The folder tree is the primary navigation surface in ThinkForge. It appears as a sidebar panel showing project content organized into collapsible sections — physical files and folders, workspaces, pinned items, shortcuts, recents, tags, tools, automations, Smart Clipboard, and trash.
The same tree is used everywhere it appears: Project Navigator, Floating Navigator, the Dashboard and Agents page sidebars, and the Chrome extension side panel. Hosts choose which sections are visible, but the behavior is identical.
Sections
The tree organizes content into ten collapsible sections, each with a header that can be expanded or collapsed independently. The default order is:
Smart Clipboard — Items captured from the system clipboard. Accepts external file and text drops. Includes a Clear button. See Smart Clipboard for how items are captured and managed.
Workspaces — Named working contexts within the project. The header shows the workspace count. A + button creates a new workspace. Clicking a workspace activates it.
Pinned — Documents and folders you have explicitly pinned. Pinned items appear regardless of which folder is selected in the content area.
Shortcuts — Quick-access references to documents, folders, or tags. Shortcuts can be scoped to the current project or shown across all projects using an All / Project toggle on the section header. The default scope is All. Shortcuts can also be placed inside physical folders, where they appear inline with the folder's files.
Recents — Recently accessed documents, up to 20 items. Like shortcuts, recents have an All / Project scope toggle, defaulting to Project. Items from other projects show a [ProjectName] badge. The context menu on recent items includes Remove from Recents, Clear This Project's Recents, and Clear All Recents. This section reads the same history as Power Strip, Files, Overview, the main-window quick menu, Mobile Dashboard, and Clusters recency scoring.
Selecting a file in the folder tree counts as recent use, including the single-click preview path; opening it also counts. Recents update on their own — the toolbar Refresh action is not required.
Tags — A hierarchical tree of document tags. System-generated tags are filtered out, showing only tags you created. Clicking a tag filters the content area to documents carrying it.
Folders — The physical file and folder structure of the project on disk, enumerated recursively. Hidden folders (starting with .), bin, obj, node_modules, and dist are excluded. The _captured folder has special handling described below.
Tool Library — Agent tools organized into folders you create. The section header has a New Folder action and a Refresh button.
Automations — Deployed automation scripts from the current project's .fire/automations folder.
Trash — Files and folders deleted from the active project, newest first. Rows do not open on click. Restore, Reveal in Explorer, Delete Permanently, and Empty Trash are available from the right-click menu.
Section expand and collapse state is saved per folder. Custom filter tabs can limit which sections are visible.
View Styles
The tree supports three visual styles, cycled by a toolbar button:
Classic — The default. Flat rows with no card borders or backgrounds, tight spacing, and the smallest text. No drag handles or hover action buttons. The most compact view.
Compact — Bordered section cards with tighter padding and single-line rows. Shows heatmap accent bars but no drag handles or hover buttons.
Modern — Full card treatment with rounded borders and card backgrounds. Two-line file rows showing name plus size and extension. Shows drag handles, hover action buttons, and heatmap accent bars. The richest visual mode.
The active view style is saved and restored on next launch.
Toolbar
The toolbar sits above the tree and provides:
Project dropdown — Switch the active project. Projects with a group assignment show as Group > Name. Switching projects reloads the entire tree.
Quick View button ("...") — Opens a flyout to browse another project's tree without switching the active project. The current project is marked with a checkmark. Related projects in the same group are listed first, then other projects. The currently viewed project shows a dot indicator. Selecting a different project reloads the tree from that project's path while leaving the active project unchanged. Useful for checking files in related projects or following cross-project shortcuts without losing your place.
Root button — Selects the project root folder in the content area.
Refresh button — Rebuilds the tree from disk and the search index.
View mode button — Cycles through Modern, Compact, and Classic styles.
Display settings button — Opens a flyout with heatmap and focus mode controls.
Activity Heatmap
The heatmap visualizes file modification activity as colored bars along the right edge of tree rows. Files modified within the selected time window get a score based on recency, normalized against the most active item in the tree. Folders show the cumulative activity of their contents.
The gradient runs from indigo (low activity) through blue and amber to red (high activity). In Modern and Compact view styles, folders also show a subtle background wash matching their activity score.
Time windows are configurable from the display settings flyout:
- Last 7 days
- Last 30 days (default)
- Last 90 days
- Custom date
The heatmap uses file last-write timestamps from the filesystem, not application access logs. It can be toggled on or off from the settings flyout, and the choice is saved.
Focus Mode
Focus mode dims branches outside the currently selected folder's subtree, reducing visual noise when working in a specific area of the project.
When enabled, selecting a folder sets the focus to that folder's branch. The focused folder, its ancestors, and its descendants stay at full opacity. Everything else drops to 72% opacity. Selecting the same folder again or clicking Clear Current Focus in the settings flyout removes the focus. Turning focus mode off clears focus immediately.
Focus mode is off by default and is enabled from the display settings flyout. The choice is saved.
Selecting and Opening
For files, a plain single click selects the document and shows it in the Project Navigator content area. A double click or explicit Open action creates an editor tab. If a text file exists on disk but has not been indexed yet, the single-click path indexes it first and then selects it. This keeps files copied in from Explorer or created by an external tool consistent with already indexed files.
The tree supports multi-selection across all sections:
Plain click — Clears the current selection and selects only the clicked row.
Ctrl+click — Toggles the clicked row in or out of the current selection without affecting other selected items.
Shift+click — Selects a contiguous range from the last clicked row to the current row, spanning across sections if needed.
Selected rows are highlighted with a background tint and a primary color border. Multi-selection applies to drag-and-drop (all selected items move together), delete operations, and Copy/Move to Project actions. Trash rows can be selected but are excluded from drag payloads and multi-select delete.
Hover Action Buttons
In Modern view style, hovering a row reveals inline action buttons on the right side.
On general folders: New Subfolder and New Document, which creates a Markdown file.
On non-root, non-captured folders: also Rename and Delete.
On the _captured folder, when the Chrome extension is connected: New Forge Doc, Capture Page, and Capture Image.
On files: Pin (toggle) and Clipboard (add to Smart Clipboard).
Compact and Classic view styles do not show hover buttons. All the same actions remain available through right-click context menus.
Context Menus
Right-clicking any item opens a context menu tailored to the item type.
Files
Open, Pin or Unpin, Add to Shortcuts, Reveal in Explorer, Copy, Copy Content for supported text files, Copy Path, Paste, Paste and Rename, Smart Clipboard paste actions, Rename, Delete, Copy to Project, Move to Project, Run Tool, and Create Forge Doc from File when the Chrome extension is connected.
Folders
New Subfolder, New Markdown, Other Document Types, Use for Today's Notes, Paste, Paste and Rename, Smart Clipboard paste actions, Pin, Add to Shortcuts, Copy, Reveal in Explorer, Copy Path, Rename, Delete, Copy to Project, Move to Project, Set Color or Change Color, and Tools.
Tools lists durable Tool placements attached to that project folder and provides Attach Tool... and Manage Folder Tools.... The manager can configure schedules and matching-file-created triggers, pause or resume triggers, and change the watched folder without moving the Tool placement. Selecting a listed Tool runs it with the attached folder as input.
The project root folder has the same menu except Rename, Delete, and Use for Today's Notes are removed. The _captured folder removes New Subfolder, Rename, Delete, and Copy/Move to Project, adds New Forge Doc when the extension is available, and can be selected for Today's Notes.
Workspaces
Open, Rename, Delete, Add to Shortcuts.
Tags
Add to Shortcuts, Run Tool.
Agents
Select Tool, Move to Folder, Archive, Delete.
Agent Folders
New Subfolder, Rename, Delete.
Shortcuts
The full menu of the shortcut's target, plus Place in Folder (puts the shortcut inside the currently selected folder) and Remove from Shortcuts. If the shortcut has already been placed in a folder, Remove from This Folder is also available.
Pinned Items
Delegates to the target's file or folder menu, with Unpin replacing Pin.
Recents
The full file menu plus Remove from Recents, Clear This Project's Recents, and Clear All Recents.
Trash Items
Restore returns the item to its original folder, recreating a missing parent and choosing a unique name rather than overwriting an existing item. Reveal in Explorer opens the stored copy. Delete Permanently removes one entry and Empty Trash clears the project trash; both require confirmation. An entry without readable origin metadata can be purged but cannot be restored.
Smart Clipboard Items
Edit Clipboard Item (opens the Clipboard Composer, when enabled), Open, Open as Note (saves as Markdown in _captured), Copy to System Clipboard, Reveal, Copy Path, Save to selected folder, and Remove.
New Documents and Folders
The folder menu provides New Markdown directly. Other Document Types contains HTML (.html), JSON (.json), CSV (.csv), and plain text (.txt). The hover action continues to create Markdown directly. New files are named "Untitled" with a numeric suffix if needed, and open immediately.
New Subfolder and New Folder open a small dialog with a name field. Enter submits, Escape cancels.
Paste Operations
Paste reads the system clipboard and saves its contents into the target folder. Files, images, and text are all handled.
Paste and Rename does the same, then immediately opens a rename dialog on the created file so you can name it without a second step.
Both folder and file context menus include paste actions. On files, the paste target is the file's parent folder. A Smart Clipboard section also appears, showing recent clipboard items with a Paste All option.
Copy and Move to Project
Files and folders can be copied or moved to other projects. These actions appear in context menus only when other projects exist.
Selecting either action opens a project picker. For copies, files land in the target project's _captured folder. Folders are copied to the project root with a unique name if needed.
For moves, ThinkForge copies first, verifies all copies succeeded, then moves the originals to the system trash. Multi-select is supported — if the right-clicked item is part of a selection, all selected paths transfer.
Drag and Drop
The tree supports internal drag-and-drop for reorganizing files and folders. Dragging a file or folder onto another folder moves it on disk and updates the search index. If the dragged item is part of a multi-selection, all selected items move together.
Drop targets validate the operation: you cannot drop into the _captured folder, and a folder cannot be dropped into its own subtree.
In Modern view, a drag handle appears on rows. A drag ghost with a count badge follows the cursor during multi-item drags.
When the tree is hosted in the Floating Navigator, files can be dragged out to external applications. Smart Clipboard items can also be dragged out as temporary files or text.
Search results support drag-out of file paths for use in other applications. A current-project result dropped on a Mind Map background becomes a generation source; dropping it on a node creates a node attachment. The project file is not moved or copied.
Trash rows are not draggable.
Dragging is disabled while viewing another project through Quick View, since internal moves would resolve against the wrong project. Use Copy/Move to Project for cross-project transfers.
Folder Colors
Folders can be assigned a custom color through Set Color / Change Color in the context menu. The selected color replaces the default folder icon color for that folder throughout the tree. Colors are saved per folder.
Filter Tabs
Above the tree, a tab strip shows two built-in tabs — Folders (the main tree) and Search (the search panel) — plus any filter tabs you create.
The + button creates a new filter tab. Each filter tab selects which sections to display, starting with Recents only. A dropdown on the tab lets you toggle sections on and off. Available sections are Recents, Pinned, Shortcuts, Workspaces, Agents, Automations, Tags, and Smart Clipboard. Folders and Trash cannot be added to filter tabs. At least one section must remain selected.
Right-clicking a filter tab offers Remove. Filter tab definitions are saved with the project.
Search Tab
The Search tab replaces the tree with a dedicated search panel. It combines three search modes that can be toggled independently:
Keyword — Matches against filenames and paths using flexible text matching. Results score 1.0.
Smart — Semantic similarity search. Returns the top 10 hits ranked by similarity, with scores shown as percentages. Scores at or above 70% are highlighted in green.
Tag — Exact tag match, case-insensitive. Results score 1.0.
All three modes are enabled by default. Results are deduplicated and sorted by score descending, capped at 50 results. The minimum query length is 2 characters.
Below the search box, matching tag chips appear as suggestions, up to 12, alphabetically sorted. Clicking a tag chip sets the search text to that tag name, triggering an exact tag search.
Each result row shows the document name, relative path, a mode badge (kw, SK, or tag), and a score percentage for semantic results. Hovering shows a tooltip with a content preview.
Single-clicking a result selects the document. Double-clicking opens it in an editor tab. Right-clicking offers Open, Pin toggle, Add to Smart Clipboard, Reveal in Explorer, and Copy Path. Results can be dragged out as file paths or dropped onto a Mind Map as described above.
The _captured Folder
The _captured folder is a special directory for content captured from external sources — web pages, screenshots, extension captures. It has restricted behavior throughout the tree:
- Files and folders cannot be dropped into it
- It cannot be renamed, deleted, or moved
- New subfolders cannot be created inside it
- It cannot be copied or moved to another project
- The folder itself is not draggable
- Subfolder counts are not displayed, only file counts
When the Chrome extension is connected, the _captured folder gains hover buttons and context menu actions for creating Forge Docs, capturing pages, and capturing images.
Files copied to another project via Copy to Project land in the target project's _captured folder by default.
Rich Tooltips
Hovering over items shows tooltips with content previews. Text files show a truncated preview of their contents. Image files show a thumbnail. Folders show the path and item count. Smart Clipboard items show type-specific previews with labels for URLs, file paths, and content types.
Tooltips are built on demand, so content is not loaded for items you never hover.
Tree State
The tree remembers which folders are expanded, the currently selected path, and the vertical scroll position.
In Project Navigator, each tab maintains its own tree state. Switching between tabs restores the tree to exactly where it was — same folders expanded, same selection, same scroll position.
Settings
The following are saved per project:
View mode — Modern, Compact, or Classic. Default: Classic.
Recents scope — All projects or current project only. Default: current project.
Shortcuts scope — All projects or current project only. Default: all projects.
Heatmap enabled — Whether activity heatmap bars are shown. Default: on.
Heatmap window — Time range for activity scoring. Default: 30 days.
Focus mode enabled — Whether branch dimming is active. Default: off.
Folder expand states, folder colors, and filter tab definitions are also saved with the project.
Where the Folder Tree Appears
Project Navigator — Full-featured, all sections enabled, per-tab tree state. The primary host.
Floating Navigator — Full-featured, with drag-out to other applications enabled. Wraps the tree in a detached floating window.
Dashboard and Global Dashboard — Embedded as a collapsible sidebar column. Only document open and selection are wired.
Agents Page — The same collapsible sidebar column.
Automations — The same collapsible sidebar column beside the automation canvas. Documents and tools can be dragged from it onto the selected automation.
Agent Browser — The tree with only the Tool Library sections visible, for selecting a tool.
Chrome Extension Side Panel — Full tree with a document action bar.