Workbench

Workbench is the dev tool panel integrated to the right of the Yeaft chat surface — terminal, file browser, Git, port proxy, all running on the Agent machine, without you opening SSH or VS Code.

Use case: "I'm discussing code with Claude and want to glance at output / tweak a file / run a test inline."

Open Workbench

• The Workbench icon in the sidebar header (panel layout icon)
• Also present in the collapsed sidebar
• Opens the Workbench panel on the right of the chat area
• Maximize — fill all space except the sidebar
• Collapse — minimize to an edge
• Drag the left resize handle to change width

Which Workbench tabs (terminal / files / git / proxy) are available depends on the Agent's capabilities (terminal, file_editor, etc.). Unsupported tabs don't render.

Terminal

Full terminal emulator (xterm.js + PTY) connected to the Agent machine:

• Split — header buttons ─ (horizontal) / │ (vertical), run multiple terminals at once
• Close panel — × on the active panel
• Auto-spawn — Agent's bash tool calls automatically create a terminal panel for output
• Click a panel to make it active (highlighted border)
• Fonts / colors follow theme
• Full terminal feature set: vim, tmux, htop all work

Files

VS Code-style file browser + editor.

File tree (left)

• Hierarchical, expandable / collapsible
• Type-aware file / folder icons
• Search — top input filters by name
• Ctrl+P — quick open file search (fuzzy)
• + New file / New folder — toolbar buttons
• 🗑 Delete / ➡ Move — action toolbar after selection
• ↻ Refresh — reload the tree
• ▼ Collapse all — fold every expanded directory
• 📂 Open folder — change root via folder picker
• Drag-drop upload — drag files from desktop onto the tree

Editor (right, CodeMirror)

• Multiple tabs — multiple files open at once
• Syntax highlighting — all mainstream languages
• Find / replace — Ctrl+F / Ctrl+H
• Ctrl+S to save (writes to the Agent machine)
• Office docs — doc/docx/xls/xlsx/ppt with optional local preview or Office Online (configured in Settings)
• Image preview — png/jpg/gif/webp render inline
• PDF preview — embedded renderer

Font size — Ctrl+Wheel resizes the file-tree font.

Git

Visual git status viewer:

• Branch display — current branch + ↑N behind / ↓N ahead commits
• Push — push pending commits
• Pull — pull from remote
• Fetch — fetch only, no merge
• File list:
  • Staged changes
  • Unstaged changes
  • Untracked files
  • Per-row status markers (M / A / D / R / ?)
• Diff viewer — side-by-side or unified
• Stage / unstage — single file or all
• Commit — write a commit message + commit
• Branch switch — dropdown to switch / create branches
• Working directory — folder picker to choose the repo

Not supported: visual merge conflict resolution (use the terminal), interactive rebase.

Port Proxy

Expose Agent-machine local services through the browser:

• + Add port — Agent, host, port, optional label
• Toggle — enable / disable rules
• 🌐 Open in browser — new tab to the proxy URL
• 📋 Copy URL

Typical uses:

• npm run dev on the Agent (:3000) → add proxy → browse
• Jupyter on the Agent (:8888) → proxy → browse
• Remote DB management UIs

Port Proxy also exists under Settings → Proxy with shared data.

Working with chat

Workbench complements chat, not replaces it:

• AI writes files → open Files to inspect / tweak
• AI runs commands → terminal panel auto-spawns
• AI changes git state → Git tab refreshes
• AI starts a service → add a Port Proxy to access directly

Performance notes

• Opening lots of large files, many long-running terminals, multiple dev server proxies — browser slows
• Close unused tabs / panels for instant relief
• Files editor on huge files (>10MB) gets laggy; use terminal instead

Troubleshooting

Some Workbench tabs missing

• Agent doesn't support that capability — upgrade Agent or check startup logs

Terminal won't open / stuck loading

• Agent-side PTY startup failed — check yeaft-agent logs
• Often node-pty is missing; reinstall Agent

Files editor save fails

• Agent-side permission issue — confirm the Agent user can write that path

Port Proxy won't connect

• Target port isn't actually listening on the Agent — verify the service is up
• Agent firewall blocking — check server / Agent error logs