The DevTools panel: changes, files, history, PRs

DevTools is the panel you open next to the web preview, and five tabs run along its top, each with one job. Open it by clicking the </> button on the preview's toolbar, or press Cmd+Option+I; it opens in the slot directly above or below the preview. Changes stages and commits your edits, Explorer browses your files, History shows past commits, PRs lists GitHub pull requests, and Actions lists GitHub Actions runs. Click the name of the tab you want. Unlike the terminal, your mouse works inside this panel, so you can click and scroll as you would in Chrome.

The five tabs

Changes is your Git working area. It groups every edit into Staged Changes, Changes, Untracked and Merge Changes. Click the + on a file to stage it, type a message in the Message box, and click ✓ to commit; click a row to see its diff, − to unstage, or ↶ to discard your edits. The bar at the top shows your branch name (click it to switch branches) and three round buttons: ↑ to push, ↓ to pull, and ⟳ to fetch.

Explorer is a file tree of the folder. Click a folder to open it (▶ closed, ▼ open) and a file to read it, or type in the Search files… box to jump to a file by name. It hides heavy folders like node_modules, dist and build so you see your real project files.

History lists the project's commits, newest first, each row showing a short code, the message, the author's initials and how long ago it was made. Click a commit to see the exact lines it added and removed, click Load more for the next fifty, or ⟳ to refresh.

PRs lists the open pull requests for the folder's GitHub repository, so it needs your GitHub account connected: click Connect GitHub and approve codus in your browser using the code the panel shows. Each row has an Open button that opens the pull request on github.com and a Checkout button that downloads its branch and switches your local folder to it; + New starts a new one if you have push access.

Actions lists your GitHub Actions workflows from the repo's .github/workflows/ folder and their recent runs, and also needs GitHub connected with the workflow permission (if your connection is missing it, a Reconnect to enable Actions button grants it). Click a workflow, set the branch, tag or commit in the Ref box, and click Run. Only workflows set up for manual runs can be started this way; the rest show their past runs read-only.

Common problems

• The </> button is greyed out. DevTools opens into the quadrant directly above or below the preview, so that neighbour must be switched on. The tooltip says so: "DevTools needs the column-partner quadrant enabled (it hosts the panel)".
• A tab looks empty. Changes, Explorer and History only work when the folder here is a Git repository (otherwise you get "Not a git repository" or "No folder selected"), and PRs and Actions need GitHub connected first.