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Open files and folders in other apps

When you want to continue in your own tools, DataMind Oda can hand a chat's folder or a file to an app on your computer, such as an editor, a terminal, a Git tool or your file manager. The controls sit in the chat header, in a file's preview in the side panel, and on files Oda delivered or changed. The file stays where it is: Oda starts the app on the computer that holds the file and hands it the file's location, and nothing is copied into the chat.

Note

These actions need a desktop Oda can reach on the computer that runs it. When you reach Oda from another computer, they are not offered, and files can still be previewed inside Oda (Preview files in Oda).

Open the chat's folder in an app

Open the chat (Chat with Oda) whose folder you want to work in.
In the chat header, choose Open In.... It opens the chat's workspace folder in the app it shows; pointing at the button names that app, for example Open in Cursor. An editor opens the folder, a terminal starts inside it, and a file manager shows it.
To use a different app, open the arrow beside the button and pick one from the list; the arrow is labelled More ways to open.

Oda lists the apps it found installed and marks the one it would use, for example Cursor (default). It remembers the app you pick and opens it from then on; before your first pick it uses the first app in the list. That mark is Oda's own choice, not your computer's default application.
Oda keeps one remembered app for every chat; there is no per-chat choice.
If the app Oda remembers is gone from the computer, it falls back to the first app it can offer.
The control appears only when Oda found at least one app it can open the folder in and the chat has a workspace folder. If Oda found only one app, there is no list: the button opens that app directly.
While Oda opens the folder the button is disabled, and repeated clicks do nothing. Escape closes the list without opening anything.
A folder's list offers apps only: there is no Show file location entry for a folder.
Apps started this way get a cleaned-up environment: credentials held by Oda are not passed to them.

Where the file controls appear

In a file's preview in the side panel, where the open control sits in the preview header; Browse workspace files covers the folder tree and Preview workspace files the preview tabs.
On a delivered file's card and on the files in a turn's change review: Open, the app list and Show file location. The card and the review report their own progress and failure notes for these actions; Delivered files covers the delivery cards, and Review changed files the review itself.
Files Oda makes from company data carry the same choices; Company data, documents and reports covers creating them.
On a file Oda cannot preview, the same control carries the text Open, or Show file location when revealing is the default action.

Open a file from a chat step

Find the file's path on the step, for example on a Read, Edit or Write step.
Click the path. The file opens in a preview in the side panel, beside the chat.

A read's link opens the file at the line Oda was looking at, so you land where Oda was reading. Reading files and images covers what a read step shows.
An edit or a write opens the file with the change, so you can check what Oda changed.
Clicking the path does not expand the step; click the step itself to expand it.
Where the step cannot open the file, the path stays plain text.

Open or reveal a file

Open the file's preview in the side panel, or use the open control where the file appears, such as a delivery card.
Choose Open to start the file in the app your computer uses for that file type. Pointing at the control names the app it will use.
Choose More ways to open to pick another app from the list. That pick applies to this one action; it does not change what Open uses next time.
Choose Show file location to reveal the file in your file manager.

Choice	What happens
Open	The file starts in the app your computer uses for its type. It follows your computer's file associations, including for HTML and SVG.
More ways to open	Oda offers the apps your computer has registered for the file's type; picking one opens the file in it this time.
Open as text	The file goes to a text editing action instead of the app for its type.
Show file location	Your file manager reveals where the file is; the file is not opened.

Oda never changes your computer's default apps.
When Oda cannot identify an app for the file type, the footer row reads Show file location (default) and the main button reveals the file instead.
When only one action fits the file, the control is a single button with no list.
Until Oda has read the list of apps, the control shows a grey placeholder icon and stays disabled. When that read fails, the menu shows a disabled Could not load applications row and keeps Show file location as the default. Open the list again to have Oda read it once more.
Oda checks that it can reach the file before starting anything; a file it cannot verify fails without starting an app.
While the app is starting, the control is not available, and choosing it again changes nothing.

The app list for a file

Oda builds the More ways to open list from your computer's own records for the file's type:

Each registered application appears with the name and icon your computer gives it, and the application your computer would use by default is marked on its row, for example Cursor (default).
Apps the system marks as hidden, and entries with no name, are left out. When Oda cannot read an app's icon, the app is still listed, without an icon.
Show file location sits in a footer row below the apps.
The list belongs to the file's type, so two files can offer different apps. A file type with no registered app leaves the list empty; you can still reveal the file.
On macOS, when an app is installed more than once under the same identity, its copies appear as one entry: the copy your system uses by default, or the highest version. Every installed copy still opens the file; only the list is simplified. Deliberately separate copies keep their own entries.

Oda checks the app against the file again just before it starts it. An app that no longer handles the file is refused, with Application is not registered for this file, instead of opening the wrong thing, and nothing is started.

Open a file as text

Open as text hands a file to a text editing action instead of the app for its type. Open configuration file in Settings is one example; Developer settings covers it.

On macOS, the file opens in your text editor, whatever the file's type would normally open in.
On Windows, the file opens through the app your computer registers for its type, and in the built-in text editor when no app is registered, so the action never stops at an app chooser.
On Linux, the file opens in the app your desktop associates with it.

How a file is revealed

Show file location asks your file manager to reveal the file. The row reads Show file location on every platform, rather than naming Finder or File Explorer.

On macOS, Finder opens with the file selected.
On Windows, File Explorer opens in front with the file selected. Oda starts it visible on purpose, because a hidden start would select the file in a window you cannot see.
On Linux, the folder that holds the file opens.

Inside Windows Subsystem for Linux

When a file sits inside Windows Subsystem for Linux and the desktop is Windows, Oda translates the file's path to its Windows form before anything is handed over. Opening, opening as text and revealing all use the translated path. When the path cannot be translated, the hand-off stops before anything opens, and the failure names wslpath returned no Windows path.

Which apps can appear in Open In...

Oda offers a fixed set of apps, and from that set the ones it found on this computer:

Kind	Apps
File managers	Finder, File Explorer, Files
Editors and IDEs	Cursor, VS Code, VS Code Insiders, Windsurf, Zed, Sublime Text, Xcode, Android Studio, IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, PhpStorm, GoLand, Rider, RustRover
Git tools	Fork, Sourcetree, GitHub Desktop, Tower, GitKraken, SmartGit, Sublime Merge
Terminals	Ghostty, Warp, iTerm2, kitty, Terminal, Windows Terminal, Git Bash, GNOME Terminal, Konsole

Oda works out the list when it starts. Where it looks depends on your computer: macOS checks the standard application folders, Windows reads its registered install locations, and Linux lists apps with a registered desktop entry. An app installed outside those places can be missed.
Install a new app while Oda is running and it will not appear yet: restart Oda, and reload the page if you work in a browser.
Oda takes each app's icon from the computer. When it cannot read one it shows a plain glyph; on a high-resolution display a Windows icon can look soft.
The set cannot be extended with your own apps: only the apps above can appear.

When an app will not open

Oda checks before it starts anything, so a hand-off it cannot make fails without opening or launching anything, and you can try again.

Message	What it means	What to do
`Could not open. Try again.`	The launch failed. The failure does not change the app Oda remembers.	Try again, or pick another app from More ways to open.
`Could not show the file location. Try again.`	Oda could not ask your file manager to show the file.	Try again.
`Could not load applications`	Oda could not read the apps for that file.	Open the menu again; Show file location keeps working.
`Application is not registered for this file`	The app no longer handles this file's type, usually because it was removed or changed, so Oda refuses it rather than opening the wrong thing.	Pick another app from the list, or show the file's location.
`wslpath returned no Windows path`	The file is inside Windows Subsystem for Linux and no Windows path could be worked out. Nothing was handed to Windows.	Open the file from the Windows side instead.
`native path opener is unsupported on <platform>`	The computer offers Oda no way to open files through its desktop, so the app list comes back empty and nothing is launched.	Work with the file inside Oda, for example in the side panel.
`native file manager is unsupported on <platform>`	No file manager could be reached to reveal the file.	Use Oda's own preview instead.

For Open In..., one of these reasons sits behind Could not open. Try again.:

Reason	What it means and what to do
`unknown or unavailable app: <app>`	The app has left the list, usually because it was removed or moved. Reopen the list and pick another app.
`path must be an absolute directory path`	The chat's workspace folder cannot be used as it is: it is not a full path to a folder that exists. Choose the folder again; see Choose a workspace folder.
`failed to launch <id>`	The app was found but did not start. Open it yourself once to check it, and if it needs reinstalling, install it and restart Oda.

File addresses explains how Oda names the locations it can reach.

Questions, answered

Why is Open In... missing from my chat?

Oda shows it only when it found at least one app it can open the folder in and the chat has a workspace folder; a chat without a folder yet, or a computer without any of the listed apps, shows no button. It also stays hidden when you reach Oda over SSH from another computer, where the application list is empty, including for a choice you made earlier. Add, rename or delete a workspace covers the folder.

What is the difference between Open and Open In...?

Open starts the file you are looking at in the app your computer uses for its type. Open In... sits in the chat header and opens the chat's whole workspace folder in the app Oda remembered, or one you pick; it never opens a single file.

Why is my editor not in the list?

Open In... offers only the apps in its fixed set, and from that set only the ones it finds on this computer. If you installed your editor recently, restart Oda; if you work in a browser, reload the page. On macOS, Oda looks in the standard application locations, so an app kept elsewhere may not appear. The list on a file is different: it shows the apps your computer has registered for that file's type.

Can I add my own app to the list?

No. Oda's set is fixed and ships with the app; only its entries can appear, and only when Oda finds them on the computer.

The button keeps opening the same app. How do I change it?

Pick another app from the list once; Oda remembers that choice and opens it from then on, in every chat. The list marks the app in use, for example Cursor (default): that mark is Oda's own choice, not your computer's default application. If the remembered app is gone from the computer, Oda falls back to the first app it can offer.

Will Oda remember the app I picked for a file?

No. A pick from a file's More ways to open list applies to that one action and does not change your computer's default app or what Open uses next time. The Open In... control in the chat header is the one that remembers a choice, for the chat's folder.

What does Show file location (default) mean?

Oda could not identify an app for that file's type, so revealing the file became the default action: the row is marked Show file location (default), and the main button reveals the file instead of opening it.

Why does the same app appear once when I have two copies of it?

On macOS, when the same app is installed in more than one place, the list shows a single entry for it: the copy your system uses by default, or the highest version. The other copies still open the file; only the list is simplified.

Why did the file manager open in front of other windows?

On Windows this is on purpose: Show file location opens File Explorer in front so you actually see the file selected, instead of a window opened behind everything. The file is only selected there; it is not opened.

Where does a file open when I click its path on a step?

In a preview in the side panel, beside the chat: a read's path lands at the line Oda was looking at, and an edit or write opens with the change. Clicking the path does not expand the step.

Why is there no Open button on my file?

The file open and reveal controls appear only when Oda runs on your computer with a desktop it can reach. When you reach Oda from another computer, they stay hidden; you can still preview the file in the side panel.

What if my computer has no desktop?

Oda then offers no way to open or reveal files: the app list comes back empty, nothing is launched, and a refusal names native path opener is unsupported on <platform> or native file manager is unsupported on <platform>. Files can still be previewed inside Oda.