File Explorer View

The Explorer view is the primary file browsing interface for Crab repositories. It displays the repository's file tree with rich metadata including hydration state, pointer indicators, and git status decorations.

Accessing the Explorer

• Click the Files icon in the activity bar (or press the configured shortcut)
• The Explorer is typically the default view when opening a repository

Features

File Tree

The file tree renders the repository contents as a collapsible hierarchy. It uses the @pierre/trees library for efficient rendering with virtual scrolling — repositories with hundreds of thousands of files remain responsive.

Each entry shows:

• File/folder icon — type-specific icons (code, image, data, etc.)
• Name — filename with syntax-aware coloring
• Size — human-readable file size
• Git status — modified (yellow), added (green), deleted (red), untracked (grey) decorations
• Hydration indicator — whether the file is hydrated (full content) or dehydrated (pointer only)

Rev Selector

A dropdown at the top of the Explorer lets you browse any ref:

• Branches (local and remote)
• Tags (annotated tags are peeled to their commit)
• Arbitrary commit SHAs

Changing the rev re-fetches the tree listing for that point in time.

Filtering

• Text filter — type to filter the tree by filename (fuzzy match)
• Track filter — toggle between All / Tracked / Untracked files
• Collapse all — collapse the entire tree to top-level entries

File Operations

Right-click a file or folder for context menu actions:

• Open — open the file in the editor pane
• Hydrate — download the full content for a pointer file
• Dehydrate — replace hydrated content with a pointer
• Copy path — copy the relative path to clipboard
• Reveal in Finder/Explorer — open the containing folder
• New file — create a new file in the selected directory
• New folder — create a new folder

Hydration Decorations

Files tracked by Crab show their hydration state:

• 🟢 Hydrated — full content available locally
• 🔵 Pointer — only the pointer blob is present (content in cloud)
• 🟡 Partial — some chunks cached, not fully hydrated

Live Refresh

The Explorer watches the filesystem for changes. When files are created, modified, or deleted outside the app (e.g., from a terminal or another editor), the tree updates automatically.

Keyboard Shortcuts

File Previews

Opening a file in the editor pane triggers format-specific rendering:

Previews are generated server-side by the Rust agent, keeping the renderer lightweight even for multi-gigabyte files.

Drag and Drop

• Drag files between folders to move them
• Drag files to the Changes view to stage them
• Drag external files into the tree to copy them into the repo

Integration with Other Views

• Clicking a file opens it in the editor pane (right side)
• Modified files show git status decorations linking to the Changes view for staging
• Pointer files show hydration state linking to the Large Files view for hydration management
• The Explorer shares the FileTree component with the Changes view for consistent tree rendering across the application
• Right-clicking a file offers "Open in Terminal" which launches a terminal pre-cd'd to the file's directory
• The breadcrumb bar above the editor shows the file's path and allows navigation back up the tree