Chong
Entry I  ·  Tauri Explorer  ·  filed under tools
№ 01 · Entry I

A file manager with the soul of an IDE.

Ctrl+P for frecency fuzzy-find. Ctrl+Shift+F for ripgrep across the tree. A command palette that surfaces every action. Tabs, dual pane, chord bindings. Minimal chrome by default — turn things on as you need them.

rusttauri v2svelte 5open source
§ I — The pitch

Why another file manager

Most file managers fall into two camps: polished and crippled (Finder, Explorer) or spartan and punishing (Ranger, lf, Midnight Commander). Tauri Explorer borrows from the one place that actually figured keyboard-driven navigation out — the IDE.

Ctrl+P to fuzzy-open any file in the tree, ranked by how often and how recently you touched it. Ctrl+Shift+F to ripgrep the tree for content. A command palette for every action, rebindable, with chord sequences.

The Rust backend handles directory listing, search, and thumbnails, so 10k-file directories don’t choke the UI. Everything else — chrome, sidebars, columns — is off by default and toggleable. Turn on what you need.

◆  § II  ◆
§ II — The plate

Figure I

Dual-pane navigation with the quick-open palette floated over an active selection.

FIG. I — Quick open, ranked by frecency
~ / projects
◀ ..
personal-website/
tauri-explorer/
lambda-query-2/
eskiv/
notes.md
~ / projects / personal-website
src/
content/
README.md
package.json
tsconfig.json
⌘ P   open globals.css
open   ⌘↵reveal   split pane
Two panes, a palette, and whatever you ask for next.
§ III — The features

What it actually does

Ctrl+P — Quick open

Fuzzy-find any file in the tree. Frecency ranks what you actually touch above what you once opened.

Ctrl+Shift+F — Content search

Ripgrep across the tree. Same shortcut as VS Code, same speed.

Command palette

Every action reachable. Rebindable. Chord bindings like g h to home, g r to root.

Tabs

Ctrl+T, Ctrl+W. Restore closed tabs. New windows inherit context from the last focused one.

Dual pane

Ctrl+\. Draggable split. Every op can target either side. Drag, copy, symlink between them.

Three view modes

Details, List, Tiles. Virtual scrolling for 10k+ files. Progressive thumbnails. Per-directory column preferences.

Full file ops

Copy, move, rename, bulk rename, trash, ZIP compress/extract, symlinks, undo/redo. Paste images from clipboard.

Breadcrumbs

Editable with path autocomplete. Chevron pickers browse subdirectories without navigating. Type-ahead to jump by name.

Deeply themable

8 built-in themes. Drop a .css in ~/.config/tauri-explorer/themes and it loads. Background opacity, wallpaper, zoom.

Workspaces

Save and restore layouts. Sidebar bookmarks with drag-to-add and reorder. Every preference survives restarts.

§ IV — The rough edges

Open questions

MaterialsRust, Tauri v2, Svelte 5
VintageMMXXVI — ongoing
PlatformsLinux · macOS · Windows
Sourcegithub/xnmp/tauri-explorer