Use Computers

A Computer holds files and provides a place to run work. New Agents get a Computer by default, or you can choose No Computer in Grove. Home is the Agent’s default attached Computer. Choose that Computer in an App to work on the same files as the Agent. A Computer’s name is not its identity, so check the selection before saving or running anything.

If Home is detached, the Agent does not silently use another Computer. Attach an appropriate Computer and choose /home <name> yourself in the Agent’s conversation. The choice is shared across that Agent’s Sessions and takes effect on later runs; an active run keeps its captured target and fails if access is revoked.

Open and edit a file

1. Open Inkcap from your Team’s App menu.
2. Select the Agent’s Home Computer in the host’s Computer picker.
3. Allow the file access you need, then choose a file in the explorer. On a narrow screen, choose Open file explorer first.
4. Edit a text file and choose Save, or press Ctrl+S (⌘S on macOS). Wait for Saved. Edits you make while a save is running remain unsaved until you save them too.

Inkcap keeps your draft in the open tab if a read or save fails. A tab belongs to the Computer it came from: if you switch Computers, select the original one before saving or reloading that tab. Host Back returns to a previously visited tab without discarding its edits.

When the file changes elsewhere

An Agent, another App or another person can edit the same Computer file. On Save, Inkcap checks that the file still matches the text you opened or last saved. If it differs, the save is refused and Inkcap shows This file changed on the Computer since you opened it. Your draft stays open and unsaved; the Computer file is not overwritten.

Choose how to resolve it:

• Compare shows the Computer version and your draft. Removed lines come from the Computer; added lines are your edits. Comparing writes nothing. Choose Back to editing to return to your draft.
• Keep mine explicitly overwrites the Computer file with your draft.
• Reload theirs replaces your draft with the Computer file’s current text, discarding your unsaved edits.

Compare ignores an initial UTF-8 byte-order mark and differences between line endings so those alone do not highlight every line. This affects the display only, not the saved text or the check used by Save. Compare is a view of the versions, not an automatic merge.

For a clean tab, Reload file reads the latest saved contents. Ordinary reload is disabled while the tab has unsaved edits or a save is running. During a conflict, use the choices above.

Create a file or save another copy

Choose New draft, write your text, then Save file as. Enter the Computer path and choose Save As. You can also use Save file as on an existing text tab. An absolute path starts with /; a relative path uses the selected explorer directory, or the open file’s directory when there is no selection. For a new draft without either, it uses the App’s current project directory.

After a successful Computer write, the tab adopts the path and the explorer refreshes. A failed write keeps your edits and the old path. Save As to a different existing path replaces that file’s contents; choose an unused path to keep both copies. Use ordinary Save when updating the current file with conflict protection.

To create an empty file or folder directly, open an explorer item’s context menu and choose New file or New folder. Enter a single name; the dialog shows the destination directory and reports an existing name. Rename and delete controls are not available in Inkcap. Use Shed or an Agent for those operations.

File types and unsaved work

PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, SVG and AVIF files open as image previews. Other files open as UTF-8 text; invalid UTF-8 is refused without replacing an existing tab.

You can write a local draft without Computer access and use Download to save it through your browser. Save As saves to the selected Computer when connected; without a connection, it starts a browser download. Closing a dirty tab or closing the App through its host offers save, discard and cancel choices. Keep the tab open until you have saved or downloaded work you want to keep.

Run a command

Open Shed, select the Computer, and grant Run commands access. Its terminal runs on that Computer’s hosted execution backend. It does not run on your browser or in your laptop’s current folder.

Illustrative: these read-only shell commands need a running Computer and an admitted Shed terminal. They do not start an Agent or a model request.

TERMINAL

pwd
ls

Shed shows connection failures and lets you retry. An empty process list is different from a failed or unavailable process read.

Processes and port previews

The Processes panel lists retained commands reported by the selected Computer. Refresh it to check current state. Stop a running process with its Stop action. A process whose state is uncertain needs a fresh check before you assume it is running or finished.

For a web server, enter its listening port in Exposed ports and choose Expose. Exposing a port does not start a server. Port previews require deployment support as well as permission. Shed reports when previews are not configured instead of presenting an empty list as a working connection.

The terminal and Computer control ports are reserved. Use an application port, and remove its exposure when you no longer need it. A preview does not make your whole Computer or filesystem public.

Sleep and recovery

Hosted execution starts on demand and can sleep when idle. Saved Computer files and running processes have different lifetimes. A process does not survive sleep. Check the process list and restart a needed server after waking the Computer. Keep your own backup or version-controlled copy of important work.

If an operation fails, check the selected Computer, App permissions and the connection before retrying. Inspect partial output or changed files before repeating a command with side effects. Buying credit and granting App access are separate steps. See billing.

You can also attach a local folder. Files sync both ways, and eligible commands can run on your machine while it is connected. Shed’s terminal, process list and port previews still use a hosted backend.