Project explorer

The Project Explorer is the primary file management panel in Lux Lab. It provides a hierarchical view of your project's files and folders, and is the starting point for navigating, creating, and organizing your work.

Panel location

The Project Explorer occupies the left sidebar when the Explorer icon, the top icon in the Activity Bar, is active. It shows the full directory tree rooted at your current project folder.

Opening and switching projects

You open and switch projects from the title bar drop-down list. Selecting the project name in the title bar reveals the project picker, which has the options in the following table.

Option	Description
Recent	Recently opened projects and workspaces. Select any project to switch to it.
Open Folder…	Option to open an existing project folder from disk
New Project	Option to create a Lux project from a template
New Workspace	Option to create a multi-root workspace

For the steps to open an existing project folder, see Open a project folder.

Creating files and folders

You create files and folders directly in the tree. When you hover over any folder, Lux Lab reveals its action icons, including New File.

For the steps to add a file, see Create a file. For the steps to add a subfolder, see Create a folder.

The following table lists the keys for moving through the file tree.

Action	Method
Expand folder or open file	→ arrow or select the chevron
Collapse folder	← arrow
Open file or toggle folder	Enter
Quick peek preview	Space (press Esc to close)
Move focus up or down	↑ / ↓
Delete focused item	Del
Reveal active file in tree	Cmd+Shift+E
Jump to a file by name	Cmd+P (Quick Open)

Explorer keyboard shortcuts

The following table lists the Explorer keyboard shortcuts for macOS and Windows.

Action	macOS	Windows
New file in folder	Cmd+N	Ctrl+N
New folder	Cmd+Shift+N	Ctrl+Shift+N
Rename	F2	F2
Duplicate file	Cmd+D	Ctrl+D
Select all	Cmd+A	Ctrl+A
Copy absolute path	Cmd+Shift+C	Ctrl+Shift+C
Copy relative path	Cmd+Shift+Option+C	Ctrl+Shift+Alt+C
Reveal active file in tree	Cmd+Shift+E	Ctrl+Shift+E
Focus explorer search	Cmd+Shift+F	Ctrl+Shift+F
Toggle dotfiles	Cmd+Shift+.	Ctrl+Shift+.
Undo last file operation	Cmd+Z	Ctrl+Z

Right-clicking the Explorer panel background, rather than a file, shows the panel-level actions in the following table.

Action	Description
Add Folder to Workspace	Adds another project folder to the current workspace
Expand All	Expands all folders in the tree
Collapse All	Collapses all folders in the tree
Show Dotfiles	Toggles visibility of dotfiles such as `.env` and `.gitignore`
Open Focused Root in Terminal	Opens a terminal session at the project root
Reveal Focused Root in Finder	Opens the project root in Finder (macOS)

Right-clicking a file or folder reveals the actions in the following table.

Action	Description
New File	Creates a new file inside the selected folder
New Folder	Creates a new subfolder
Add Page…	Scaffolds a new Lux page inside the project
Add Extension Target…	Adds a new extension target to the project
Add Glide View Page…	Scaffolds a new Glide View page
Copy	Copies the file or folder
Cut	Cuts the file or folder
Duplicate	Creates a copy of the file in the same location
Copy Path	Copies the absolute path to the clipboard
Copy Relative Path	Copies the path relative to the project root
Reveal in Finder	Opens the file location in Finder (macOS)
Open in Terminal	Opens a terminal session rooted at this folder
Rename	Renames the file or folder inline
Delete	Deletes the file or folder

Note: Add Page…, Add Extension Target…, and Add Glide View Page… are unique to Lux Lab and scaffold the corresponding Lux application artifacts directly into your project.

Inline run and preview icons

For files that support it, Lux Lab shows the action icons in the following table when you hover over the file in the Explorer tree.

File type	Icon	Action
Page file, for example `page.js`	View icon (eye)	Opens the page in the Preview panel
Server script	Play icon (▶)	Runs the server script

These icons also appear on the parent folder of the file.

File status markers

The Explorer reflects Git status using the color and badge markers in the following table.

Color or marker	Meaning
Green text	New file (untracked or newly added)
Yellow or amber text	Modified file
Gray text	Ignored by `.gitignore`
Badge with count	Folder contains N changed files

Filtering and searching files

Press Cmd+Shift+F while the Explorer panel is focused to filter the file tree by name. Enter a partial file or folder name, and the tree filters in real time. Press Escape to clear the filter.

Moving, copying, and selecting files

Move: Drag a file onto a destination folder to move it.
Copy: Hold Option (macOS) or Ctrl (Windows) while dragging to copy.
Multi-select: Hold Cmd (macOS) or Ctrl (Windows) and select multiple files, or use Shift+click for a range.

title	Project explorer
description	The Project Explorer is the primary file management panel in Lux Lab. It provides a hierarchical view of your project's files and folders, and is the starting point for navigating, creating, and organizing your work.
locale	en-US
canonical_url	https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/application-development/project-explorer.html
release	australia
topic_type	concept
last_updated	2026-09-30
reading_time_minutes	4
keywords	Project explorerPanel locationOpening and switching projectsCreating files and foldersFile tree navigationExplorer panel context menuFile and folder context menuInline run and preview iconsFile status markersFiltering and searching filesMovingcopyingand selecting files
breadcrumb	Exploring Lux LabLux LabBuilding pro-code applicationsDeveloping your applicationClassic app developmentBuilding applications