# Files

The **files** panel slides out beside the terminal and shows the remote
directory your shell is sitting in. Open it with **⌘⇧E** or the folder glyph
in the session's top bar. On iPhone it rises as a half-height sheet instead,
with the terminal staying live behind it.

File operations always run over a dedicated, lazily-opened SSH+SFTP **bridge**
per host — never the terminal transport — so the panel works identically for
ssh and mosh sessions. The bridge closes itself when idle.

## Following your shell

The panel follows the shell's current directory. The precise signal is OSC 7
escape sequences; underneath sits a no-setup fallback that finds your newest
shell on the host and reads its working directory.

If your shell doesn't emit OSC 7, the panel can offer **Enable follow —
install shell integration**, which installs `~/.config/tessera/osc7.sh` on the
server and hooks it into `.zshrc` / `.bashrc` (marked with `# TESSERA-OSC7`).
It takes effect on the next shell login — run `exec $SHELL` or reconnect.

Over mosh, a stock `mosh-server` strips OSC 7 entirely, so following there
always relies on the fallback — Tessera doesn't offer the shell-integration
install where it wouldn't change anything.

You can also turn following off per panel and browse freely.

![The files panel open beside a terminal, its breadcrumb reading ~/projects/nebula to match the shell, listing folders and files with sizes over SFTP.](https://bambouville.com/docs/assets/img/files-panel.png)

*The panel tracking the shell's directory. The link icon in the breadcrumb shows follow is active.*


## Browsing

The panel's breadcrumb bar shows the current path with a follow toggle.
Actions:

- **upload here**, **new folder**,
- hidden-file toggle, sort, refresh,
- **filter this directory**,
- **open by path** with tab-completion suggestions,
- a recents list.

Each file's context menu offers **Quick Look** (downloads to preview —
Markdown files render as formatted documents), **Download**, **Share…** (the
iOS share sheet), and **Send Path to Terminal**. A Quick Look preview opens
as a popup by default; the arrows button in its top bar switches it to
full screen and back, and Tessera remembers which you prefer.
Transfers show up in a progress strip, and errors are explicit — for example:
"This host's key isn't trusted yet. Open a terminal session to it first to
review the key, then retry." (see
[host key verification](https://bambouville.com/docs/host-keys/#first-connection)).

## Uploading

Three ways in:

- **Upload here** in the panel.
- **Drag and drop** a file onto the terminal (iPad — iOS has no inter-app
  drag) — it's uploaded and its remote path is typed for you.
- **Share into Tessera** from other apps — images through the iOS share
  sheet, other file types through "open in Tessera". The *Upload to host*
  sheet picks the host and a
  destination — **session cwd** or **temp folder** (`~/.cache/tessera`) — with
  a **Paste path into active session** toggle. Hosts that aren't connected are
  marked "connect on upload…" — the **Connect & upload** button connects
  first, then uploads.

The paste-path flow is built for agent workflows: paste or share a screenshot
and Claude Code / Codex pick the file up from the typed path.

Tessera also appears under "On My iPad" / "On My iPhone" in the Files app, so
downloads are easy to reach from other apps.

## Housekeeping

Under **settings → files**:

- **temp file cleanup** — a reaper deletes `paste-*` files in the temp folder
  on connect: off, 1 day, 7 days (default), or 30 days.
- **default upload destination** — session cwd or temp folder, remembered per
  host.