Lanes includes a built-in file browser and code editor so you can view and edit project files without leaving the app. This is especially useful when you want to inspect what an AI agent changed, make a quick fix, or browse your codebase alongside the board.
Adding Projects to the Sidebar
Before you can browse files, Lanes needs to know which directories to show.
- Click the + button in the sidebar to add a project folder, or
- Open Settings > General and manage your working folders from there.
You can add multiple project directories. Each one appears as a top-level entry in the sidebar file tree.
The File Tree
The sidebar shows an expandable file tree for each project you have added. Folders can be expanded and collapsed by clicking the arrow next to them. The tree is lazy-loaded -- child entries are fetched only when you expand a folder, so even large projects stay responsive.
Default-Collapsed Directories
Some directories are collapsed by default because they are typically not useful to browse manually:
node_modules.gittargetdist
You can still expand them if you need to; they just start closed to keep the tree manageable.
Navigating Files and Folders
Click any folder to expand or collapse it. Click any file to open it in the Working Folder pane, which puts a folder tree on the left and the editor on the right. The tree highlights the currently open file so you can see where you are, and both the expanded folders and the open file are remembered per project.
You can also open the pane directly: right-click a project in the sidebar and choose Working Folder, or use the button in the app header. Drag the divider to give either side more room.
The Monaco Editor
When you open a file, it appears in a full-featured Monaco editor -- the same editor engine that powers VS Code. You get:
- Syntax highlighting for all common languages and file types.
- Line numbers in the gutter for easy reference.
- Theme matching -- the editor follows your app theme (light or dark), so it blends naturally with the rest of Lanes.
One File at a Time
The pane holds one open file per project, not a row of tabs. Clicking another file in the tree replaces what is in the editor, and Lanes remembers which file you had open the next time you come back to that project. Close the current file with the X in the editor header to get the empty state back.
That keeps the pane honest about what it is for: reading and fixing the file in front of you, next to a running agent. For a session with a dozen files open at once, hand the folder to your IDE with Open in (see below).
Editing and Saving
Editing is on by default. The header button toggles between Edit and View Mode, so you can put the file into a read-only state when you only want to look.
When you have unsaved changes, a Save button appears in the header. Cmd+S does the same thing and works even when the editor does not have focus, so saving never depends on where you last clicked.
Markdown Files
Markdown gets three view modes, chosen from a control in the header:
- Code -- the raw markdown source.
- Split -- source and rendered output side by side.
- Preview -- rendered output only.
Your choice persists across files. Two toggles sit next to it: Soft wrap for long lines, and Overview (minimap) for the map down the right edge.
Files Lanes Will Not Open
Two files never open in the editor, and it says why rather than freezing:
- Anything over 5 MB. Minified bundles, large logs, and vendored data would stall the editor, so Lanes reports the size instead of loading it. Use Open in for those.
- Binary files. There is nothing useful to show, so Lanes says so.
If the open file is deleted or moved while you are looking at it, the editor notices and closes it rather than leaving a stale buffer you could save over the top of something else.
Open in Your Editor
When you want to take the wheel from the agent, the working folder has an Open in menu that hands the current directory to a full IDE in one click. Lanes detects which editors are installed on your machine and only lists those.
Supported editors:
- VS Code
- Cursor
- Zed
- JetBrains suite (IntelliJ IDEA, WebStorm, PyCharm, RubyMine, GoLand, PhpStorm, CLion, Rider, RustRover, DataGrip, AppCode, Android Studio)
- Sublime Text
- Xcode
- Windsurf
- Fleet
The menu opens the exact folder the session is running in, including the worktree path when an issue has one. No path copying, no terminal hop.
Right-Click in the Tree
The tree's context menu covers the file operations you would otherwise drop to a terminal for:
- New File and New Folder, created inside the folder you clicked.
- Add File..., which brings existing files in from anywhere on disk.
- Rename, edited in place in the tree.
- Delete, which asks first.
- Copy Path, for pasting a path into a prompt.
- Open in, to hand that one file to an external editor.
You can also drag files between folders in the tree to move them.
Tips
- Use the file browser alongside agent sessions to review changes as the AI makes them -- open the terminal in one panel and the edited file in another.
- The editor is great for quick tweaks. For heavy editing sessions, you might still prefer your full IDE, but for inspecting diffs and making small fixes Lanes has you covered.
- Drag a file from the file tree onto an open terminal to inject its path. Handy when you want to tell an agent to look at a specific file.