Coding Workspace (IDE Mode)

Mercury offers two ways to work on a repository: a CLI workspace (terminal-based IDE with keyboard navigation) and a Web Workspace IDE (full graphical editor in the browser). Both share the same backend tools and Git operations.

Web Workspace IDE

Open http://127.0.0.1:6174/workspace in the dashboard to launch the browser-based editor.

Folder picker

Click Change Folder at the top to pick the repository you want to work on. The path is persisted to web-chat-settings.json in your Mercury home directory, so the workspace remembers it across restarts.

File Explorer (left)

• A collapsible tree of the current workspace folder.
• Click a folder to expand/collapse; click a file to open it in a new tab.
• The refresh icon rescans the tree.
• The left panel is resizable — drag the right edge to grow or shrink it.

Editor (center)

• Multi-tab — every file you open becomes a tab. A dot next to the filename means unsaved changes.
• Syntax highlighting for TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Rust, Go, Ruby, Swift, Java, C/C++, JSON, YAML, Markdown, and more (powered by react-syntax-highlighter).
• Editable overlay — click anywhere in the code to start editing. Cmd/Ctrl+S saves the active file.
• The bottom info bar shows the file path, language, and a Save button for dirty files.

Bottom panel — Terminal + Chat

• Terminal tab — runs shell commands in the workspace root using /api/terminal/exec. Includes command history (↑/↓ to recall).
• Chat tab — a focused conversation thread scoped to this workspace. The agent sees the open file and can apply edits directly.
• Maximize / Minimize — click the Maximize icon in the top-right of the panel header to expand the bottom panel to fill the whole workspace area. Click again to restore.
• The panel is resizable — drag the top border to set its height.

Source Control panel (right)

The Git panel mirrors the most useful parts of VS Code's Source Control view.

• Pull, Push, Refresh icons across the top.
  • The refresh icon spins while it loads and shows a brief Refreshed confirmation.
• Status — staged and unstaged files are listed separately. Hover a file to stage / unstage it. Click to view a unified diff.
• Branches — see the current branch and switch to another (with optional create to make a new branch).
• Commit log — the last 15 commits with author and message.
• Commit message box with two helpers:
  • The sparkle icon runs AI Commit Message Generation (POST /api/git/generate-commit-message). Mercury auto-stages any unstaged changes first, then asks the configured default provider to draft a conventional-commit message from the diff. The generated message is inserted into the box for you to review or edit before committing.
  • Commit button — commits the staged files with the message.
• The right panel's resizer sits on its left edge — drag it left to grow the panel, right to shrink.

Resizable layout

All three panels (Explorer, Bottom, Source Control) are independently resizable. Drag the divider between any two panels to adjust.

CLI Workspace Mode

If you prefer staying in the terminal, Mercury includes a CLI IDE-style workspace mode for repository-focused coding.

Enter Workspace Mode

You can enter workspace mode in multiple ways:

• /code and choose workspace
• /code workspace
• /ws open <path>

Once active, Mercury switches to coding context for that repository. Agent responses appear in the normal scrollable chat view so you can always see full output.

Modes

Use programming modes to control behavior:

• /code plan — analysis/planning first, minimal code changes
• /code execute — implementation mode
• /code off — return to normal conversation behavior

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+P	Plan mode
Ctrl+X	Execute mode
Ctrl+E	Focus explorer pane
Ctrl+G	Focus git pane
Ctrl+J	Toggle right panel between chat and git
Tab	Cycle focus: explorer → code → right panel
Esc	Return to explorer (or exit workspace from explorer)
Ctrl+Q	Exit workspace
Shift+Enter	Insert newline (multi-line input)
Alt+Enter	Insert newline (fallback for terminals that don't distinguish Shift+Enter)

Navigation (when input is empty)

Focus	Keys	Action
Explorer	↑ ↓	Move selection
Explorer	← →	Collapse / expand folder
Explorer	Enter	Open selected file
Code	↑ ↓	Scroll code ±1 line
Code	PgUp PgDn	Scroll code ±15 lines
Code	Ctrl+U Ctrl+D	Scroll code ±10 lines (vim-style)
Chat	↑ ↓	Scroll agent output ±1 line
Chat	PgUp PgDn	Scroll agent output ±10 lines
Chat	Ctrl+U Ctrl+D	Scroll agent output ±8 lines
Git	↑ ↓	Move through changed files
Git	Enter	Stage selected file

Workspace Commands

Command	Description
/ws open <path>	Open a directory in workspace mode
/ws refresh	Refresh file tree + git status
/ws focus <area>	Focus a panel: explorer, code, git, or chat
/ws stage <file|all>	Stage one file or all changes
/ws commit <message>	Commit staged changes
/ws undo <file>	Revert file changes
/ws toggle-chat	Toggle right panel between chat and git
/ws chat-scroll <n>	Scroll agent output by n lines
/ws exit	Exit workspace mode back to general chat

Sub-Agents + Background in Coding

Workspace mode (CLI and web) supports explicit delegation and backgrounding:

• /code agent <task> — delegate coding work to a sub-agent
• /bg current — move active in-flight work to background
• /bg list — inspect all background tasks (shell + sub-agent)
• /bg <id> — view task details/output (IDs use friendly names like swift-fox)
• /bg cancel <id> — cancel running background work
• /bg stop <id> / /bg kill <id> — aliases for cancel
• /bg killall / /bg stopall — cancel all running background tasks

This lets you continue coding/chatting while long operations run asynchronously.

Progress Tracking

During long-running tasks, Mercury shows real-time progress:

• The status bar displays the current tool/action (e.g., ● step 5 · ✂️ Editing App.tsx)
• Heartbeat messages escalate timing (20s → 30s → 45s → 60s) to reduce noise
• Use /progress to see the last 10 completed steps with timing
• Consecutive identical tool calls are collapsed (e.g., "Read 3 files")

Git API endpoints (web)

The Source Control panel calls these endpoints under the hood. They are useful if you want to script against the local instance.

Method	Path	Purpose
GET	/api/git/status	Staged + unstaged file list
GET	/api/git/branches	All branches with current + upstream
POST	/api/git/checkout	Switch branch ({ branch, create? })
GET	/api/git/diff?path=...&staged=...	Unified diff
GET	/api/git/log?limit=15	Commit log
POST	/api/git/stage	Stage files ({ files: [...] } or ["."] for all)
POST	/api/git/unstage	Unstage files
POST	/api/git/commit	Commit ({ message })
POST	/api/git/push	Push ({ remote?, branch?, setUpstream? })
POST	/api/git/pull	Pull from upstream
POST	/api/git/generate-commit-message	AI-generated conventional commit from staged diff