File Browser Agent

A Windows desktop app (Electron) that works like a file browser, with a chat panel in the style of Claude Code. The chat is connected as an agent to your file system and automatically receives the selected file or folder as context.

The agent can read, list, and inspect files (and write them — with your approval). It also supports Agent Skills: SKILL.md folders that are loaded at runtime to extend what the agent can do.

The full product spec, IPC channels, and tools are documented in SPEC.md.

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Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• Windows (the app is built around Windows drives, safeStorage, and Explorer)
• An Anthropic API key (enter it in the app, or via .env — see below)

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Install & Run

# 1. Install dependencies
npm i

# 2. Finish installing the Electron binary
#    Required step — without it the app won't start correctly
node node_modules/electron/install.js

# 3. Run in development mode
npm run dev

⚠️ Don't skip step 2. In this setup npm i doesn't always fully download the Electron binary, and running node node_modules/electron/install.js completes it.

Other scripts:

Command	Description
npm run dev	Run in development mode (HMR)
npm run build	Build the app (electron-vite build)
npm start	Run the build (preview)
npm run typecheck	Type-check both main and renderer

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Skills folder

Skills are stored in your user folder, by default under:

C:\Users\<username>\.file-browser-agent\skills

(for example: C:\Users\user1\.file-browser-agent\skills)

Each skill is a sub-folder containing a SKILL.md file. When you install a skill with the "Add skill" button in the app, it is extracted into this folder.

Make sure this folder exists, or the app won't work. You can create it manually:

mkdir "$env:USERPROFILE\.file-browser-agent\skills"

Changing the folder location

The location is controlled by the FILE_BROWSER_SKILLS_DIR environment variable. To change it, copy .env.example to .env and edit the value:

# Defaults to ~/.file-browser-agent/skills when unset.
FILE_BROWSER_SKILLS_DIR=C:\Users\user1\.file-browser-agent\skills

The .env file is loaded when the Electron main process starts.

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API key

There are two ways to provide the Anthropic API key:

1. In the app — on first launch you'll be prompted to enter a key; it is stored encrypted using Electron safeStorage.
2. Via .env — add ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-... to your .env file.

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Tech stack

• Electron + electron-vite — scaffolding and bundling
• React 19 + TypeScript — renderer UI
• Zustand — state management
• @anthropic-ai/sdk + ai — agent loop and tools
• fflate — extracting skills from zip files

Project structure:

src/
├─ main/        ← Main process (Node): IPC, fs-service, agent, secrets, skills
├─ preload/     ← contextBridge: exposes a small window.api to the renderer
└─ renderer/    ← React app (chat, browser, tree)