feat: drag and drop file paths into terminal (#2857)

Fixes #746, fixes #2813

Drag a file from Finder into a terminal and it pastes the quoted path.
Uses `webUtils.getPathForFile()` through a preload bridge since Electron
32 killed `File.path`. Handles spaces in filenames.

Needs app restart after install (preload change).

Author: JustHereToHelp

emain/preload.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // Copyright 2025, Command Line Inc.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-import { contextBridge, ipcRenderer, Rectangle, WebviewTag } from "electron";
+import { contextBridge, ipcRenderer, Rectangle, webUtils, WebviewTag } from "electron";
 
 // update type in custom.d.ts (ElectronApi type)
 contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld("api", {
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld("api", {
     openBuilder: (appId?: string) => ipcRenderer.send("open-builder", appId),
     setBuilderWindowAppId: (appId: string) => ipcRenderer.send("set-builder-window-appid", appId),
     doRefresh: () => ipcRenderer.send("do-refresh"),
+    getPathForFile: (file: File): string => webUtils.getPathForFile(file),
     saveTextFile: (fileName: string, content: string) => ipcRenderer.invoke("save-text-file", fileName, content),
     setIsActive: () => ipcRenderer.invoke("set-is-active"),
 });

frontend/app/view/term/termutil.ts

@@ -389,3 +389,7 @@ export function bufferLinesToText(buffer: TermTypes.IBuffer, startIndex: number,
 
     return lines;
 }
+
+export function quoteForPosixShell(filePath: string): string {
+    return "'" + filePath.replace(/'/g, "'\\''") + "'";
+}

frontend/app/view/term/termwrap.ts

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { RpcApi } from "@/app/store/wshclientapi";
 import { TabRpcClient } from "@/app/store/wshrpcutil";
 import {
     fetchWaveFile,
+    getApi,
     getOverrideConfigAtom,
     getSettingsKeyAtom,
     globalStore,
@@ -35,7 +36,13 @@ import {
     isClaudeCodeCommand,
     type ShellIntegrationStatus,
 } from "./osc-handlers";
-import { bufferLinesToText, createTempFileFromBlob, extractAllClipboardData, normalizeCursorStyle } from "./termutil";
+import {
+    bufferLinesToText,
+    createTempFileFromBlob,
+    extractAllClipboardData,
+    normalizeCursorStyle,
+    quoteForPosixShell,
+} from "./termutil";
 
 const dlog = debug("wave:termwrap");
 
@@ -274,6 +281,38 @@ export class TermWrap {
         this.heldData = [];
         this.handleResize_debounced = debounce(50, this.handleResize.bind(this));
         this.terminal.open(this.connectElem);
+
+        const dragoverHandler = (e: DragEvent) => {
+            e.preventDefault();
+            if (e.dataTransfer) {
+                e.dataTransfer.dropEffect = "copy";
+            }
+        };
+        const dropHandler = (e: DragEvent) => {
+            e.preventDefault();
+            if (!e.dataTransfer || e.dataTransfer.files.length === 0) {
+                return;
+            }
+            const paths: string[] = [];
+            for (let i = 0; i < e.dataTransfer.files.length; i++) {
+                const file = e.dataTransfer.files[i];
+                const filePath = getApi().getPathForFile(file);
+                if (filePath) {
+                    paths.push(quoteForPosixShell(filePath));
+                }
+            }
+            if (paths.length > 0) {
+                this.terminal.paste(paths.join(" ") + " ");
+            }
+        };
+        this.connectElem.addEventListener("dragover", dragoverHandler);
+        this.connectElem.addEventListener("drop", dropHandler);
+        this.toDispose.push({
+            dispose: () => {
+                this.connectElem.removeEventListener("dragover", dragoverHandler);
+                this.connectElem.removeEventListener("drop", dropHandler);
+            },
+        });
         this.handleResize();
         const pasteHandler = this.pasteHandler.bind(this);
         this.connectElem.addEventListener("paste", pasteHandler, true);

frontend/types/custom.d.ts

@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ declare global {
         openBuilder: (appId?: string) => void; // open-builder
         setBuilderWindowAppId: (appId: string) => void; // set-builder-window-appid
         doRefresh: () => void; // do-refresh
+        getPathForFile: (file: File) => string; // webUtils.getPathForFile
         saveTextFile: (fileName: string, content: string) => Promise<boolean>; // save-text-file
         setIsActive: () => Promise<void>; // set-is-active
     };