Files and transfers¶

Most operational work comes down to a file: a manifest, a unit file, a config, a log. OpsPilot browses the remote filesystem in the left panel, opens files in an embedded editor in the middle, and keeps the terminal docked underneath, so you can change a file and apply it without leaving the session or switching applications.

Edit a file on a server¶

This walk-through uses an SSH session. The file explorer browses the host over SFTP on the same connection, with nothing extra to configure.

Connect. Open an SSH connection. When it connects, the left panel switches to the Explorer, opened at your home directory on that host (/root for root, /home/<username> for anyone else).
Find the folder. Click a folder to expand it in place, double-click it to go into it, or click the address bar, type a path such as /etc/nginx and press Enter. The up arrow on the toolbar, or Backspace, goes to the parent folder.
Open the file. Double-click it, or right-click it and choose Open in editor. It opens in a tab above the terminal.
Edit and check. Make your change. Click Diff in the status bar to compare your text with the version saved on the host.
Save. Press Ctrl+S, or right-click in the editor and choose Save File. The file is written back over SFTP and OpsPilot confirms with Saved.
Apply it. Run the reload or dry run in the terminal below the editor.

The Explorer on web-01 at /etc/nginx with nginx.conf selected and open in the editor, the terminal docked below, and the editor's status bar with Auto Save, Word Wrap, Minimap and Diff nginx.conf opened from the Explorer at /etc/nginx on web-01. The editor shows where the file lives above its text, the terminal stays docked below, and the status bar at the bottom right holds Auto Save, Word Wrap, Minimap and Diff.

Upload a file¶

In the Explorer, go to the folder the file should land in.
Click the upload button on the toolbar (Upload file here), or right-click in the list and choose Upload here.
Pick the file on your computer. It is uploaded into the folder you are in, with its progress shown at the bottom of the panel.

You can also drag files from your desktop or file manager onto the explorer's list. To download, select a file and click the download button (Download selected file), or right-click it and choose Download; selecting several files asks once for a folder to save them in.

File Explorer and editor¶

The explorer lists the remote filesystem with an editable address bar and sortable Name, Size and Modified columns. The toolbar gives you parent directory, pin this folder, download, upload, delete, refresh, new folder and new file. Right-clicking a file adds Open in editor, Tail log (-f), Cat file, Grep…, Rename, Copy and Paste, Copy name, Copy full path and Send path to terminal. Tail log, Cat file and Grep… type the command into the terminal and run it; Send path to terminal types the path without running anything.

Pinning a folder scopes the explorer to that folder and its contents, which keeps you inside one deployment directory on a busy host.

When you cd in the terminal, the explorer follows. That is resolved locally from the command you typed, using the explorer's current path as the base for a relative path — no extra command is run on the host to find out where you are.

The editor¶

Files open in Monaco — the editor from VS Code — and you edit and save in place over the same SFTP connection. What you get:

Syntax highlighting for a long list of languages, chosen from the file's path and, where the path is not conclusive, from its contents. A language button in the status bar lets you override the choice.
Multiple file tabs, each tracking whether it has unsaved changes.
A minimap, on by default and toggled from the status bar.
Word wrap, off by default and toggled from the status bar or with Alt+Z.
A diff view against the version currently saved on the host: side by side, the saved text on the left and your unsaved text on the right. If the two are identical it tells you so instead of opening.
Auto-save, off by default. When you switch it on, a save fires two seconds after you stop typing.
Indentation and cursor position in the status bar.

Files are saved with Unix line endings. The terminal panel stays docked below the editor throughout, and is resizable. Edit a manifest in the upper half and run the dry run in the lower half.

File Manager¶

The File Manager is the two-pane view: your own computer on the left (Local), the filesystem of a chosen SSH session on the right, with a draggable divider. Open it with File Manager on the toolbar, then drag files across to upload or download. The host picker at the top retargets the right-hand pane at any other open SSH session.

Transfers show per-file progress, and can be cancelled or retried while in flight. Downloading several files at once asks for one destination folder rather than prompting per file. Dragging between the panes transfers files only, not folders.

Transfer history¶

Uploads and downloads are recorded for 15 days, with whether each one finished, and survive restarting the application. The record is held in OpsPilot's own storage on the workstation, capped at 2,000 entries, and it covers the uploads and downloads you start from the explorer's buttons and menus, the File Manager, and FTP and S3 tabs alike. Click History in the File Manager to open it: it filters by host, by direction and by name or path, and Clear history empties it.

FTP and SFTP¶

SFTP is not a separate connection type: it rides the SSH session you already have, which is why the explorer, the editor and the File Manager all work on an SSH connection with nothing extra to configure.

FTP is its own connection type. Its fields are an initial path, a Secure (FTPS — explicit TLS) checkbox, and — only once Secure is ticked — Skip TLS certificate verification, for a server using a self-signed or internal CA certificate. It opens as a tab with two panes rather than a terminal: your own computer on the left and the FTP server on the right, starting at the initial path. Drag files between them to transfer. During the free trial and without a subscription, an FTP tab counts toward the 10 sessions you can have open at once.

Plain FTP is unencrypted

Secure is off by default, which matches the protocol's own default and existing saved connections. With it off, credentials and file contents travel in clear text. Tick Secure (FTPS — explicit TLS) where the server supports it, and prefer SFTP over an SSH connection where you have the choice.

AI and files¶

When the assistant reads a file, the file goes through the same redaction layer as terminal output. In the AI panel's composer, + → Browse remote files opens a small SFTP picker; when you choose a file, the reading and the redaction happen in the main process, and the picker itself never sees the content. A .env file read by the AI arrives with its secrets already stripped.

There is one path from file content to AI context and it passes through the redactor. The Data Handling profile that applies is the one resolved for that connection — connection, then group, then Default.

An attachment is capped at 40,000 characters. Past that it is truncated, and the model is told that it was. Attaching a file from your own computer with + → Upload from computer has no connection context to resolve against, so it always uses the Default Data Handling profile; tighten that profile if your local attachments need stricter treatment.