File viewer
How the in-app viewer shows text, images, binary, large, sensitive, missing, and outside-the-project files.
The file viewer is read-only. It shows text with syntax highlighting and line numbers, previews images, and tells you plainly when a file can't be shown. It opens from the tree, from Go to file and Search, from a transcript path, and from Open in viewer in Changes.
The header shows the path and size, Copy path, and in the desktop app the Open in button.
Open a file at a line
A transcript path with a line, such as src/main.tsx:12 or src/main.tsx:12:4, opens the file
scrolled to that line with the line highlighted. The tree reveals the file. If the file is shorter,
the viewer scrolls to the end and says Line 420 is past the end (40 lines).
Paths resolve against the session root. A relative path never climbs above it, and an absolute path
or ~/ path that lands inside the root opens like a relative one. If you click several paths
quickly, only the last one opens.
What each file shows
| File | What you see |
|---|---|
| Text up to 1 MB | The whole file, highlighted by language. |
| Text over 1 MB | The first 1 MB with Showing the first 1 MB of 14.2 MB. |
| Image up to 5 MB | A centred preview with its dimensions and size, such as "1280 × 720 · 245 KB". |
| Image over 5 MB | Image too large to preview and its size. |
| Binary | Binary file · "2.3 MB · No preview". |
Sensitive (.env, keys, credentials) | Sensitive file · "Its contents stay hidden until you show them." with Show contents. |
| A path that doesn't exist | File not found with Refresh tree. |
| A path outside the project or worktree | Outside this project with the path as written. |
| A folder | Not a file. |
A symlink into .git or another protected place | This file can't be shown · "It resolves into a protected location." |
| A worktree that was removed | This worktree is no longer on disk. |
| A read that failed | Couldn't read this file with the reason. |
Show contents reveals one file for this view. The revealed text is not cached, so reopening the file asks again. Symlinks that stay inside the root open their target, and a symlink that points to a sensitive file is gated like the file itself.
Find in file
With the viewer focused, Cmd/Ctrl+F opens the find bar. It counts matches over the whole loaded file, such as "3 of 17", even lines that aren't on screen yet.
- Enter or ↓ goes to the next match. Shift+Enter or ↑ goes to the previous one. Both wrap around.
- Match case makes the search case-sensitive.
- Esc closes the bar and keeps your scroll position.
- On a file over 1 MB, the bar notes Searching the first 1 MB.
Find in file matches literal text. When you open a file from a regular-expression search, the bar starts with the text that matched, with Match case on.
Cmd/Ctrl+F belongs to the viewer only while focus is inside it. Elsewhere, the browser's own find works as usual.