Files and quick open

The Files identity of the side panel is a file tree of the repository the panel shows, with a viewer and editor for the file you open. It is meant for reading and small edits next to your agent — deeper work belongs to the agent or to your own editor.

Switch to it with Files at the top of the side panel.

The file tree

• Directories load when you expand them, so large repositories open quickly.
• Each row shows whether it is a file or a directory and how long ago it was modified; the header shows how many items are visible.
• The tree updates on its own when files are created, changed, or deleted on disk — by the agent, a build, or you in another program.
• Symbolic links that point inside the folder can be expanded like any directory. Links that point outside the folder cannot: the side panel only ever reads files inside the folders you added.

If the repository has more than one git worktree, Change working directory at the top of the tree switches which one the tree shows. Each folder remembers its choice.

Reading files

Click a file to open it. Markdown is rendered; other files are shown with syntax highlighting. For an OpenSpec file, View in OpenSpec takes you to the same artifact or spec in the OpenSpec identity, and Back to file tree returns.

Markdown from a repository is treated as untrusted content: raw HTML is shown as text, scripts never run, and http / https links open in your browser instead of inside spekterm (other links are not clickable). Images hosted on https: addresses are loaded — see Data and network.

Editing

Opened files are editable.

• Ctrl+S saves.
• A file with unsaved changes is marked in the tree and in the status bar. Unsaved changes survive switching files and switching folders.
• If the file changed on disk since you opened it, saving does not overwrite it — spekterm asks what to do.
• Closing spekterm with unsaved changes asks whether to Save All and Quit or Quit Without Saving.

The editor highlights syntax but does not run language services (no type checking, completion, or go-to-definition). That keeps spekterm small and fast; use your agent or your editor for deep changes.

Creating, renaming, and deleting

Right-click in the tree for New file, New folder, Rename, and Delete. New in root creates at the top of the tree.

• Names are checked before anything is created, and the reason is shown if a name cannot be used (an empty name, a reserved name, characters some systems do not allow).
• Delete always asks first and says when the item is a directory or has unsaved changes. It cannot be undone.
• The folder itself cannot be renamed or deleted from here; remove it from the rail instead.

Quick open

Press Ctrl+P while the side panel has focus to find a file by name.

• Type any part of the name; the letters only need to appear in order (scr finds score.ts). Matches in the file name rank above matches in the directory path.
• It searches the working directory the panel shows. Files ignored by git and files in other worktrees are left out.
• Use the arrow keys and Enter to open the file in Files; Esc closes the list and returns focus to the side panel.

When a terminal has focus, Ctrl+P goes to the terminal instead — Claude Code uses it for its prompt history. Click in the side panel first, or use the tree.

What Files can and cannot reach

Files reads and writes only inside the folders on your rail. It cannot open a path outside them, even through a link in a document. This boundary applies to the side panel only: terminals are real shells and can go anywhere your user account can.