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

Layout & Navigation

• Miller columns — three-pane layout (parent / current / preview), each pane independently hideable
• Column headers — labeled header row with separator line in all panes; adapts to visible columns and drive view
• Detail columns — file size and modification date with responsive column tiers; async directory sizes (gated per drive type)
• Drive navigation — browse drives on Windows with file system, free/total space, and percent-full bar columns; SSD/HDD detection
• File-type icons — Nerd Fonts v3 glyphs per extension
• Sort order — by name, date, size, or extension (s to cycle, S to reverse)
• Filter — / to narrow entries in real-time
• Go-to-path — Ctrl+G with Tab autocomplete
• File finder — Ctrl+F recursive breadth-first search with fuzzy matching and highlighted results
• Bookmarks — b to open, B to toggle; persists in MRU order
• Hidden files — . to toggle; separate system files toggle on Windows

Preview & Metadata

• File preview — text, hex, git diff, archive contents, images (Sixel), PDF (via pdftopng), MSI file listing, and Markdown (built-in Markdig renderer); multiple modes per file switchable via p
• Expanded preview — Right/Enter expands to full width; scrollable
• Image preview — Sixel graphics (Windows Terminal 1.22+, kitty, WezTerm, etc.)
• File metadata — structured metadata above preview and in properties overlay (i); format-specific providers for images (EXIF), executables (PE/.NET), Office docs, NuGet packages, archives, PDF, media files, and MSI installers
• File properties — i for scrollable overlay with timestamps, attributes, git status, and extracted metadata

Git Integration

• Git status — color-coded files/dirs (modified, staged, untracked, conflict); status icons; branch name with ahead/behind counts in status bar
• Git actions — action palette (Ctrl+P) offers diff preview, stage/unstage, commit, push, pull, fetch

File Operations

• File actions — open, rename, delete (with confirmation), copy/cut/paste with Windows clipboard interop; multi-select supported
• Copy path — y for absolute path, Y for git-relative path
• Symlinks — visual distinction with target display; Ctrl+L to create
• Cloud files — auto-detected OneDrive/Dropbox placeholders shown with cloud icon (Windows)

Interface

• Mouse support — click, scroll, right-click context menu in all panes
• Action palette — Ctrl+P / Ctrl+K searchable command list with submenus
• In-app config — , opens hierarchical settings dialog
• Status bar — path, git branch, item count, file type, encoding, line endings, size, sort mode
• Shell integration — Ctrl+T opens terminal; wd wrapper for cd-on-exit (bash, zsh, fish, PowerShell)
• Auto-refresh — FileSystemWatcher with 300ms debounce
• Terminal title — shows current directory; clears on exit
• Minimal rendering — raw VT/ANSI, double-buffered with dirty-row tracking

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
parent_pane_enabled = true
preview_pane_enabled = true
size_column_enabled = true
date_column_enabled = true
column_headers_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
Ctrl+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 🤖