Document & Browser Tabs

Center-pane tabs are not only terminals. This chapter covers two other kinds: document tabs (the built-in Markdown and code editor) and browser tabs (embedded web pages). They share the tab bar with session tabs, and opening a session never replaces them.

1. Document tabs

1.1 Opening

A document tab opens when you:

• run vopen <file> in any session (inside Claude Code the /vopen skill does the same once "Vela Skills" is installed in Settings ▸ General);
• double-click a file in the right panel's Files tab, or choose "Open in Editor";
• open a note from the knowledge base (see Local Knowledge Bases);
• click "New document" at the right end of the tab bar.

The view is chosen by file type:

1.2 The Markdown editor

• Visual is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor. Type / for the insert menu (headings, lists, task lists, quotes, code blocks, tables, math, images and dividers). Fenced mermaid code blocks are rendered as diagrams below the block.
• Source shows the file text exactly as stored, including any YAML front matter, with Markdown syntax highlighting.
• Compare shows Visual and Source side by side and keeps them in sync while you edit either one.
• ⌘/ (Ctrl+/ on Windows and Linux) switches between Visual and Source. Switching modes without editing does not change the file.
• Pasting or dropping an image into a saved document stores the image in an assets folder next to the document and inserts a relative link to it.

1.3 Editing and saving

• ⌘S or the "Save" button writes the file to disk. A dot on the tab marks unsaved changes.
• The active document checks the disk every two seconds. If another program changes the file, a banner offers "Reload" and "Ignore"; when you also have unsaved edits, the reload button reads "Reload (discard my changes)". If the file changed on disk after you started editing, saving asks for confirmation in a "Save Conflict" dialog before it overwrites the file.
• Closing a tab with unsaved changes asks you to choose "Save & Close", "Close Without Saving" or "Cancel".
• ⌘F opens the search bar with find, replace, replace all and "Match case"; it works the same way in every mode.
• The "Sidebar" button shows the document's "Outline" and a "File tree" of its folder; click a file there to open it. The sidebar can be resized.
• Files larger than 10 MB open read-only and show only their first 10 MB, so that saving cannot cut off the rest of the file.
• Right-clicking a document tab offers "Refresh File" and, for Markdown, "Export PDF", in addition to the usual close actions.

1.4 New documents and PDF export

• "New document" opens an empty draft that is not yet on disk and does not appear in the project tree. The first save asks where to store it: the desktop app uses the system Save As dialog, and browser clients and remote connection windows show a Save As dialog for the machine that runs the session. Syntax highlighting follows the chosen file name. Right-clicking a draft's tab also offers "Save to Disk…".
• "Export PDF" turns a Markdown document into a vector PDF with automatic page breaks and embedded CJK fonts. The desktop app asks where to save the file; browser clients download it.

2. Browser tabs (desktop app only)

Browser tabs show real web pages inside VelaTerm, which is useful for keeping documentation, issue pages or a local preview next to your sessions. They are available only in the desktop app, not in browser clients, remote connection windows or the mobile layout.

Opening a browser tab:

• the "Built-in Browser" button at the right end of the tab bar;
• the ⌘⇧B shortcut;
• vopen <URL> in a session;
• "New Browser Page" in a project's or group's context menu in the sidebar.

Toolbar: "Back", "Forward", "Reload" (or "Stop loading" while a page loads), an address bar ("Enter URL or search terms"; text that is not an address is searched on Google), "Open in system browser", and a "Quick access" row with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Google.

Two forms:

• Browser tab: opened with the button, ⌘⇧B or vopen <URL>. It is not saved in the project tree and does not survive a restart.
• Browser page node: created with "New Browser Page". It is a node in the project tree that remembers its address and is still there after a restart.

Links that open new windows: when a page opens a link in a new window (for example a target="_blank" link), VelaTerm opens it in a new browser tab.

Standalone pages: the "Game Center" button at the right end of the tab bar opens the VelaTerm game center as a standalone page. A standalone page has no address bar or quick access row, only "Back", "Forward" and "Reload"; links it opens stay in the same tab.

Security boundary: an embedded page is treated as an ordinary external website. It receives no VelaTerm permissions or credentials, and only http and https addresses can be opened.

3. How the tab kinds coexist

• Session, document and browser tabs share one tab bar, and ⌘1–9 switches among all of them.
• Opening a session from the tree reuses only session tabs; document and browser tabs are never replaced.
• Document and browser tabs cannot be split. ⌘W closes them directly (a document with unsaved changes asks first).