Open a workspace

A workspace is just a folder on disk. Bandura reads and writes files only inside the folder you open — flows, your .env, the optional bandura.json manifest, and anything else that lives there.

First launch

If no workspace is open, the Open Folder dialog appears on its own. From there:

1. Click Browse… and pick any folder — an existing repository or an empty directory both work.
2. Or click an entry in the Recent list (Bandura remembers your last eight folders across restarts).

Later, File → Open Recent lists the same folders right in the menu, VS Code-style — More… brings the dialog back, and Clear Recently Opened empties the list. Switching folders resets the file tree and open tabs to the new location.

What a typical workspace contains

my-api-tests/
├── auth-and-orders.aether   # a flow — one file, one scenario
├── smoke.aether             # another flow
├── bandura.json             # optional: named environments + required env vars
└── .env                     # your secrets — git-ignored, never leaves your machine

None of these are required to start. An empty folder plus one .aether file is a complete setup.

The File Explorer

The File Explorer is the default sidebar view (reveal it with ⌘⇧E, toggle the sidebar with ⌘B). It shows the full workspace tree, and it stays in sync — files changed outside Bandura appear automatically.

• Create — right-click a folder (or the empty background) and choose New File or New Folder. Type the name in the inline input; Enter confirms, Esc cancels. Name a file with the .aether extension and it opens straight in the flow editor.
• Rename / Delete — also on the right-click menu. Deleting asks for confirmation first; deleting a folder removes everything inside it.
• Navigate by keyboard — ↑/↓ move through rows, → expands a folder, ← collapses or steps to the parent, Home/End jump to the top/bottom.

Three buttons appear in the explorer header on hover: New file, New folder, and ＋ New project — the last creates a subfolder with a starter .aether file inside. Everything else lives in the File menu and the command palette (⌘⇧P): generating a flow with AI, starting from a template, and importing Postman / OpenAPI / curl.

Opening files

• Click a .aether file → the flow editor (graph + code).
• Click anything else → a text editor with syntax highlighting picked by extension.
• If a file changes on disk while you have unsaved edits, Bandura never overwrites silently — a banner offers Reload or Keep my edits.

Next: Your first flow.