Interface Overview
AeroFTP uses a dual-pane file manager layout with an integrated development toolkit, a VS Code-style titlebar, and extensive keyboard-driven navigation. This page provides a detailed tour of every area of the interface.
Titlebar and Menus
The titlebar replaces the native window decoration with a custom VS Code-style design. It contains four dropdown menus that open on click and switch on hover:
| Menu | Key Items |
|---|---|
| File | New Connection, Save Connection, Import/Export Servers, AeroVault, AeroSync, Settings, Quit |
| Edit | Cut, Copy, Paste (file clipboard operations, selection-aware), Batch Rename, Find |
| View | AeroTools toggle, AeroFile mode, Theme selector, Places Sidebar toggle |
| Help | About, Support dialog, Providers & Integrations matrix, Check for Updates |
To the right of the menus you will find:
- AeroFile toggle: Switches to local-only file manager mode (no remote panel)
- Settings gear: Opens the Settings dialog
- Theme toggle: Cycles through Light, Dark, Tokyo Night, and Cyber themes
- Window controls: Minimize, maximize, and close buttons
Dual-Pane File Manager
The core workspace is divided into two resizable panels separated by a draggable divider.
Left Panel (Local)
Displays your local filesystem. Features include:
- Tabbed browsing: Up to 12 local path tabs, each pointing to a different directory. Drag tabs to reorder them. Middle-click a tab to close it.
- Breadcrumb navigation: Click any segment of the path to jump to that directory
- Column sorting: Click any column header (Name, Size, Date Modified, Type, Permissions) to sort ascending or descending
- Inline rename: Press
F2or click on an already-selected filename to rename it in place
Right Panel (Remote)
Displays the remote server or cloud provider's filesystem. Appears after establishing a connection. Supports the same column layout, sorting, and breadcrumb navigation as the local panel.
AeroFile mode: Toggle from the View menu to hide the remote panel entirely and use AeroFTP as a standalone local file manager with all its features (tags, preview, compression, encryption).
Session Tabs
When connected to multiple servers simultaneously, each connection appears as a session tab above the remote panel. The active tab is highlighted; inactive tabs show the server name and protocol icon.
- Right-click a tab to access: Close Tab, Close Other Tabs, Close All Tabs
- Middle-click a tab to close it immediately
- Each tab maintains its own remote path state independently
Places Sidebar
The left sidebar provides quick navigation organized into collapsible sections:
| Section | Description |
|---|---|
| Bookmarks | Pinned directories: Home, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and custom bookmarks |
| Devices | Mounted drives and unmounted partitions (auto-detected via lsblk). Click an unmounted partition to mount it via udisksctl. EFI and swap partitions are filtered out. |
| Network | GVFS network shares (SMB, SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, NFS, AFP) detected from /run/user/<uid>/gvfs/. Each share shows a Globe icon and can be ejected via the eject button. |
| Recent Locations | Recently visited directories. Hover over an entry to reveal an X button for individual removal. A Clear All option is also available. |
| Tags | Seven color-coded file labels (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Gray). Click any tag to filter the file list to show only files with that label. File counts appear next to each tag. |
File List and Columns
Both panels display files in a table with these columns:
| Column | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | File/folder name with type-appropriate icon. AeroVault containers show a shield icon. |
| Size | Human-readable file size (KB, MB, GB). Blank for directories. |
| Modified | Last modification date, formatted with Intl.DateTimeFormat for your locale |
| Type | File extension or MIME category. Responsive -- hidden on narrow viewports. |
| Permissions | Unix permission string (e.g., rwxr-xr-x). Responsive -- hidden below xl breakpoint. |
All columns are sortable by clicking the header. The current sort direction is indicated by an arrow icon.
Context Menus
Right-click any file or folder to open a comprehensive context menu with operations relevant to the selection and current protocol:
- File operations: Open, Rename (F2), Delete, Move, Copy, Cut/Paste
- Transfer: Upload or Download (depending on which panel)
- Compression: Create ZIP, 7z, TAR, GZ, XZ, or BZ2 archives. Password-protected ZIP and 7z supported.
- Encryption: Encrypt files or folders into AeroVault containers
- Tags: Assign color labels from a submenu of 7 preset colors, or clear all tags
- Cloud-specific: Star/unstar (Google Drive), Tags (Box/Dropbox), Labels (Zoho WorkDrive), Trash management
- AI: "Ask AeroAgent" sends the selected file's context to the AI assistant for analysis
Status Bar
The bottom bar displays real-time connection and application state:
- Protocol badge: Shows the active protocol (FTP, SFTP, S3, Google Drive, etc.)
- Host information: Server hostname and port
- Remote path: Current directory path on the remote server
- Storage quota: Used/total storage when supported by the provider (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox)
- AI status widget: Compact indicator showing AeroAgent state -- Ready, Thinking, Running tool, or Error
AeroTools Panel
Toggle AeroTools from the View menu, the titlebar button, or Ctrl+Shift+E. A resizable bottom panel slides up with three tabs:
| Tab | Description |
|---|---|
| Code Editor | Monaco-based editor with syntax highlighting for 50+ languages, Cyber theme support, and "Ask AeroAgent" integration (Ctrl+Shift+A) |
| Terminal | Integrated PTY terminal (xterm.js) with theme-synced colors. Supports full interactive shell sessions. |
| AeroAgent | AI chat assistant with 47 tools for file management, code analysis, shell execution, archive operations, and server management across all 22 protocols |
Command Palette
Press Ctrl+Shift+P to open the Command Palette -- a VS Code-style quick-access overlay with approximately 25 commands organized into five categories. Type to filter, use arrow keys to navigate, and press Enter to execute.
Themes
AeroFTP ships with four carefully designed themes. Cycle through them with the theme toggle button in the titlebar, or select a specific theme from View > Theme.
| Theme | Description |
|---|---|
| Light | Clean white background with blue accents. Ideal for bright environments. |
| Dark | Dark gray background with blue accents. Default theme. |
| Tokyo Night | Deep blue-purple palette inspired by the popular editor theme. |
| Cyber | Black background with neon green accents. Unlocks the Security Toolkit (Hash Forge, CryptoLab, Password Forge). |
Keyboard Shortcuts Reference
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+Shift+P | Command Palette |
Ctrl+Shift+N | New connection |
Ctrl+Shift+E | Toggle AeroTools panel |
Ctrl+Shift+A | Ask AeroAgent (from Monaco editor) |
Ctrl+L | Focus path bar |
Ctrl+F | Search in AeroAgent chat |
F2 | Rename selected file inline |
F5 | Refresh file listing |
V | Cycle AeroPlayer visualizer modes (when player is active) |
Next step: Learn about the protocols AeroFTP supports, or dive into features like AeroSync, AeroVault, and AeroAgent.