@moryoav/node-red-plugin-file-browser

A minimal Node-RED editor plugin that adds a Files sidebar tab:

• 📁 Browse folders (tree, subfolders)
• 📝 Open & edit text files (UTF-8) with Monaco (VS Code’s editor) or a textarea fallback
• ➕ Create files & folders
• 💾 Save changes
• 🔒 Sandboxed to a base directory (configurable from the sidebar; persisted in userDir)

No extra Dashboard nodes needed. Works fully inside the Node-RED editor (http://host:1880).

Install

From Manage Palette (recommended)

1. Open Node-RED → Menu → Manage palette → Install
2. Search for @moryoav/node-red-plugin-file-browser
3. Install and reload the editor.

From npm/CLI Install into your userDir (Docker userDir is /data):

cd ~/.node-red            # or /data in Docker
npm i @moryoav/node-red-plugin-file-browser
# restart Node-RED

If you have the plugin sources locally (e.g., inside a project), you can install from path:

cd /data
npm i /data/projects/YourProject/file-browser-plugin

Usage

1. Open the editor and click the Files sidebar tab.
2. In the left panel header:
   • Base shows the current base folder.
   • Click Change base… to set a new base (must be under userDir, e.g., /data/projects/YourProject in Docker).
   • Click Refresh to re-scan the current folder.
3. Click folders to drill down and click files to open them.
4. Use New file, New folder, and Save in the right toolbar.

Persistence: The selected base folder is saved to ~/.node-red/.filebrowser.config.json (Docker: /data/.filebrowser.config.json) and is re-used on restart.

Security & Limits

• All HTTP endpoints are served via RED.httpAdmin (protected by the editor’s login if adminAuth is enabled).
• All file operations are sandboxed to the base folder (which itself must be inside userDir).
• Editing is text-only; binary files are rejected.
• Default file size limit is 5 MB (configurable by editing the config JSON manually).

Why this plugin?

• Native to the editor (no Dashboard or external UI).
• Zero config step: pick your base folder in the sidebar; no settings.js edits required.
• Minimal dependencies: Monaco is loaded from CDN with a textarea fallback if blocked/offline.

Uninstall

cd ~/.node-red  # or /data
npm remove @moryoav/node-red-plugin-file-browser
# restart Node-RED

Development

# link or pack for local dev
cd /path/to/file-browser-plugin
npm pack        # optional: inspect the tarball
# or install into your userDir directly:
cd ~/.node-red
npm i /path/to/file-browser-plugin

Commit guidelines:

• Conventional commits (feat:, fix:, chore:) are appreciated.
• npm version <patch|minor|major> will auto-tag releases.

License

MIT (see LICENSE)