First run

If you know VS Code, you know Diode: the same layout, the same commands, the same keys wherever the terminal can deliver them. This page is the ten-minute tour: what to type, how to get around, how to quit, and where your settings live.

Open something

diode .                 # a folder
diode src/app.ts        # a file (the folder stays closed)
diode -g app.ts:42:7    # a file with the caret at line 42, column 7
diode -d old.ts new.ts  # a diff
diode                   # an empty window

The first argument becomes the folder if it is a directory, or the workspace if it is a .code-workspace file; every other argument opens as a file. An empty window doesn’t open the current directory: pick a folder from inside with the Open Folder button in the Explorer or File: Open Folder… in the command palette (Ctrl+K Ctrl+O).

diode --help lists the rest: --profile, --user-data-dir, --log, extension management (extensions).

Find your way around

Everything is a command, and the command palette is always one key away: F1 works in every terminal, Ctrl+Shift+P where the terminal can deliver it (keyboard). There is no activity bar: click the sidebar title (EXPLORER ⌄, or Enter on it) to switch between Explorer, Search, Source Control, Extensions and the containers your extensions add. Each view is also a command with a Ctrl+K chord that works everywhere:

	VS Code key	works in any terminal
Command palette	`Ctrl+Shift+P`	`F1`
Go to file	`Ctrl+P`	`Ctrl+P`
Explorer	`Ctrl+Shift+E`	`Ctrl+K E`
Search in files	`Ctrl+Shift+F`	`Ctrl+K F`
Terminal	Ctrl+`	`Ctrl+K T`
Next / previous tab	`Ctrl+PageDown` / `Ctrl+PageUp`	same, or `Alt+PageDown` / `Alt+PageUp`

The full table is on the keyboard page; menus and the command palette show the chord next to each command, so you don’t have to remember it.

The mouse works: click to place the caret, drag to select, scroll, click tabs and tree items. There is a menu bar too, so a command you can’t remember is a click away.

Quit

Ctrl+Q, or File → Exit. Unsaved files get the usual Save / Don’t Save / Cancel dialog; Cancel keeps the editor open.

Where things live

Diode keeps everything under ~/.diode on every platform (--user-data-dir moves it):

	path
user settings	`~/.diode/user-data/User/settings.json`
user keybindings	`~/.diode/user-data/User/keybindings.json`
named profiles	`~/.diode/user-data/User/profiles/<id>/`
extensions	`~/.diode/extensions/`
logs	`~/.diode/user-data/logs/`
workspace settings	`<folder>/.diode/settings.json`

Ctrl+, opens the user settings.json: there is no settings UI, the file is the editor. The keys and their defaults are the VS Code ones; the settings catalog lists every key Diode understands, and the file gets completion for them. Keybindings follow VS Code’s keybindings.json format; Ctrl+K Ctrl+S opens the keyboard shortcuts editor.

Workspace settings live in .diode/settings.json, not .vscode/: Diode doesn’t read the .vscode folder, so a project can carry both without one editor touching the other’s file.

Profiles

As in VS Code, a profile is a set of settings, keybindings and extensions. Profiles: New Profile…, Profiles: Switch Profile… and Profiles: Delete Profile… are in the command palette; switching binds the open folder to the profile and reloads the window, so the folder comes back with the same profile next time. diode --profile <name> . starts with a given profile.

Differences from VS Code: everything that works differently, in one place.
Keyboard: which keys a terminal can’t deliver and what to press instead.
Terminal setup: colors, extended keys, clipboard over ssh, tmux.
Extensions: languages and tools from the store.