Chapter 6 — Side Panels & AI Assistant

The mode bar (vertical buttons on the left window edge) switches five side panel views: Local (file tree), Search, Version, Remote, and Debug. This chapter covers the last four plus the AI panel.

6.1 Search Panel

Click the mode bar’s Search button (magnifier icon):

• Full-text search across the entire project directory, with regex and case-sensitive toggles.
• Results are grouped by file; clicking an entry opens it in the editor with the matching line highlighted.
• The header shows match statistics; searching runs on a background thread so large projects never block the UI.

6.2 Version Panel (Git/SVN)

Click the mode bar’s Version button:

• Automatically detects a Git or SVN repository in the project directory (without one, the panel offers “Add Git repository / Check out SVN / Add existing repository”).
• Change list: modified files in the working tree; click to open in the editor.
• Commit history: the log with author, date, and message.
• AI-modified only: scans the AI task store and filters the history of files touched by the AI assistant.
• The repo view replaces the file tree; click the Local button to switch back.

6.3 Remote Panel (SSH/SFTP/FTP/FTPS)

Click the mode bar’s Remote button:

• The sidebar lists the servers saved in ~/.wxeditor/remote.json (name, host, port). Passwords are stored AES-GCM encrypted with a master key kept in the same file.
• Add/edit server: the session dialog covers name, protocol (SSH/SFTP, FTP, FTPS), host, port, auth type (password/certificate), username, and password/private key. Empty dialog fields mean “keep the stored value”; non-empty fields override it.
• Protocols: SSH/SFTP runs over ssh2 with port 22 by default; FTP/FTPS use password auth only (an empty username means anonymous) with port 21 by default, and FTPS is explicit TLS (AUTH TLS) accepting self-signed certificates. Remote execution and sudo are unavailable over FTP; line-window/search on large files download the whole file and compute locally. AI remote execution is unavailable over FTP.
• After connecting, the file tree switches to the remote directory; double-click downloads a file (SFTP/FTP), and saving writes it back. Transfers show a progress dialog; dropped connections reconnect automatically.
• wxterm interop: wxeditor -sid <session-id> launches with a session from wxterm’s sessions.json; enc:-prefixed passwords are decrypted with wxterm’s master key.
• In local mode (double-click launch) the Remote button is dimmed.

6.4 Debug Panel

Click the mode bar’s Debug button:

• Run configurations: create debug run configs (command, arguments, working directory) for the project; multi-language debug sessions.
• Breakpoints: click the gutter margin left of the line numbers to toggle a breakpoint; the panel lists all breakpoints (file:line plus condition) with edit/skip controls.
• Watches: expressions re-evaluated live during a session.
• Call stack / variables / console: the core debug views.
• Breakpoints persist in ~/.wxeditor/wxeditor_debug.json and are restored on restart.

6.5 AI Assistant Panel

The AI strip on the right edge of the editor area (two vertical buttons): the upper one toggles the AI panel, the lower opens AI settings. Click to open the panel:

• Conversational assistant: multi-turn chat with code-block copy, stop generation, clear, and new chat.
• Context awareness: send the current file/selection as context; AI edits are shown as a diff view with per-hunk accept/reject.
• Model settings (Options → AI Options → Model settings): multiple providers and models — name, API type, API URL, API key, model ID, max context, max output, and proxy toggle; models can be pulled from the provider’s list.
• MCP servers (AI Options → MCP servers): configure Model Context Protocol servers to extend the AI’s toolset.
• Skills (AI Options → Skills): manage the AI skills directory.
• Authorization (AI Options → Authorization): control the approval policy for AI tool execution (commands, file writes, etc.).
• AI data lives under ~/.wxeditor/ai/ (provider.json, session and task stores).