Dash documentation

Project Files

What Dash does with the files in the folder you launch it from.

The workspace

Dash treats your current working directory as the workspace. File tools resolve relative paths against it, and the TUI shows its identity in the header. The workspace is the default boundary between freely editable paths and paths that need approval.

Reading and exploring

list_files lists a directory tree, optionally filtered by a glob pattern.
find_files finds files by pattern, for example **/*.tsx or package.json.
search_files searches file contents by literal string or regex, with optional case-sensitivity.
code_search locates symbol definitions and references.
read_file returns UTF-8 text; get_file_info returns size, type, and mtime without reading contents.

Editing files

edit_file replaces one exact text occurrence — precise and grep-style, not fuzzy.
multi_edit applies several edits to a file atomically: if any edit fails, the file is left untouched.
write_file creates or replaces an entire file, creating folders as needed.
delete_file can delete, move, or rename — always with explicit approval.

Excluded directories

A fixed set of directories is always skipped by file tools:

.git · node_modules · .dash · dist · build

Safety model

Before the first edit of a task, Dash records a snapshot under .dash/checkpoints/.
In-workspace edits run without interruption; out-of-workspace writes require your approval.
You can always roll back with the undo_checkpoint tool or ask Dash to restore.

Reading and exploring

list_files lists a directory tree, optionally filtered by a glob pattern.

find_files finds files by pattern, for example **/*.tsx or package.json.

search_files searches file contents by literal string or regex, with optional case-sensitivity.

code_search locates symbol definitions and references.

read_file returns UTF-8 text; get_file_info returns size, type, and mtime without reading contents.

Editing files

edit_file replaces one exact text occurrence — precise and grep-style, not fuzzy.

multi_edit applies several edits to a file atomically: if any edit fails, the file is left untouched.

write_file creates or replaces an entire file, creating folders as needed.

delete_file can delete, move, or rename — always with explicit approval.