wade

A terminal file browser with Miller columns, written in C#.

Pre-built binaries support Windows and Linux. macOS is supported when built from source.

Inspired by yazi, broot, and ranger.

Features

• Miller columns — three-pane layout: parent / current directory / preview; preview pane can be hidden for a 2-pane layout via preview_pane_enabled config
• File-type icons — Nerd Fonts v3 glyphs per file extension (enabled by default; requires a Nerd Font)
• Syntax highlighting — per-token coloring for common languages using a hand-rolled tokenizer; VS Code Dark+ inspired palette
• File preview — displays first 100 lines of text files; multiple preview modes per file type (source, hex dump, git diff, archive contents, image, etc.) switchable via p or the "Change preview" submenu in the action palette (Ctrl+P); zip-format archives (.zip, .jar, .war, .ear, .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .odt, .ods, .odp, .apk, .vsix, .whl, .epub) show a content listing with entry names and sizes (toggle with zip_preview_enabled config, default: on); PDF files render the first page as a Sixel image (requires pdftopng from xpdf on PATH; toggle with pdf_preview_enabled config, default: on); MSI installer files show an installer file listing (Windows only)
• File metadata — structured metadata displayed above the preview pane and in the properties overlay (i key); all files show filename and git status (when inside a repo); format-specific providers add richer detail: images (.png, .jpg, .gif, .bmp, .webp, etc.) show resolution, format, color depth, frame count (animated GIFs), and EXIF data (camera, date taken, exposure, focal length, GPS, software); NuGet packages (.nupkg, .snupkg) show Id, Version, Authors, Description, Tags, License, and Dependencies; executables (.exe, .dll) show PE metadata (architecture, subsystem, timestamp), .NET assembly info, and Win32 version info on Windows; Office documents (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) show document metadata (title, author, dates, keywords) and statistics (page/word/slide counts, sheet names); zip-based archives (.zip, .jar, .nupkg, .docx, etc.) show file count, total size, compressed size, and compression ratio; PDF files show title, author, subject, creator, and page count (requires pdfinfo from xpdf on PATH); media files (.mp3, .mp4, .mkv, .flac, etc.) show format, duration, codec, resolution, bitrate, and audio details (requires ffprobe or mediainfo on PATH); MSI installer files (.msi) show ProductName, Version, Manufacturer, ProductCode, UpgradeCode, and summary info via the Windows Installer database API (Windows only)
• Image preview — renders image thumbnails in the preview pane using Sixel graphics (auto-detects Sixel support; works with Windows Terminal v1.22+, kitty, WezTerm, and other Sixel-capable terminals; enabled by default; disable with image_previews_enabled = false in config)
• Expanded preview — press Right/Enter on a file to expand the preview to full terminal width; scroll with Up/Down/J/K/PageUp/PageDown/Home/End/mouse wheel; press Left/Escape to collapse back to 3-pane view
• Directory preview — shows contents of the selected directory
• Drive navigation — browse across drives on Windows (Backspace from a drive root); drive type detection distinguishes SSD from HDD (Windows via DeviceIoControl, Linux via /sys/block), with Network and Removable detection via DriveInfo; properties overlay shows detected drive type
• Detail columns — file size and modification date in the center pane; each column toggleable independently via size_column_enabled / date_column_enabled config; columns adapt responsively as the terminal narrows (full date → date only → short date → size only → name only); directory sizes computed asynchronously and displayed inline, gated per drive type (dir_size_ssd_enabled default on, dir_size_hdd_enabled and dir_size_network_enabled default off)
• Git status — files and directories colored by git status (modified=yellow, staged=cyan, untracked=green, conflict=red); Nerd Font status icons shown in a dedicated column between the filename and size; directory-level aggregate status; branch name with branch icon shown in status bar; async loading for large repos (toggle with git_status_enabled config, default: on)
• Git actions in action palette — git-related actions are available in the action palette (Ctrl+P), prefixed with "Git:" and shown only when actionable; includes diff preview for modified/staged files (select "Git diff" via "Change preview" submenu; colored diff output with added/removed/hunk highlighting), stage/unstage files (single or multi-select), stage all changes, unstage all, commit with message, push, push (force with lease), pull, pull (rebase), and fetch
• Status bar — current path, git branch name with ahead/behind commit counts (↑/↓), item count, file type label (language name, "Text", or "Binary"), encoding (UTF-8, UTF-8 BOM, UTF-16 LE/BE), line endings (CRLF, LF, CR, Mixed), file size, and sort indicator
• Hidden files toggle — dotfiles and system-hidden files are hidden by default; press . to toggle visibility at runtime, or set show_hidden_files = true in config; on Windows, system files (e.g. $Recycle.Bin) can be shown separately via show_system_files = true in config
• Sort order — sort by name (default), modification time, size, or extension; press s to cycle modes, S to reverse direction; directories always listed first; configurable via sort_mode and sort_ascending in config; current sort mode shown in status bar
• Go-to-path bar — press g to type an arbitrary path and jump to it; Tab auto-completes from the filesystem; navigates to directories or selects files
• Filter — press / to type a query that narrows visible entries in real-time; Enter persists the filter, Escape clears it; filter auto-clears on directory change
• Multi-select — press Space to mark/unmark entries for future bulk operations; marks are path-based and survive scrolling and filtering; marked entries highlighted with a distinct background; mark count shown in status bar
• Cloud file handling — OneDrive, Dropbox, and other cloud-synced placeholder files are detected automatically (Windows only); retains the original file-type icon with a cloud status icon in the status column; dim styling; metadata pane shows filename and "Cloud: not downloaded"; preview pane shows "[cloud file – not downloaded]" instead of attempting to read the file; properties overlay shows "Cloud file" in the Attributes field
• Symlink awareness — symlinks shown with dedicated icons, cyan text, and → target suffix; broken symlinks highlighted in red; preview pane shows "[broken symlink]" for broken symlinks
• Symlink creation — press Ctrl+L to create a symbolic link to the selected item; prompts for the link name
• File actions — open files with default app, rename, delete (with optional confirmation), copy/cut/paste with OS clipboard interop (files copied in wade can be pasted in Explorer and vice versa; Windows only); multi-select supported for delete/copy/cut; delete confirmation can be toggled via confirm_delete_enabled config
• Copy path to clipboard — press y to copy the selected item's absolute path to the OS clipboard; press Y to copy the path relative to the git repo root (shows an error if not inside a git repo); works in both normal view and expanded preview mode
• Mouse support — click to select entries in any pane, scroll wheel to navigate; left/right pane clicks navigate directories; right-click opens a context menu with common file actions (open, rename, delete, copy, cut, paste, properties, git stage/unstage)
• File properties — press i to open a scrollable properties overlay showing detailed metadata: name, full path, type (extension-based labels like "PDF" or "C#", symlink-aware labels like "Symlink → File"), link target, formatted size with raw bytes (directories calculate size asynchronously), created/modified/accessed timestamps, file attributes, read-only status, git status (colored: modified=yellow, staged=cyan, untracked=green, conflict=red), and extracted file metadata when available (NuGet package info, PE/assembly details, Office document properties, media info); scroll with arrow keys, Page Up/Down, Home/End when content exceeds screen height
• Markdown preview — renders markdown files with styled headings, lists, code blocks (with syntax highlighting), blockquotes, tables, links, and more using a built-in Markdig-based renderer (no external tools needed; enabled by default)
• In-app configuration — press , to open a config dialog with toggleable options organized in a hierarchy: icons, hidden/system files, sort mode/direction, columns, delete confirmation, copy-symlinks-as-links, terminal title, git status, right pane (with nested file details and file previews sub-groups controlling metadata providers and preview providers independently); changes are saved directly to the config file
• Bookmarks — press b to open a filterable bookmarks dialog; press B to toggle the current directory as a bookmark; quick-jump with 1-9, Enter to navigate, d/Delete to remove; bookmarks persist to ~/.config/wade/bookmarks in MRU order
• File finder — press Ctrl+F to recursively search for files by name in the current directory tree; type to filter, Up/Down to navigate, Enter to open the file. Automatically skips .git directories and respects hidden/system file visibility settings
• Action palette — press Ctrl+P or Ctrl+K to open a searchable action palette listing all available commands; type to filter, Up/Down to navigate, Enter to execute; supports submenus (e.g., "Change preview" opens a submenu of available preview modes for the selected file)
• Shell integration — press Ctrl+T to open a new terminal in the current directory; use shell wrapper functions (wd) to cd to the final directory on exit (bash, zsh, fish, PowerShell wrappers provided)
• Terminal title — sets the terminal tab title to the current directory; uses xterm title stack to restore the original title on exit (toggle with terminal_title_enabled config, default: on)
• Auto-refresh — file list updates automatically when files are created, deleted, renamed, or modified externally (via FileSystemWatcher with 300ms debounce; selection preserved across refreshes)
• Wrap-around navigation — pressing Up at the top of a list jumps to the bottom, and Down at the bottom jumps to the top (applies to file list and settings dialog)
• Minimal rendering — raw VT/ANSI escape sequences, double-buffered with dirty-row tracking, cell diff, and style diffing

Requirements

• A terminal with VT/ANSI support (Windows Terminal, ConPTY-based terminals, or Unix/WSL terminals)

Installation

Scoop (Windows)

scoop bucket add lucaspimentel https://github.com/lucaspimentel/scoop-bucket
scoop install wade

From GitHub releases (no build tools needed)

./install-remote.ps1

Or as a one-liner:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lucaspimentel/wade/main/install-remote.ps1 | iex

From source

Requires .NET 10 SDK.

./install-local.ps1

Both scripts install to ~/.local/bin/wade. Ensure that directory is in your PATH.

Usage

wade              # open in current directory
wade C:\Users     # open in a specific directory

Configuration

Config file

~/.config/wade/config.toml

show_icons_enabled = true
show_hidden_files = false
show_system_files = false       # Windows only; requires show_hidden_files
sort_mode = name                # name, modified, size, extension
sort_ascending = true
confirm_delete_enabled = true
preview_pane_enabled = true
size_column_enabled = true
date_column_enabled = true
copy_symlinks_as_links_enabled = true
terminal_title_enabled = true
git_status_enabled = true
file_metadata_enabled = true
archive_metadata_enabled = true
dir_size_ssd_enabled = true
dir_size_hdd_enabled = false
dir_size_network_enabled = false
file_previews_enabled = true
image_previews_enabled = true
zip_preview_enabled = true
pdf_preview_enabled = true
pdf_metadata_enabled = true
markdown_preview_enabled = true
ffprobe_enabled = true
mediainfo_enabled = true

CLI flags

wade --version                         # print version and exit
wade --show-config                     # print current config as JSON and exit
wade --config-file=/path/to/config     # use a custom config file
wade --help                            # print usage info and exit
wade -h                                # same as --help

Shell integration (cd on exit)

Wade can change your shell's working directory when you quit with q. Source the appropriate wrapper function in your shell config:

Bash / Zsh — add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

source /path/to/wade/shell/wd.sh

Fish — copy to ~/.config/fish/functions/ or source in config.fish:

source /path/to/wade/shell/wd.fish

PowerShell — add to your $PROFILE:

. /path/to/wade/shell/wd.ps1

Then use wd instead of wade to browse. Press q to quit and cd to the last directory, or Q to quit without changing directory.

Keybindings

Key	Action
Up / k	Move selection up
Down / j	Move selection down
Right / l / Enter	Open directory / expand preview
Left / h / Backspace	Go back / collapse preview
Page Up / Page Down	Scroll by page
Home / End	Jump to first / last item
Left Click	Select / Open
Right Click	Context menu
Scroll	Navigate up/down
Ctrl+R / F5	Refresh
Ctrl+T	Open terminal here
.	Toggle hidden files
s	Cycle sort (name / time / size / ext)
S	Reverse sort direction
g	Go to path (Esc clears input, Up goes up a directory)
b	Open bookmarks dialog
B	Toggle current directory as bookmark
/	Filter
Esc (in filter)	Clear filter
Space	Toggle mark (multi-select)
o	Open with default app
F2	Rename
Del	Delete (Recycle Bin on Windows)
Shift+Del	Delete permanently
c	Copy
x	Cut
v	Paste
y	Copy absolute path to clipboard
Y	Copy git-relative path to clipboard
n	Create new file
Shift+N	Create new directory
Ctrl+L	Create symlink to selected item
p	Change preview (when multiple preview modes available)
i	Properties
,	Configuration
Ctrl+F	Search / Find file
Ctrl+P / Ctrl+K	Action palette
?	Show help
q / Escape	Quit
Q	Quit without cd

Building

dotnet build Wade.slnx
dotnet test Wade.slnx

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Development

This project was developed with Claude Code 🤖