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Editors and tools

Editors / IDEs

Fido can open the resolved target into any of several editors — plus the Console and File Explorer targets below. The list is configured in Settings, and one entry can be the default:

  • The default tool takes the hero button; set it from the ⚙ gear popover or the ● radio in Settings (or leave it unset for the equal-weight grid).
  • Every tool — hero included — has a keyboard shortcut, shown on its button: by default the numbered Ctrl+1 … Ctrl+9 (Ctrl+N opens with the Nth entry in the configured list). Give a tool keys of its own — a two-press chord such as Ctrl+K, R included — in ⚙ → Keyboard shortcuts… (see Your own shortcuts); they go where the tool goes.

Built-in editor kinds — Rider, WebStorm, VS Code, Visual Studio, Zed — auto-detect when their path is left blank; a Custom editor opens whatever executable/app-bundle path you give it. WebStorm is folder-only: it's always handed the folder rather than a .sln/.slnx/.slnf. Optional extra command-line arguments can be supplied per editor (passed before the target path).

Each entry also carries a slug — a short command-line token (built-in defaults: rider, ws, vsc, vs, zed, term, files) — so a specific one can be picked when launching Fido from the command line (see Command-line launch). The slug is editable per entry in Settings, and the built-in kinds also answer to well-known aliases (webstorm, vscode / code, visualstudio / devenv, console / terminal, explorer / fileexplorer / finder…) — only a Custom editor with a blank slug is un-selectable from the CLI.

Auto-detection for each known kind looks, in order, at an explicit path, then your PATH, then common install locations:

  • Rider — %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Rider, JetBrains Toolbox apps (newest) and shim, Program Files\JetBrains\JetBrains Rider *; macOS /Applications, ~/Applications, Toolbox bundles/shim.
  • WebStorm (folder-only) — %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\WebStorm, JetBrains Toolbox apps (newest) and shim, Program Files\JetBrains\WebStorm *; macOS /Applications, ~/Applications, Toolbox bundles/shim.
  • VS Code — code on PATH; %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin\code.cmd or under Program Files; macOS Visual Studio Code.app.
  • Visual Studio (Windows) — devenv on PATH; Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\<year>\<edition>\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe.
  • Zed — zed on PATH; macOS Zed.app; Windows %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Zed\Zed.exe.

The editor is launched detached (Fido doesn't wait on it). If the chosen editor can't be found, Fido says so and points you to its path setting.

Console & file explorer

Beyond editors, Fido can open the resolved folder directly — handy when you just want a shell on the branch or to browse its files. Two built-in targets, present out of the box and working on Windows, macOS, and Linux:

Console the tool, Console the tab

The Console tool below is a launch: it opens the terminal you have configured, at the folder, and Fido steps out of the way. Fido also has a console of its own — the Console tab beside the flight log, a shell running inside Fido, for when the output is the point. Different things, same word; the tab's page spells out which is which.

  • Console (folder-only, slug term) — opens a terminal at the folder. Auto-detection picks the OS default: Windows — Windows Terminal (wt), else PowerShell (pwsh/powershell), else cmd; macOS — the Terminal app (via open -a); Linux — the first of x-terminal-emulator, gnome-terminal, konsole, xfce4-terminal, kitty, alacritty, tilix, xterm on PATH. The terminal is configurable: set the Console row's path to a specific terminal program — a full path or just a command name like wt, pwsh, or gnome-terminal (resolved on PATH, including Windows Terminal's Store alias) — and add arguments if needed. Most terminals open in the folder because Fido sets it as their working directory; Windows Terminal is pointed at it explicitly with -d.
  • File Explorer (folder-only, slug files) — reveals the folder in the OS file manager: Windows explorer.exe, macOS Finder (via open), Linux xdg-open (honouring your default file manager), else nautilus / dolphin / thunar / nemo / pcmanfm. The file manager is configurable via the row's path too.

Both behave like any other tool — a grid button, a Ctrl+N shortcut, and a CLI slug — so fido feature/new-ui term opens a terminal on that branch and fido feature/new-ui files opens its folder. They always hand over the folder, ignoring the solution chips.

The Console tool is also the one tool that can carry a run menu: when the branch's .fido/cfg.yaml nominates scripts, a caret appears beside the button and a pick runs that command at the selected location. Where it runs is yours to choose — your terminal, or Fido's Console tab — via Settings → Before running → Run it in Fido's Console tab. The button itself always opens your terminal, whichever way that is set.