FTB - Terminal File Browser

A terminal-based file browser, built with C++17 and FTXUI. Features a three-column layout (parent / current / preview), vim-like keybindings, syntax-highlighted file preview, and a rich theme system.

FTB operation in windows terminal(wsl2)

• Left: Parent directory listing
• Center: Current directory with file icons and type-based coloring
• Right: Context-aware preview panel (file metadata, text with syntax highlighting, image rendering, directory contents)

• Copy (y), Cut (x), Paste (p)
• Delete (Delete / Ctrl+D)
• Create new file / folder (via command mode)
• Rename (via command mode)
• Clipboard management with visual indicator
• Open files with default system program (Enter)
• Configurable openers with rules-based matching (Ctrl+B → op/ow)

• j/k or Arrow keys to navigate
• h to go to parent directory, l to enter directory
• / to search, Ctrl+B prefix mode for commands
• Built-in Vim-like text editor with undo/redo, search/replace, and Markdown preview

• Built-in keyword-based highlighter supporting 40+ languages (C/C++, Python, Rust, Go, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, etc.)
• 16 token types: keyword, string, comment, number, function, type, operator, preprocessor, and more
• Optional tree-sitter backend for advanced parsing (build with -DFTB_ENABLE_TREE_SITTER=ON)
• Theme-aware colors that adapt to the active theme

• Renders JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF images in the terminal
• Unicode half-block character rendering (built-in, no dependencies)
• Optional libchafa backend for better quality (-DFTB_ENABLE_LIBCHAFA=ON)
• Optional libsixel backend for native terminal image output (-DFTB_ENABLE_LIBSIXEL=ON)
• Extensible protocol layer: supports sixel currently, with architecture ready for Kitty, iTerm2, and other terminal image protocols

18 built-in themes with full syntax color support:

• Real-time theme switching via command mode (:theme)
• JSON config file (~/.ftb) for persistent customization
• Per-theme syntax highlighting colors

Press Ctrl+B to enter prefix mode, then type commands:

• Asynchronous file I/O for non-blocking UI
• LRU cache for directory contents
• Object pooling for Vim editor instances
• Lazy loading for preview content
• Configurable refresh intervals

• TypeScript/JavaScript plugins with sandboxed execution
• Permission-based API (fs, clipboard, env, subprocess)
• Plugin manager panel (:plugin)
• Auto-discovery from ~/.config/ftb/plugins/
• Hot reload support
• See Plugin Guide for details

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y \
    libftxui-dev nlohmann-json3-dev cmake g++

# Optional: native sixel image support
sudo apt-get install -y libsixel-dev

mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make -j$(nproc)

# Disable Nerd Font icons (use ASCII fallback)
cmake .. -DFTB_ENABLE_ICONS=OFF

# Enable SSH support
cmake .. -DFTB_ENABLE_SSH=ON

# Enable tree-sitter syntax highlighting
cmake .. -DFTB_ENABLE_TREE_SITTER=ON

# Enable libchafa image preview
cmake .. -DFTB_ENABLE_LIBCHAFA=ON

# Enable libsixel native image output 
cmake .. -DFTB_ENABLE_LIBSIXEL=ON

# Disable plugin system
cmake .. -DFTB_ENABLE_PLUGINS=OFF

# Use interactive script for building
chmod +x ./build.sh
./build.sh

Run FTB in a container without installing dependencies locally:

# Build with mirror (recommended in China)
docker build --build-arg GIT_MIRROR=https://gh-proxy.com/https://github.com -t ftb .

# Run
docker run -it --rm -v ~/.ftb:/root/.ftb -v ~/:/mnt/host ftb

See Docker Guide for details.

# Launch in current directory
./FTB

# Launch in specific directory
./FTB /path/to/directory

# With performance logging
./FTB -l

# Specify config file
./FTB --config /path/to/config.ftb

See Keyboard Shortcuts for the full reference.

Copy the template and edit:

cp config/.ftb.template ~/.ftb

The config file uses JSON format. Key sections:

• colors - UI colors (main, files, status, search, dialog, syntax)
• style - Icons, file size, mouse support, hidden files
• layout - Column ratios and items per page
• theme - Active theme name
• ssh - Default SSH port and timeout
• bookmarks - Named directory bookmarks

See Configuration Guide for details.

• Keyboard Shortcuts (中文)
• Configuration Guide (配置指南)
• Plugin Guide (插件系统)
• External Prerequisites (外部依赖)
• Docker Guide (Docker 支持)
• Contributing Guide

MIT