| name | fused-render-usage |
| description | How to run and use a fused-render project — open files and views in the FusedRender desktop app and browse the filesystem. Use this whenever the user wants to open, run, launch, start, show, or explore a fused-render project or its views/files; asks to "open this in fused-render", "run fused-render", "show me this view", "look at this file in the explorer"; or is orienting inside a fused-render repo without yet authoring code. For creating/editing/debugging an .html view or .py data file, use fused-render-authoring instead; for registering custom preview templates, use fused-render-custom-templates. |
Using a fused-render project
fused-render is a local file-explorer desktop app that runs entirely on 127.0.0.1 — no accounts, no cloud. It browses any directory in the browser, previews files, and live-renders .html views that call local Python. This skill covers running and using the app; it does not cover writing views (that's fused-render-authoring).
This skill assumes the FusedRender desktop app is already running — there's a single instance per user, serving on 127.0.0.1. Everything below is a way to open something into that running instance.
Opening a file, view, or directory
Hand the path to the app — it opens as a full-shell view (/view/<path>) in a browser tab, reusing the running instance:
| Platform | Open a path |
|---|
| macOS | open -a FusedRender <path> |
| Linux | gtk-launch fused-render <path>, right-click → Open With → FusedRender, or the AppImage binary FusedRender-<ver>.AppImage <path> |
| Windows | FusedRender.exe <path>, or right-click → Open with → FusedRender |
Opening a directory lands the explorer there; opening a file previews it; opening an .html view renders it.
Opening by URL (view / embed / preview templates)
Everything the app shows is a URL, so any view is bookmarkable and shareable. The running app already has a tab open — reuse its http://127.0.0.1:<port> from the address bar and swap the path.
The filesystem path rides in the URL after a mode prefix, with its leading slash dropped and each segment URL-encoded (space → %20). /Users/me/proj/dash.html → …/view/Users/me/proj/dash.html.
| Path | Renders |
|---|
/ | The explorer at start_dir — click to browse. |
/view/<path> | Full-shell mode — the page wrapped in explorer chrome (sidebar, breadcrumb, preview header). What the app opens when you hand it a path. |
/embed/<path> | Embed mode — the page chrome-free (no sidebar/breadcrumb/header). Best for opening a specific view on its own or for a screenshot. |
View vs embed is a fixed page-load mode set by the prefix — it can't toggle without a full navigation. Both serve the same page and sync URL params the same way; embed just hides the chrome.
Preview templates (parquet/image/text viewers, etc.) open at the target file's path — …/view/<abs path to the data file> — and the shell resolves the template by extension, handing it the file via a read-only _file param. Point at the data file, not the template html. When a file has more than one mode, add ?_mode=<name> to open a specific one (or use the switcher in the preview header).
Params are the shareable state
View state (paging, sort, selection) lives in URL params, so any view is refresh-proof and bookmarkable — copy the URL to reproduce or share the exact state.
Where things live in a project
- A view is usually a sibling pair: an
.html page (UI) + a .py file (data it fetches via fused.runPython).
- Built-in preview templates live under
fused_render/templates/<name>/; user-owned ones under ~/.fused-render/ (see fused-render-custom-templates).
When to switch skills
- Creating, editing, or debugging an
.html view or .py data file, or a blank/errored view → fused-render-authoring.
- Registering a custom preview template for a file extension →
fused-render-custom-templates.
