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Getting started

Fido is a small desktop utility that turns a branch name into an open Rider window. You type the branch; it works out where that branch lives on disk — every linked worktree and main clone currently checked out on it — and launches JetBrains Rider (or any other configured tool) there.

The name is a nod to the Apollo Flight Dynamics Officer (FIDO), whose job was to track the spacecraft and compute its trajectory. Fido does the same for your code: a branch name in, its exact path on disk out.

  • Platform: Windows (primary). macOS support is included but experimental.
  • Stack: .NET 10, Avalonia 12.

Opening Fido on a Mac

If macOS says it could not verify "Fido" is free of malware, that download was not notarized by Apple. To open it anyway, drag Fido into Applications and try to open it once. Then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to Security, and press Open Anyway next to the message about Fido. Right-click → Open no longer works for this on macOS 15 and later. Alternatively, clear the quarantine flag in Terminal: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Fido.app. Only do either for a copy you downloaded from Fido's GitHub releases.

Overview

Given a branch, Fido:

  1. Scans your configured search roots for every working tree currently on that branch — linked worktrees and main clones alike.
  2. Shows each location inline on the main screen as a selectable card, clearly labelled worktree or main clone, and lets you choose which to act on.
  3. Opens the chosen .sln/.slnx/.slnf (or the folder) in your chosen tool — Rider by default, or WebStorm / VS Code / Visual Studio / Zed / a terminal / the file explorer / a custom editor.

Everything happens on one screen, everything is keyboard-friendly, and a live log narrates each step. That log shares the foot of the window with a second tab — a console of Fido's own, a real shell at whichever location you have selected, for the times you want to run something on the branch rather than open it.

The discovery loop

Type a branch and Fido starts looking. There is no separate search button, no pop-up chooser, and no second window:

  • Typing debounces into a scan (about 600 ms after you stop); Enter fires one immediately.
  • A status pill tracks the phase: idle → scanning → found / not found.
  • Found: the locations render inline as target cards — worktrees listed before main clones, the first auto-selected. When the branch is checked out in more than one place, a helper strip says so and you pick the card to act on.
  • Checked out nowhere, but a repo has it: the scanned clones' refs are consulted — a local branch, the cached origin tracking ref, or (as a last resort) one live ls-remote sweep, so a branch pushed after your last fetch is still found. Each clone that has the branch offers two placement cards: a new worktree card (plus icon, leads and is auto-selected) showing where the worktree would be created, and a switch clone card (arrows icon) that moves the clone's main tree onto the branch instead — warning right on the card when uncommitted changes would ride along. Opening performs the placement first (fetching and tracking the remote ref when needed) and then launches.
  • Checked out in a worktree, but the branch prefers the main clone: when the branch's .fido/cfg.yaml sets prefer main clone and no main tree is on the branch, a move to main clone card (an arrow into the house) follows the worktree and is auto-selected. git won't switch a main tree onto a branch another worktree has checked out, so opening it asks first, inline: Move & open removes the worktree — the branch and its commits stay — and then switches the main clone onto the branch and launches there. A worktree with uncommitted or untracked changes is never moved away; the strip says so and its button stays off.
  • Not found: a warning card says no working tree or clone has the branch — double-check the name. Fido never switches an existing checkout; the only thing it will create is a worktree you explicitly selected.

The open and delete actions stay locked until discovery succeeds — nothing opens before Fido knows where the branch lives, and the locked block states the reason (🔒 Enter a branch name to begin discovery, 🔒 Scanning…, 🔒 No location found).

The Solution box is optional: it filters which detected solutions appear as chips (see What gets opened) — it's no longer a search input or a mode switch.