File Explorer Overview

New in 2.1

The File Explorer is HomeDock OS’s unified file management application. Instead of switching between separate apps for each storage type, File Explorer consolidates Storage, Drop Zone, and App Drive into a single interface where you can browse, search, upload, download, and manage all your files from one place.

Three Backends, One Interface

File Explorer brings together three independent storage systems:

• Storage: Your general-purpose filesystem for documents, media, downloads, and any other unencrypted files.
• Drop Zone: AES-256-GCM encrypted storage. Every file is encrypted at rest with per-user keys. Uploads encrypt and downloads decrypt transparently.
• App Drive: Docker container volumes. Browse and manage files inside the mounted volumes of your running Docker containers without needing terminal access.

All three backends expose the same set of operations (list, search, upload, download, delete, create folder, rename) with a consistent response format. The frontend component swaps the endpoint prefix automatically when you switch locations, so the experience is seamless regardless of which backend you’re working with.

_{File Explorer unifies three storage backends under a single interface. You never need to think about which app to use, just navigate to the location you need.}

Sidebar Navigation

The left sidebar (collapsible on mobile via a hamburger popover) organizes everything into sections:

Locations

• Storage: Shows “All Files” at root plus default folders (Notes, Documents, Photos, Videos, Music, Downloads) and any additional user-created folders. Each section is collapsible.
• Drop Zone: Shows “All Files” at root plus user-created encrypted folders. Marked with a lock icon to indicate encryption.
• App Drive: Lists running Docker containers with status indicators (green = running, gray = stopped). Each container shows its app icon. Only containers with valid mounted volumes under the HomeDock root appear here.

System Apps

• Applications: All installed non-utility apps, with a badge showing count.
• Utilities: Built-in utility apps (Notepad, Media Player, Image Viewer, PDF Viewer, Brusher), with a badge showing count.

Quick Access

• Favorites: User-bookmarked files and folders from any backend (max 50).
• Recents: Automatically tracked recently accessed items across all backends (max 100, FIFO).

Favorites & Recents

Favorites and Recents provide cross-backend quick access to your most important and recently used files.

Unified View

When viewing Favorites or Recents, files from all three backends appear together in a single grid or list. Each entry carries source metadata so the UI can:

• Show which backend the file lives in (Storage, Drop Zone, or App Drive)
• Offer a “Locate in…” context menu action to navigate back to the file’s original location
• Automatically remove stale entries if the underlying file no longer exists

Metadata Storage

Favorite and recent entries are persisted as JSON in {user_storage_folder}/_meta/{username}/. Each entry stores the location (storage, dropzone, or appdrive), path, name, whether it’s a directory, a timestamp, and optionally the container and mount index for App Drive items.

Built-in Utilities

File Explorer comes with a full suite of native utility applications. Double-click any supported file and it opens instantly, no external apps, no plugins, no downloads. Everything runs right inside HomeDock OS.

Notepad

A full-featured text and code editor with syntax support for dozens of formats: TXT, MD, JSON, YAML, XML, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, Rust, PHP, SQL, Dockerfiles, and many more. Notepad also doubles as a personal notes manager with per-user AES-256-GCM encryption, auto-save, and complete note organization. Your notes are encrypted at rest with the same security standards as Drop Zone.

Image Viewer

Native image viewing for JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, SVG, BMP, ICO, and TIFF formats. Includes zoom, pan, and rotation controls for inspecting images in detail without leaving the browser.

Media Player

Native audio and video playback for MP4, WebM, OGV, OGG, MP3, WAV, AAC, FLAC, and M4A. Features volume controls, fullscreen support, and a real-time spectrum analyzer for audio visualization powered by the Web Audio API. When media is playing, an audio indicator appears in the taskbar with quick volume controls.

PDF Viewer

Powered by PDF.js, the PDF Viewer provides native PDF rendering with page navigation, zoom controls, and search functionality. Open any PDF directly from Storage, Drop Zone, or App Drive without downloading it to your device first.

Brusher

A lightweight image annotation and markup tool. Right-click any image in File Explorer and open it in Brusher for quick edits, annotations, and markups.

Calculator

A standard calculator with full arithmetic operations and keyboard support, always available from the utilities section.

_{All utilities run natively inside HomeDock OS. No plugins, no external apps. Double-click a file on File Explorer (or right-click and select 'Open with') and it opens instantly in the right tool.}

Opening Files in Utility Apps

When you double-click a file, File Explorer detects the file extension and routes it to the appropriate built-in utility:

Utility	Extensions
Notepad	txt, md, json, yml, yaml, xml, conf, ini, env, log, js, ts, jsx, tsx, py, java, cpp, c, go, rs, rb, php, sh, bash, html, css, sql, dockerfile, makefile, and more
Image Viewer	jpg, jpeg, png, gif, webp, bmp, ico, tif, tiff
Media Player	mp4, webm, ogv, ogg, mp3, wav, aac, flac, m4a
PDF Viewer	pdf
Brusher	Manually triggered from right-click context menu on images
Direct download	Any unrecognized extension

Note

This is the initial set of utilities shipping with File Explorer. We’ll be adding more based on community feedback and real-world usage patterns. If there’s a file type you’d like to see supported natively, let us know on Discord or GitHub.

How It Works

1. The user double-clicks a file.
2. File Explorer detects the extension and chooses the appropriate utility.
3. The file is downloaded from the correct backend (Storage, Drop Zone, or App Drive). Drop Zone files are automatically decrypted during download.
4. The file data is passed in-memory to the utility window via windowStore.openFileInApp(). Text files as string content, binary files as ArrayBuffer.
5. The file is automatically added to Recents.

_{Files are downloaded entirely to the client and passed in-memory to the utility. Drop Zone files are transparently decrypted during the download step.}

Upload System

File Explorer supports drag-and-drop uploads that preserve recursive folder structures. Drop files or entire folders onto the window and the directory hierarchy is maintained in the target backend.

A unified upload progress indicator in the system tray consolidates upload tracking for all three backends into a single component, showing current progress, queue status, and concurrent upload activity.

Tip

Uploaded folder structures are preserved recursively. Hidden files (starting with ”.”) are automatically filtered out during folder uploads.

View Modes

File Explorer supports two view modes:

• Grid View: Desktop-like layout with positioned file and folder icons.
• List View: Compact rows with detailed information (name, size, date).

Sorting is available by name, size, or date with ascending/descending toggle. View preferences sync instantly across Storage and Drop Zone. Change to list view in one, and the other updates in real-time.

System Apps View

The System Apps section in the sidebar provides an alternative way to browse and launch all installed applications and utilities directly from File Explorer, displayed as icons with descriptions. Double-clicking opens the app via the Prism Window Manager.

Security

All File Explorer endpoints are protected with multiple layers of security:

Protection	Description
CSRF tokens	Every request requires an X-HomeDock-CSRF-Token header
Login authentication	All routes require an active session
Path traversal protection	validate_safe_path() blocks ../ and similar attacks
Symlink prevention	validate_no_symlinks() blocks symlink escape attacks
Filename sanitization	validate_filename() validates safe characters
AES-256-GCM encryption	All Drop Zone files encrypted at rest with per-user keys
Read-only mount respect	App Drive honors Docker container read-only mount flags
User isolation	All paths scoped to the authenticated user’s home directory
Container filtering	App Drive only shows volumes mounted within HomeDock’s secure paths

Note

File Explorer is the central hub for all file management in HomeDock OS. For details specific to encryption, see the Drop Zone documentation. For container volume specifics, see the App Drive documentation.