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/inline-editor

Inline text editing implementation within the file browser preview pane using tmux PTY backend, cursor movement, text manipulation, and editor state management. Covers entry/exit lifecycle, dimension calculations, confirmation dialogs, click-away detection, mouse forwarding, and

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sidecar
1.1k19 skills

Claude Code

$ npx -y skills add marcus/sidecar --skill inline-editor --agent claude-code

SKILL.md

inline-editor.SKILL.md
name: inline-editor
description: >
  Inline text editing implementation within the file browser preview pane using
  tmux PTY backend, cursor movement, text manipulation, and editor state
  management. Covers entry/exit lifecycle, dimension calculations, confirmation
  dialogs, click-away detection, mouse forwarding, and app-level key routing.
  Use when working on inline editing features, text input components, or
  debugging editor rendering/input issues in the file browser plugin.

Inline Editor Implementation

Overview

The inline editor (`tmux_inline_edit`) lets users edit files directly within the file browser preview pane using their preferred terminal editor (vim, nvim, nano, etc.) without leaving the TUI. The file tree remains visible during editing.

**Core Principle**: This is NOT a terminal emulator. Tmux manages the PTY backend; Sidecar acts as an input/output relay, similar to the workspace plugin's interactive mode.

Architecture

Components

1. **Entry Layer** (`internal/plugins/filebrowser/inline_edit.go`): Creates tmux sessions, manages editor lifecycle 2. **Rendering Layer** (`internal/plugins/filebrowser/view.go`, `inline_edit.go`): Renders editor content within preview pane 3. **Input Layer** (`internal/plugins/filebrowser/plugin.go`, `mouse.go`): Routes keys/clicks to editor or confirmation dialog 4. **TTY Model** (`internal/tty/tty.go`): Handles tmux capture, cursor overlay, and input forwarding

Data Flow

User presses 'e' on file
  -> enterInlineEditMode()
  -> tmux new-session -d -s {sessionName} {editor} {path}
  -> InlineEditStartedMsg
  -> handleInlineEditStarted()
  -> tty.Model.Enter()
  -> Start polling tmux capture-pane
  -> renderInlineEditorContent() in preview pane
  -> User types -> tty.Model forwards to tmux
  -> User exits -> SessionDeadMsg or exit keys
  -> exitInlineEditMode()
  -> Refresh preview

Key Files

| File | Purpose | |------|---------| | `internal/plugins/filebrowser/inline_edit.go` | Editor lifecycle, confirmation dialog, dimension calculations | | `internal/plugins/filebrowser/view.go` | Preview pane rendering, gradient border | | `internal/plugins/filebrowser/mouse.go` | Click-away detection | | `internal/plugins/filebrowser/plugin.go` | State management, Update routing | | `internal/tty/tty.go` | TTY model for tmux interaction (shared with workspace) | | `internal/app/update.go` | App-level key routing for inline edit context |

Critical Implementation Details

1. Preview Pane Rendering (Not Full-Screen)

The editor renders within `renderPreviewPane()`, NOT as a full-screen takeover. The file tree stays visible.

// view.go - renderPreviewPane()
func (p *Plugin) renderPreviewPane(visibleHeight int) string {
    if p.inlineEditMode && p.inlineEditor != nil && p.inlineEditor.IsActive() {
        return p.renderInlineEditorContent(visibleHeight)
    }
    // ... normal preview rendering
}

2. Dimension Calculations

The tty.Model needs exact dimensions matching the preview pane content area:

func (p *Plugin) calculateInlineEditorWidth() int {
    if !p.treeVisible {
        return p.width - 4 // borders + padding
    }
    p.calculatePaneWidths()
    return p.previewWidth - 4
}

func (p *Plugin) calculateInlineEditorHeight() int {
    paneHeight := p.height
    innerHeight := paneHeight - 2 // pane borders
    contentHeight := innerHeight - 2 // header lines
    if len(p.tabs) > 1 {
        contentHeight-- // tab line
    }
    return contentHeight
}

**These MUST stay in sync with `renderInlineEditorContent()` layout calculations.**

3. Confirmation Behavior

**Rule: session alive = show confirmation, session dead = exit immediately.**

Always show confirmation when the session is alive, regardless of file modification status. Vim's modification status cannot be reliably detected externally.

func (p *Plugin) isInlineEditSessionAlive() bool {
    if p.inlineEditSession == "" {
        return false
    }
    err := exec.Command("tmux", "has-session", "-t", p.inlineEditSession).Run()
    return err == nil
}

Check session alive status: 1. At the start of `Update()` when in inline edit mode - if dead, exit immediately 2. In click-away handling - if dead, skip confirmation and clean up

4. Exit Confirmation Dialog

State fields:

showExitConfirmation bool        // Dialog visible
pendingClickRegion   string      // Where user clicked
pendingClickData     interface{} // Click data (tree index, tab index)
exitConfirmSelection int         // 0=Save&Exit, 1=Exit without saving, 2=Cancel

Options:

  • **Save & Exit**: Sends editor-appropriate save-and-quit sequence, waits for session death
  • **Exit without saving**: Kills tmux session immediately
  • **Cancel**: Returns to editing

5. Click-Away Detection

Mouse regions are registered during render. Clicks between items may miss regions, so always include position-based fallback:

if p.inlineEditMode && p.inlineEditor != nil && p.inlineEditor.IsActive() {
    action := p.mouseHandler.HandleMouse(msg)

    handleClickAway := func(regionID string, regionData interface{}) (*Plugin, tea.Cmd) {
        if !p.isInlineEditSessionAlive() {
            p.exitInlineEditMode()
            p.pendingClickRegion = regionID
            p.pendingClickData = regionData
            return p.processPendingClickAction()
        }
        p.pendingClickRegion = regionID
        p.pendingClickData = regionData
        p.showExitConfirmation = true
        p.exitConfirmSelection = 0
        return p, nil
    }

    if action.Type == mouse.ActionClick {
        if action.Region != nil {
            switch action.Region.ID {
            case regionTreePane, regionTreeItem, regionPreviewTab:
                return handleClickAway(action.Region.ID, action.Region.Data)
            }
        }
        // Fallback: position-based detection
        if p.treeVisible && action.X < p.treeWidth {
            return handleClickAw
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@marcus
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Questions about inline-editor.

Which coding agents can use inline-editor?
inline-editor installs in Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, OpenCode and Windsurf with the skills CLI, using each agent's flag shown on this page. Flowy's auto-invocation, which fires a skill when your prompt matches, runs in Claude Code only.