Pick the folder a tab works in

Agents: claude, codex, opencode · On: phone, desktop

The folder box in the new-thread form is a typeable list of your repos that also completes any path on the machine. What you pick is the directory the agent runs in.

Why you would use it

Every tab is rooted in one directory: the agent starts there, the file explorer shows it, shell mode opens there, and the resume list scans it. On a phone you cannot type /home/you/git/some-repo comfortably, so the box ranks your repos by a few letters and completes real paths from the disk when you type one.

How to use it

Tap the folder box (.new-cwd) in the new-thread card (#newthread) or in the Threads sheet's NEW THREAD section.
Type a few letters of the repo's name. The menu (.new-cwd-menu) narrows as you type.

Three letters typed in the folder box; the menu is down to two repos and the top one is marked. 3. Tap the row you want, or press Enter to take the top row and start the thread at once. 4. To browse instead of typing, tap the chevron at the right of the box (.cwdchev) to show the whole list. 5. To use a folder that is not a repo under ~/git, type a path — anything starting with /, ~ or ., or containing a /. The box asks the server for the children of that directory and lists them.

A path typed in the box; the menu lists the directories on disk that start with it.

What you see

The box is empty-placeholdered folder and seeded with the current tab's folder as a ~-short label. The row of the folder you already have is marked. Once you start typing a filter, the top row is marked instead — that is the row Enter and Start thread take.

Each row shows the folder's ~-short label and, for a repo, its current branch on the right. A folder found by path completion that is not a repo shows no branch.

The list of repos is re-read from the server every time the card opens, so a worktree you created a minute ago is there.

In the VCode app the list and the path completion are the picked box's: the box pick (.new-box) comes first in the row, and picking another box refills an untouched folder box with that box's folder and re-reads its list. A folder you typed stays, and belongs to the box picked while you typed it: Start on another box refuses it with that folder is on <box>, not <box>: pick it again. See work-on-several-boxes.

Options and settings

Option	Default	What it changes
typed text	empty	Under ~ the whole word is a filter over the known repos; a path-shaped text (`/`, `~`, `.` or containing `/`) also completes against the disk
completion debounce	150 ms after the last keystroke (`COMPLETE_DEBOUNCE_MS` in `public/app.js`)	How long typing pauses before the disk is read
completion limit	40 entries	How many children of a directory come back

Limits and known gaps

The repo list is the directories directly under ~/git that are git repositories, plus ~/git itself. A box with no ~/git lists its home folder and the repos directly in it, and new threads start there. Nothing else is listed until you type a path.
Path completion lists directories and symlinks to directories only. Dotted names stay hidden until what you typed starts with a dot.
A directory that is missing or unreadable gives an empty menu, not an error.
A typed path only gives way to a known folder it is the start of, so a new directory is never swapped for a repo whose letters happen to scatter through what you typed.
Some iOS builds ignore the select-all on focus; the box still works, it just keeps the caret where you tapped.