I use the filetree plugin for Claude Code, which docks a file tree beside the session. My “Open with” command is VS Code, so double-clicking anything sent it to VS Code, including PNGs and PDFs I’d rather open in Preview.
Instead of hardcoding a change, I added a setting called Binary files with two values. “Open with” keeps the current behavior, so nobody upgrading sees a difference. “default app” sends images, documents and other binaries to the Mac’s default app while code still goes to the editor. Someone whose Open with command is a viewer legitimately wants binaries there, and a PR that changes existing behavior is a harder merge.
File type comes from an extension list rather than file --mime, which keeps
it cheap and cross-platform. SVGs, dotfiles and anything unknown count as code.
Preview mode and the external-open button didn’t change.
The repo has its own habits, and the PR followed them: tests go through the
rendered surfaces rather than unit tests of helpers, new code doesn’t get
explanatory comments, and merges wait on CI across three operating systems plus
a review bot. It merged on October 23 and shipped in 0.5.0 two days later.
Until the release, a hand-patched copy in the plugin cache tided me over, which
only lasts until the next claude plugin update replaces it.
Contributions also get their own spot on disk now. Forks of other people’s repos live in a separate folder instead of mixed in with my own projects.