# A project explorer pane
**URL:** https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786
**Category:** Features
**Created:** [June 30, 2021, 3:58pm UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786 "2021-06-30T15:58:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@warmwaffles](https://community.aseprite.org/u/warmwaffles)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2021, 3:58pm UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/1 "2021-06-30T15:58:52Z")
I’m constantly having to flip between my file explorer and opening aseprite or having to navigate through the open file window.
It would be nice to have a project pane like vscode or sublime text where I can drill down and work with files more efficiently than I am currently.
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### Author:  [@Ethan\_Buttazzi](https://community.aseprite.org/u/Ethan_Buttazzi)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2021, 4:46am UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/2 "2021-07-01T04:46:37Z")
you could just bind a shortcut to open file explorer
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### Author:  [@warmwaffles](https://community.aseprite.org/u/warmwaffles)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2021, 2:14pm UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/3 "2021-07-02T14:14:06Z")
The biggest issue is that I am running `bspwm` in linux and every time I open a file with aseprite, it opens a new application instead of opening in the one that is already open.
As for the open file command, I already mash `ctrl + o` in order to open files.
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### Author:  [@Ethan\_Buttazzi](https://community.aseprite.org/u/Ethan_Buttazzi)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/4 "2021-07-02T19:52:45Z")
the nthats a ug that need to be solved in linux version right?
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### Author:  [@warmwaffles](https://community.aseprite.org/u/warmwaffles)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2021, 2:04pm UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/5 "2021-07-03T14:04:53Z")
It very well could be, but again I am running a different setup than what would be run for say Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, etc…
I don’t really want to bother the devs with fixing a problem that is experienced by a few people out of the entire ecosystem.
What I am merely stating is that a project explorer would be a nice addition and for now I’ll just make do with `ctrl+o` and navigating around that way.
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### Author:  [@Ethan\_Buttazzi](https://community.aseprite.org/u/Ethan_Buttazzi)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2021, 11:41pm UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/6 "2021-07-03T23:41:05Z")
i think that you woiuld be disrupting the ecosystem more with a new feature that probaly few would use, than a bugfix whihc is easier to do, especially because aseprite ui is very tricky
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### Author:  [@warmwaffles](https://community.aseprite.org/u/warmwaffles)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2021, 2:54pm UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/7 "2021-07-06T14:54:52Z")
An unfounded claim, but sure.
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### Author:  [@Ethan\_Buttazzi](https://community.aseprite.org/u/Ethan_Buttazzi)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2021, 4:23pm UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/8 "2021-07-06T16:23:04Z")
what do you mean, dancap keeps always saying that aseprite ui is very bad for creating and modifing itself thats why there is a planned ui rewrite for 1.4
also while fixing a bug can be tricky creating a whole new feature not only thakes am amout of works but then you need to debug that new feature, what you mean my claim is unfounded?
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### Author:  [@warmwaffles](https://community.aseprite.org/u/warmwaffles)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2021, 6:44pm UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/9 "2021-07-06T18:44:06Z")
> [@Ethan\_Buttazzi](#):
>
> dancap keeps always saying that aseprite ui is very bad for creating and modifing itself thats why there is a planned ui rewrite for 1.4
Okay.
> [@Ethan\_Buttazzi](#):
>
> also while fixing a bug can be tricky creating a whole new feature not only thakes am amout of works.
Yea I know this. I also program.
If a rewrite is planned, then a project pane could be considered. Let’s ignore the rewrite as an option because that in of itself is fraught with problems. If you’ve ever been involved with a large rewrite, things do not go smoothly at all.
Even if this bug was fixed, I’d still like to see a quicker way to navigate around a project with out having to constantly leave aseprite to look at the file explorer and go back. Context switching sucks.
> [@Ethan\_Buttazzi](#):
>
> but then you need to debug that new feature
That is a defeatist attitude. Debugging a feature, would mean that it was implemented with defects.
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### Author:  [@dacap](https://community.aseprite.org/u/dacap)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2021, 11:43pm UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/10 "2021-07-06T23:43:30Z")
Hi there 👋 Some time ago I tried to create (at least) a tab with a “file selector” view, and it was not too bad. I think a tree-like view might be useful (mainly with a search box field).
I think the main missing internal code is a “file system watcher” (but there are cross-platform solutions). We need to integrate this to watch configuration changes, which might be useful for this tree-like view of the project folder.
This is a good feature and might be implemented sometime in the future.
> [@Ethan\_Buttazzi](#):
>
> dancap keeps always saying that aseprite ui is very bad for creating and modifing itself thats why there is a planned ui rewrite for 1.4
Not sure if I said that 😅 We always welcome new ideas, please don’t discourage new ideas.
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### Author:  [@BraidAcer](https://community.aseprite.org/u/BraidAcer)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2021, 4:26am UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/11 "2021-07-07T04:26:13Z")
> [@warmwaffles](#):
>
> That is a defeatist attitude. Debugging a feature, would mean that it was implemented with defects.
You’d be suprised. All features MUST be tested and debugged before release. There are most certainly always some defects left in any code.
> [@dacap](#):
>
> missing internal code is a “file system watcher” (but there are cross-platform solutions)
Anyway such pane/panel with actively processing any changes “file system watcher” should really be closed/shrunk by default (and thus not tracing anything, all hooks off). Because it may lead to crashes or/and slowdowns. Especially on massive file system swapping when any access to file I/O API would lead to application hangs.
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### Author:  [@warmwaffles](https://community.aseprite.org/u/warmwaffles)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/12 "2021-07-07T19:44:53Z")
If anyone else comes here wondering why Aseprite opens in a new instance after opening the a file from a file explorer through `xdg-open`, it is not currently supported in linux. From discord:
> [@warmwaffles](#):
>
> Anyone here using linux with bspwm and using Aseprite? I’ve got an issue where if I open a file with aseprite and it doesn’t open in an already running instance of aseprite. Wondering if I may have a broken configuration or if this is a bug
> [@dacap](#):
>
> this is not supported on linux at the moment, I’m not sure if some linux dev knows “the protocol” used for IPC between the sheel/xdg-open to open files in a running instances of programs, or if it’s something that must be solved by each application by hand
Not a huge deal for me.
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### Author:  [@Ethan\_Buttazzi](https://community.aseprite.org/u/Ethan_Buttazzi)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2021, 6:00am UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/13 "2021-07-08T06:00:58Z")
ok i could swear it a ui rewrite was on the roadmap but i was wrong, but i am 90% that i seen you Dacap talk about aseprite ui code being tricky to modify
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### Author:  [@dacap](https://community.aseprite.org/u/dacap)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/14 "2021-07-13T17:00:12Z")
You might be referring to [this post](https://community.aseprite.org/t/multi-screen-support/2536/9), which was a very big specific problem on Aseprite because it was not originally designed to support multiple windows. But that has changed in v1.3 with several refactors (I’ll write about this when we publish the v1.3 source code).
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### Author:  [@takaru](https://community.aseprite.org/u/takaru)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2026, 1:02pm UTC](https://community.aseprite.org/t/a-project-explorer-pane/9786/16 "2026-05-19T13:02:47Z")
made a custom extension for this usecase:
[[Free Extension] Aseprite File Tree - Scripts & Extensions - Aseprite Community](https://community.aseprite.org/t/free-extension-aseprite-file-tree/28368)