Files and Git

Captain Who has three file-related surfaces that are easy to confuse: “Files” in the right sidebar is for read-only viewing, agent file tools are for analysis or modification, and “Review” in the right sidebar is for inspecting and managing repository changes.

Add a project folder

Select “New project” from the project selector in a new conversation, or open “Settings → Environment → Add project,” then authorize a directory with the system folder picker.

After the project is created:

• Default permissions limit reading and writing to the current project.
• “Files” and “Review” in the right sidebar are bound to this project.
• A right-sidebar “Terminal” starts in the project directory.
• Valid skills under .agents/skills/ in the project can be discovered.

View content with Files

1. Open the right sidebar and select “New panel → Files.”
2. Expand folders in the directory tree, or filter by name.
3. Select a file to open its preview. Opening the same temporary page again can pin it as a separate tab.
4. Use “More file actions” to toggle wrapping, copy the file path, or reveal it in the system file manager.

The current preview supports:

• UTF-8 and common UTF-16 text and source code.
• Markdown source and rendered preview.
• AVIF, BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, SVG, and WebP images.
• Paginated previews of unencrypted PDFs.

Important limits: text reads are limited to approximately 1 MiB and renders to 5,000 lines; images are limited to 12 MiB; PDFs are limited to 32 MiB. Oversized content displays an explicit notice. Symbolic links can appear in the directory tree, but they cannot be expanded or previewed and cannot be used to escape the project boundary.

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files cannot be previewed in “Files.” Open them in an external app or give them to the appropriate Office Skill.

Ask an agent to read or modify files

Describe the goal and scope directly in the task, for example:

Read src/config and explain the configuration loading order. Read only; do not make changes.

Or:

Modify only README.md to add installation prerequisites. Preserve the existing structure and summarize the change afterward.

An agent can list, search, read, and patch files. Actual access is determined by the current project and permissions; a path supplied by the model does not grant itself permission. Under Default permissions, file changes usually require approval first.

For large files or very long tool results, the agent may receive only a summary, the beginning and end, or paginated results. When precision matters, ask it to state the range it read and what it omitted.

Inspect Git changes with Review

“Review” is available only when the current project is recognized as a Git repository. Open “New panel → Review,” then choose a scope:

• Unstaged: Changes between the working tree and the index.
• Staged: Changes between the index and HEAD.
• Last turn: Recorded changes before and after the most recent agent turn; read-only.

The panel supports unified and side-by-side diffs, wrapping, file search, expanded diffs, and on-demand loading of complete files. It displays at most 500 changed files. Binary, oversized, or conflicted files retain an entry with an explanation of why they cannot be rendered.

Stage, unstage, and revert

• You can stage files from the “Unstaged” scope.
• You can unstage files from the “Staged” scope.
• Revert applies only to unstaged changes and opens a confirmation dialog.

“Revert file” permanently discards unstaged modifications to a tracked file or deletes the corresponding untracked file. It cannot be undone. Verify the path before continuing and make an external backup when needed.

“Review” uses short-lived consistency snapshots. If the project changes through a terminal, agent, or other editor, an old snapshot becomes stale and the interface must refresh. Do not repeat an operation based on an old diff.

“Review” currently has no commit, branch, merge, pull, or push buttons. You can ask an agent to use managed commands or operate manually in the right-sidebar terminal, but either approach should follow your repository workflow.

Differences between Files, Terminal, and agent commands

An agent cannot implicitly take over the right-sidebar Terminal. Long-running agent commands are tracked by separate managed sessions, and the app cannot reattach to the original operating-system process after a restart.

Related topics

• Tool Capabilities
• Permissions and Approvals
• Office, PDF, Spreadsheets, Presentations, and Images