Run a file from chat (right-click a runnable path → Run / Run as administrator)

What it is

When a chat message mentions a runnable file by its path — for example a PowerShell fix script like `C:\tmp\amc-excl-fix-j.ps1` — Omniscio turns that path into something you can run without copying it into a terminal yourself. Right-click the path and pick Run or Run as administrator, and Omniscio launches it for you.

Where to find it

What you see

• In any chat message, a runnable file path is shown the same clickable way other file paths are (highlighted, in the accent color).
• Right-click it → a small menu with:
  • Run — runs the file.
  • Run as administrator — runs it elevated (Windows shows its normal "Do you want to allow this app to make changes?" UAC prompt; on a Mac it asks for your password). This option is hidden for file types that have no elevated form (a macOS .app).
  • Reveal in folder — opens the file's folder in your file manager.
• Before anything runs, a confirmation dialog shows you the exact path about to run. Nothing executes until you confirm. (Paths in chat can be written by the AI, so this is your chance to check it's what you expect.)
• When it launches, a terminal window opens and stays open so you can watch the output, and a toast confirms it ("Launching … — approve the prompt" for admin runs).

The two Run options only appear on files that are actually runnable on your machine. A .txt, .md, or .ts path shows nothing new — it behaves as before.

How it behaves

What counts as "runnable"

• Windows: .ps1, .bat, .cmd, .exe, .com, .msi.
• macOS: .sh, .command, .app.

Windows types don't appear on a Mac and Mac types don't appear on Windows — the menu matches the computer Omniscio is running on. (Linux is not covered yet.) Run is desktop only — it does not appear when you're viewing Omniscio from the phone/web client, because a script runs on the host computer, not your phone.

A safety note about left-clicking

For programs and installers (.exe, .msi, .com, .app), a left-click reveals the file in its folder rather than running it — running only ever happens through the right-click menu and its confirmation. (Script files like .ps1 still left-click to a read-only preview of their contents.) This is deliberate: a single misclick should never silently launch an installer.

Why this is safe

• Omniscio never runs anything on its own — every run is an explicit right-click → confirm, and "Run as administrator" always passes through the operating system's own elevation prompt, which Omniscio cannot bypass.
• The command Omniscio hands to the operating system is built so a strange character in a path can't smuggle in an extra command (on Windows the whole command is encoded before launch; on macOS the path is quoted at both layers), and it never goes through a shell.
• The launched window is independent of Omniscio — your script keeps running even if you close Omniscio right after starting it (handy for a one-off fix script).
• It deliberately works for files anywhere on disk (the motivating case is a script in C:\tmp, outside any project), so the safety gate is your confirmation of the exact path plus the OS prompt, not a folder restriction.

Limits (v1)

• Windows + macOS only.
• A path with spaces shown as inline code (e.g. `C:\Program Files\setup.msi`) is only detected inside a fenced code block or in prose, not as inline code — an inline-code path with spaces won't show the Run menu.
• Interpreter-based scripts run with the matching tool present (e.g. a macOS .sh runs via bash); the right-click Run on the popped-out (detached) session window is a follow-up.

For agents

For developers

• Single source of truth for "is this runnable + how is it launched": src/shared/runnable-path.ts.
• The injection-safe launch builder (Windows -EncodedCommand; macOS osascript/Terminal with two-layer escaping): src/main/ipc/file-handlers/run-script-launch.ts.
• The IPC handler that re-validates the path and spawns it: src/main/ipc/file-handlers/run-script-handler.ts (channels FILES_REQUEST_RUN — pops the native confirm + mints the capability token — then FILES_RUN_SCRIPT + FILES_REVEAL_ABSOLUTE).
• The confirmation is a native OS dialog shown by Main (not a renderer-drawn dialog, which an untrusted renderer could bypass); approving it mints a one-shot, path-bound capability token that FILES_RUN_SCRIPT requires before spawning (RT-F009): user-gesture-capability.ts.
• The right-click menus live on the existing chat path elements (AgentMarkdown.tsx for inline-code and code-block paths, agent-markdown-helpers.tsx for bare-link paths); the action is centralized in run-script-store.ts (which drives the native-confirm → launch flow).
• Invariants + the tests that lock them: run-chat-runnable-path-contract.md.

Related

• Peek viewer — look at a file without leaving the session; the left-click path for a script.
• Opening a media link — how a link to an image or video opens in your own player.
• Session Files & Links — the list of every file and link a session produced.