stiff

stiff is a keyboard-first file manager aimed at fast, feature-rich file exploration.

Current Status

The current application direction is a GPUI shell with one browser pane by default, optional splits, and file previews presented in their own pane.

The application UI is under active development with GPUI, the UI framework developed by Zed. The single application binary is stiff.

Current Experience

• Single-pane browsing by default, with an optional second browser pane.
• Independent browser-tab stacks in each pane.
• Vim-style navigation and file operations, including numeric movement counts.
• A preview pane opened with gp, sharing the window with the active browser.
• Background preview preloading after selection settles, with a loading skeleton while work is in progress.
• Bounded text reads and incremental extension when scrolling, so previewing a text file does not require loading the complete file.
• Pluggable preview handling for text, archive listings, and binary content.
• Dot-hidden entries and .gitignore matches hidden independently by default.
• Parent navigation with h, without a synthetic .. entry in the listing.

Key Map

Browsing

Key	Action
j / k	Move down / up
J / K	Move down / up by a page step
gg / G	Jump to top / bottom
0	Select the first row
h / l	Open parent / open selected entry
s	Toggle a second browser pane
w, Tab, Ctrl+I	Switch browser pane
tn / tc	Open / close a browser tab
tl / th	Switch to next / previous browser tab
r / R	Reload
gh	Toggle dot-hidden entries
gH	Toggle gitignored entries
Ctrl+G	Quick jump
Alt+F7	Search filenames recursively
Alt+Shift+F7	Search filenames in the current directory
?	Open the key map

Counts apply to movement and jumps, for example 5j and 12G.

Filename search is case-insensitive and respects the active pane's hidden and gitignore visibility settings. Alt+F7 searches the current tree, while Alt+Shift+F7 limits the scope to the current directory. Press Escape to cancel input or close results and restore the prior listing; opening a result navigates to its parent and selects it.

Files and Selection

Key	Action
v	Toggle mark on selected entry
V	Toggle all marks
uv / uV	Clear marks
yy	Copy selection
yp / yn	Copy path / name
yf / yc	Copy files / file contents
dd	Mark selection for move
pp	Paste
gc	Cancel the active file-operation task
dD / x	Delete
cw / C	Rename
nd	Create directory
gp	Toggle preview pane

Preview Pane

Key	Action
gp	Open or close preview for the selected entry
Ctrl+W, then j or l	Focus preview pane
Ctrl+W, then h or k	Focus browser pane
Ctrl+W, then w	Toggle pane focus
j / l, k / h	Scroll down / up while preview is focused
Ctrl+D / Ctrl+U	Scroll preview by a half page

Moving the browser selection dismisses the displayed preview while retaining cached preview data within the current directory. Changing directory clears that cached state.

Paste conflicts prompt for skip, overwrite, automatic rename, or cancellation. Holding Shift while choosing skip, overwrite, or rename applies that policy to the remaining batch. File operations run through the status-bar task queue, which reports item/byte progress and retains completion or failure summaries.

Architecture

The GPUI code separates browsing state, input interpretation, presentation, and background work:

Path	Responsibility
src/main.rs	GPUI application entry point
src/shell/	App state, rendering, pane focus, and asynchronous operation execution
src/features/file_browser/	Directory state, command effects, components, visibility policy, and preview handlers
src/features/keybind/	Vim-style command registry and dispatch
src/features/clipboard/	Clipboard state and copy/move behavior
src/features/layout/	Single and dual browser pane layout policy
src/core/	Filesystem models and shared low-level helpers

Directory reads and preview preparation run away from rendering. Preview content is modeled independently of its renderer, allowing format-specific handlers and future loading policies without coupling them to pane UI code.

Direction

stiff is moving toward a general pane and tab workspace, rather than treating two browser panels as the permanent default. The current preview system provides the first split-pane workflow and the foundation for:

• additional file-format preview handlers;
• navigable archive previews;
• viewport-aware caching and preloading policies;
• explicit memory offloading strategies for large content; and
• tabs and more flexible pane arrangements.

Build and Verify

Run the GPUI application:

cargo run --bin stiff -- /path/to/dir

Run the checks used for the current GPUI work:

cargo fmt --check
cargo test --lib
cargo clippy --lib --bin stiff -- -D warnings
cargo check --bin stiff

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for repository layout, testing, and code style.