Settings¶

In the app¶

Reach these via ⚙ → All settings….

• Search roots — directories to scan for working trees (one per line).
• Editors — the tools Fido can open into. Each row has a name, an optional slug (the command-line token that selects it, e.g. rider), a kind (Rider, WebStorm, VS Code, Visual Studio, Zed, Console, File Explorer, or Custom), and an optional path (blank = auto-detect for known kinds; required for Custom). For Console the path is the terminal program and for File Explorer the file manager (blank = the OS default; a full path or a bare command name like wt / pwsh both work), so you can point Fido at the terminal you prefer. Tick the ● radio to set the default (the hero button) — or use the ⚙ gear popover on the main screen, which offers the same choice plus No default (equal weight). The rest are reached by their keyboard shortcut — Ctrl+1 … Ctrl+9 unless you assign others (see Keyboard shortcuts below) — or by their slug on the command line. Add appends a new row; ✕ removes one, and its shortcut with it.
• Worktree root — leave blank for the sibling <repo>.worktrees convention. Setting one also collapses the worktree folders line under the branch box to a single row, answered from the branch name alone with no scan needed (see The branch's worktree folders).
• Theme — System, Light, or Dark, plus Colour the Console tab to match (default off). Off, the Console tab keeps the terminal emulator's own sixteen ANSI colours, on a plain ground the right way up for the theme; on, the ground and all sixteen come from Fido's palette instead. Either way the console follows the theme, and a change repaints the shell that is already running. This is the saved default; the header's sun/moon toggle flips the screen for the current run without touching it, and saving here takes back over.
• Window title — Show the repo and branch once discovery resolves them (default on). On, a resolved branch renames the window to <repo> · <branch> (see The window title); untick it and the title stays Fido.
• Before running — two switches for what a Console run menu pick does:
  • Fast-forward the target onto origin first (default on). On, picking a command from either run menu updates the target before the console opens (see Up to date before it runs); untick it to run against the tree exactly as it stands. The Console tab's shell here never triggers it.
  • Run it in Fido's Console tab (default off). Off, a pick from the Console button's run menu goes to the terminal you have configured. On, it runs in Fido's own Console tab instead — a real shell over a real pseudo-terminal, beside the flight log. It governs that button's menu only: the Console button itself always opens your terminal, and the Console tab's own Run menu always runs in the pane.
• Command line — Switch to a window that already has the branch (default on). On, fido <branch> brings the Fido window already open on that branch to the front instead of opening a second, and runs anything else the command line asked for — a tool, -s, --folder — there (see A window that already has the branch). Untick it and every launch opens its own window; --new-window does the same for a single launch. Takes effect from the next launch.
• Close after opening — when Fido quits after a successful launch: Command line (default — only when started with a branch on the command line), Always (after every launch, including the on-screen buttons), or Never (turns auto-close off).
• Close delay — seconds Fido counts down before it auto-closes (default 10; 0 closes immediately). The flight log shows a single line that ticks down in place (Closing in 10…, then 9…, 8…), and a Keep open bar appears at the bottom with the live countdown. Clicking Keep open — or simply starting another scan or open — cancels the close, so it's never a point of no return.

Keyboard shortcuts¶

Reach these via ⚙ → Keyboard shortcuts…, or press Ctrl+K, Ctrl+S. Every action on the main screen is listed with its keys — a single press, or a two-press chord such as Ctrl+K, Ctrl+S. Click one and press the keys to change it; ↺ restores a default, ✕ removes a shortcut, Reset all restores them all. How recording, chords and clashes work is in Your own shortcuts.

In the config, a tool's shortcut lives on the tool, and everything else under Shortcuts, keyed by the action's name. Only what differs from the defaults is written; an empty string means no shortcut rather than the default; and a chord is two presses with a comma between them:

"Editors": [
  { "Name": "Rider", "Slug": "rider", "Kind": "Rider", "Shortcut": "Ctrl+K, R" },
  { "Name": "WebStorm", "Slug": "ws", "Kind": "WebStorm" }
],
"Shortcuts": {
  "ToggleTheme": "Ctrl+K, T",
  "CopyPath": "Ctrl+Shift+C",
  "Rescan": ""
}

A tool with no Shortcut keeps its number — the first nine answer to Ctrl+1 … Ctrl+9 by their place in the list. The names under Shortcuts, matched in any case:

Keys are written as on the dialog — modifiers Ctrl, Shift, Alt, Meta (also Cmd / Win), then the key by the character on it (Ctrl+,, Ctrl+[) or its name (F5, Enter, PageUp); VS Code's space-separated ctrl+k ctrl+t reads too. A hand edit that clashes is settled the way the dialog would have it: a shortcut you chose beats a default, and otherwise the first in the dialog's order keeps the keys.

Defaults¶

• Search roots: %USERPROFILE%\source\repos, %USERPROFILE%\src, %USERPROFILE%\RiderProjects, %USERPROFILE%\Projects.
• Default branch names: main, master (never offered for deletion).
• Search depth: 4.
• Command line: fido <branch> switches to a window already open on the branch.
• Keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+1 … Ctrl+9 open with the tools by position; F5 rescans; Ctrl+, opens Settings; Ctrl+K, Ctrl+S the Keyboard shortcuts; Ctrl+K, Ctrl+T flips light / dark.
• Close after opening: command-line launches only, with a 10-second close delay.
• Window title: shows <repo> · <branch> once discovery resolves.
• Console tab colours: the terminal's own scheme; Fido's palette is opt-in.
• Before running: fast-forwards the target onto origin when you pick a run command; a pick from the Console button's run menu goes to your terminal, not Fido's Console tab.

In-repo config (committed to the branch)¶

A repo can also configure Fido for itself, in .fido/cfg.yaml on the branch — prefer main clone and commands. It's read from the branch every time a scan lands and needs no user setting to enable; see In-repo config for the file's shape.

Where settings live¶

JSON at %APPDATA%\Fido\config.json. If that doesn't exist, Fido reads a legacy %APPDATA%\atlantic-opener\config.json (from before the rename) so existing settings survive; the next save writes to the new location.

Each open window also leaves an empty marker file in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Fido\instances (~/.local/share/Fido/instances on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/Fido/instances on macOS), which is how fido <branch> finds a window that already has the branch. A window removes its marker when it closes, and the next launch clears away any left by a Fido that didn't.