict resolution view — left “Mine” pane and right “Theirs” pane showing a conflicting function, with the “Accept Mine” and “Accept Theirs” buttons visible above the hunk, and the conflict status badge (
C) visible in the file explorer on the left.Conflict Resolution Workflow
When a rebase or merge produces conflicts in a lane, here is the complete resolution workflow inside ADE: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.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.
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.
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).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.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)
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.- Regex mode: Toggle with the
.*button - Case sensitivity: Toggle with the
Aabutton - 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
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.
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.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
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 |
**Screenshot: The Monaco editor with a TypeScript file open in Diff Mode — left pane showing the base version, right pane showing the modified version with added lines highlighted in green and removed lines in red. The diff hunk navigation buttons (F7/Shift+F7) should be visible in the editor toolbar.
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 |
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.