---
title: "Working with the Editor"
---

# Working with the Editor

Move between the Agents app and the Editor, and what the two apps share today (sign-in state, models, the agent host, the activity record, policy and signing) and what is still in progress.

The Agents app and the Editor are two apps installed together. Each has its own icon, process, data folder and sign-in session, and either can run on its own. You can move a piece of work from one to the other, and several things are shared between them on the same device.

## Move between the apps

| From | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Agents app | **Open in Editor** on a session | The Editor opens (or comes forward) with the session's folder and chat session. It never opens an editor window inside the Agents app. |
| Editor | **Open Agents Window** (Ctrl+Shift+A, Cmd+Shift+A on macOS) | The Agents app opens with the current folder. |

The apps open each other through their link schemes (`neuralinverse` for the Editor, `neuralinverse-agents` for the Agents app). A link between the two is signed with a key both apps share (a random key in the shared data folder, readable only by your OS user), so the receiving app opens the folder without the usual "An external application wants to open..." question. Links from anywhere else still ask.

If the other app is missing, you see "Neural Inverse could not be opened. It is installed together with this app; reinstall Neural Inverse if it is missing."

## What is shared

| What | How it is shared |
|---|---|
| Sign-in state | Each app has its own session and its own OAuth client (`neuralinverse-editor`, `neuralinverse-agents`). A small signal file keeps them in step: signing out in one signs the other out, signing in with another account signs the other out, and signing in to one lets the other offer a one-click sign-in. No token is shared. |
| Models and keys | One Models page configuration; keys in the OS credential store are shared by both apps. Removing a provider applies to both. |
| Agent host | On macOS, one agent host serves both apps and keeps running when either quits. On Windows and Linux, each app has its own host unless `NI_SHARED_AGENT_HOST=1` is set, because the shared host's process behaviour has not yet been validated there. |
| Activity record | One ledger in the shared data folder (`~/.neural-inverse-shared/`). Whichever app starts first writes it; the other relays to it. |
| Signing key | The app that holds the ledger holds the device key; signing from the other app is relayed to it, and the prompt comes from the app that holds the key. |
| Policy | The same governance home (`<home>/.neuralinverse/governance/<quality>/`), so both apps apply the same policy. |
| Checks | One Checks data folder per repository in the shared data folder, so both apps see one provenance ledger and one policy for a repository. |

## In progress

Sharing running agent sessions between the two apps is in progress. Today, **Open in Editor** passes the session's folder and chat session to the Editor; on platforms without the shared agent host, each app's sessions live in that app's own host.

## Data folders

| | Editor | Agents app |
|---|---|---|
| Name on your system | Neural Inverse | Neural Inverse Agents |
| Data folder | `.neural-inverse` | `.neural-inverse-agents` |
| Shared data folder | `.neural-inverse-shared` | `.neural-inverse-shared` |
| macOS bundle identifier | `com.neuralinverse.ide` | `com.neuralinverse.agents` |
| Link scheme | `neuralinverse` | `neuralinverse-agents` |