file-explorer

A translucent, fuzzy, content-searchable file explorer for macOS — built in Rust with GPUI (the same UI framework that powers Zed).

Designed to feel like Spotlight, Raycast, and Telescope had a kid that does what Finder won't.

macOS only. Linux/Windows aren't supported yet because the renderer uses Metal.

Screenshot

Add a real screenshot to docs/screenshot.png and uncomment the line below. Until then, here's a lo-fi ASCII preview of the layout:

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 🏠 Home │ 🌿 main │ ~ › code › file-explorer                                  │
├─────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ▾ FILES │ [FILES] 🔍 push                                  124 / 8,432       │
│ src     ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  ▸ ind… │ │ 🦀 main.rs                          src/                  4.8 KB │
│  ▸ wat… │ │ 📝 README.md                        ./                    9.0 KB │
│         │ │ 📁 scripts                          ./                  – items  │
│ assets  │ │ 🦀 index.rs                         src/                  2.4 KB │
│ scripts │ │                                                                  │
│ docs    │ │ ───── preview ──────────────────────────────────────────────────│
│         │ │   fn push_undo(&mut self, action: UndoAction) { … }              │
│ LOCATI  │ │   self.undo_stack.push(action);                                  │
│ ⌘1 Home │ │   …                                                              │
│ ⌘2 Docs │                                                                    │
├─────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ↵ open  ⌘↵ reveal  ⇥ descend  ␣ quicklook  ⌘F find  ⌘Z undo  ⇅ relevance     │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Why

Finder is fine for browsing, but slow when you actually know what you're looking for. fzf is fast but command-line only. This is the in-between: native-feeling, GPU-rendered, with fzf-style filtering and ripgrep-style content search baked in.

Features

• Fuzzy filename search powered by nucleo (Helix's matcher). Streams results as the walker discovers files — ~/ indexes in under a second.
• Content search (⌘F) using the grep crates — ripgrep's matcher and searcher, gitignore-aware, multi-threaded. Enter on a hit opens the file at the matching line in VS Code / Cursor / your $EDITOR.
• Syntax-highlighted previews for ~150 languages via syntect + two-face (TypeScript, Astro, Vue included). Images, PDFs, Office docs, videos, and audio get inline Quick Look thumbnails (cached via qlmanage).
• Translucent macOS-native UI — full Metal vibrancy, Catppuccin Mocha palette, emoji-based file icons (no font install needed), bold yellow folder names.
• Tabs (⌘T / ⌘W / ⌘⇧] / ⌘⇧[) with per-tab state saved across launches.
• In-window tree pane (⌘\) — VS Code–style disclosure triangles.
• Multi-select with Shift+Click / ⌘+Click, batch trash and batch rename with a live find/replace preview.
• Undo (⌘Z) for renames and moves, persisted across sessions.
• Right-click context menu — Open / Reveal / Quick Look / Copy Path / Rename / Trash.
• Self-update check against GitHub Releases (set FILE_EXPLORER_UPDATE_REPO=owner/repo at compile time).
• Settings overlay (⌘,) — toggle hidden files, sort default, persisted to ~/.config/file-explorer/settings.txt.

Install

Pre-built .app (recommended)

Each release at github.com/situmorang-com/file-explorer/releases ships a file-explorer-vX.Y.Z-macos.zip with the bundled File Explorer.app. Download, unzip, drag into /Applications.

Homebrew (after a tap is set up)

Once you create your tap repo (see homebrew/file-explorer.rb for a starter formula):

brew install situmorang-com/tap/file-explorer

From source

You'll need Rust (1.91+), Xcode (full app, not just Command Line Tools), and the Metal toolchain:

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch
sudo xcodebuild -downloadComponent MetalToolchain
xcrun metal --version   # should print a version

Then:

git clone https://github.com/situmorang-com/file-explorer.git
cd file-explorer
cargo run --release -- ~/code   # or any starting directory

For a real .app bundle (drag into /Applications):

cargo install cargo-bundle
cargo bundle --release
open "target/release/bundle/osx/File Explorer.app"

Optionally drop a 1024×1024 PNG and run ./scripts/make-icon.sh icon.png to bundle a custom icon.

Keyboard map

Navigation

Key	Action
↑ ↓ / Ctrl+J Ctrl+K / Ctrl+N Ctrl+P	Move selection
Ctrl+D Ctrl+U	Half-page down/up
PageDown PageUp	Page down/up
Home End / ⌘↑ ⌘↓	Jump to first/last
Tab	Descend into selected folder
Shift+Tab / Backspace (empty query)	Go to parent
Enter	Open (or jump-to-line in content mode)
⌘Enter	Reveal in Finder
Space	Quick Look preview

Search & mode

Key	Action
Any printable	Append to query
Backspace	Delete query char (or ascend if empty)
⌘F	Toggle content search (ripgrep mode)
⌘L	"Go to" path bar
⌘J	Cycle sort: relevance / name / size / modified
⌘H	Toggle hidden files
⌘R	Refresh / re-walk

File operations

Key	Action
⌘C	Copy path(s) of selection / marked
⌘⇧C	Copy basename(s)
⌘V	Paste-move clipboard paths into selected folder
⌘⌫	Move selection / marked to Trash
F2	Rename
⌘F2	Batch rename marked (find/replace template, live preview)
⌘⇧N	New folder
⌘⌥N	New file
⌘Z	Undo

Selection

Key	Action
⌘+Click	Toggle mark on row
Shift+Click	Range-mark from last anchor
⌘A	Mark all visible results
⌘D	Clear marks

Tabs & windows

Key	Action
⌘T	New tab
⌘W	Close tab
⌘⇧] ⌘⇧[	Next / previous tab
⌘N	New window
⌘1–⌘6	Jump to pinned location
⌘B	Bookmark current root
⌘\	Toggle file tree pane
⌘,	Settings overlay
Esc	Close overlay / quit

Text editing in modals

Path bar, Rename, Create, Batch rename all support:

• ← → (chars), ⌥← ⌥→ (words), ⌘← ⌘→ / Home End (line)
• Backspace, ⌥Backspace, ⌘Backspace, Delete
• Shift + any motion above to extend selection
• ⌘A select all, ⌘C copy, ⌘X cut, ⌘V paste

Configuration

Files live under ~/.config/file-explorer/:

File	What it stores
settings.txt	show_hidden=true/false, sort=relevance/name/size/modified
session.txt	Open tabs with per-tab root, query, sort, selected index
bookmarks.txt	One bookmark path per line
recents.txt	Last 8 visited roots
undo.txt	Persisted undo stack (capped at 50 actions)

Architecture

• src/main.rs — UI and Explorer state machine
• src/index.rs — parallel ignore::WalkBuilder streaming into Nucleo
• src/content_search.rs — ripgrep-style file-content search
• src/watcher.rs — notify filesystem watcher with debounce
• src/highlight.rs — syntect + two-face syntax highlighting
• src/settings.rs — settings file parser
• src/updater.rs — GitHub Releases version check

What's not in here yet

• External drag-out to other apps (gpui doesn't expose NSDraggingSource; needs a small objc2 shim).
• Full Sparkle auto-update (currently it only checks for updates and opens the release page).
• Linux / Windows ports — would mean a different renderer.
• Tree-pane keyboard navigation.

Acknowledgements

Built on GPUI by Zed Industries. Search powered by nucleo (Helix) and the grep crates (ripgrep). Syntax highlighting by syntect + two-face.