FileManagerTUI vs pointer

FileManagerTUI is a free terminal file manager built with Rust and Ratatui, available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its dual-pane interface combines a file tree with a live preview and syntax highlighting. Users can navigate with Vim-style keys or arrow keys, search project files with a Ctrl+P fuzzy finder, and filter directories inline. File operations include creating, renaming, deleting, copying, cutting, pasting, and undoing. The inline editor supports syntax highlighting, undo and redo, find and replace, auto-indent, text selection, and mouse cursor positioning. An integrated PTY shell panel uses VT100 emulation, and notebook previews render Jupyter cells with syntax highlighting. Files over a configurable threshold use a head/tail preview mode. The software can browse S3 buckets through the AWS CLI, but that mode is read-only and requires valid AWS credentials. Building from source requires a Rust toolchain. It is distributed under the MIT License, which permits use, modification, distribution, sublicensing, and resale; the software is provided without warranty or liability.

Pointer is a free, open-source terminal file manager for Linux and macOS. It presents files in a two-pane layout with configurable width ratios and border styles, plus previews with syntax highlighting for more than 20 languages and inline image display through kitty, sixel, or w3m protocols. Archives including zip, tar, gz, bz2, xz, rar, and 7z can be browsed and edited as virtual directories. File operations include asynchronous copying and moving, undo for several actions, and deletion with a flag-then-purge process and default confirmation. Pointer supports SSH/SFTP remote browsing, filename and content search, extension or regex filters, bookmarks, tabs, and file-picker mode. JSON-manifest plugins bind external commands to keys. The README describes OpenAI integration and Claude-powered descriptions and sessions. Linux and macOS binaries are listed for x86_64 and aarch64.