vcom

vcom is a terminal file manager inspired by Midnight Commander and built with Charm's TUI stack.

Why vcom

• Two-pane workflow focused on keyboard speed
• Built-in preview/info pane for the active selection
• Asynchronous copy/move with progress and background mode
• Theme support and configurable layout/columns

Interface

vcom has two browser panes:

• active pane: navigation and file operations
• passive pane: target pane for copy/move operations

The preview/info mode (F9 / i) temporarily replaces the inactive pane and shows:

• directory listing preview
• text file preview with syntax highlighting
• image metadata (format + dimensions)
• safe fallback for binary files

Features

• Two-pane file browser
• Preview/info pane with metadata block
• Read-only view mode (F3 / v)
• External editor support (F4 / e)
• Rename (F2 / r)
• Copy (F5 / c), move (F6 / m), mkdir (F7 / n), delete (F8 / x)
• Multi-selection and batch operations
• Copy/move progress modal with background mode
• Directory size calculation (Space)
• Sorting cycle (s) and hidden files toggle (.)
• Runtime theme cycle (t)

Default keys

• Tab / h / l: switch active pane
• j / Down: move down
• k / Up: move up
• Shift+Down / J: extend selection down
• Shift+Up / K: extend selection up
• Enter / Right: open selected entry
• Backspace / Left: go to parent directory
• Esc: clear marked entries / close current modal
• Ctrl+r: refresh both panes
• F1 / ?: help
• F2 / r: rename selected entry
• F3 / v: view selected file (read-only mode)
• F4 / e: edit selected file
• F5 / c: copy
• F6 / m: move
• F7 / n: create directory
• F8 / x: delete
• F9 / i: toggle info/preview pane
• F10 / q: quit

Build and run

Run directly:

go run ./cmd/vcom

Build local binary:

go build -o vcom ./cmd/vcom

Installation

NixOS / Nix

Run directly from the flake:

nix run github:vrubelroman/vcom?ref=v0.1.2

Install into user profile:

nix profile add github:vrubelroman/vcom?ref=v0.1.2

Debian / Ubuntu

Download the release .deb for v0.1.2, then install:

sudo apt install ./vcom_0.1.2_amd64.deb

Arch Linux

A PKGBUILD is included in the repository:

makepkg -si

Configuration

Optional config lookup order:

1. -config /path/to/vcom.toml
2. ./vcom.toml
3. ./config/vcom.toml
4. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vcom/vcom.toml
5. ~/.config/vcom/vcom.toml

Reference config: vcom.toml

Themes

Built-in themes:

• catppuccin-mocha (default)
• tokyo-night
• gruvbox-dark
• nord-frost

Releases

Pushing a tag like v0.1.2 triggers GitHub Actions release workflow (.github/workflows/release.yml) which:

• runs tests
• vendors Go modules
• builds release binary
• builds Debian package
• publishes release assets

Release artifacts:

• vcom-v0.1.2-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
• vcom_0.1.2_amd64.deb
• vcom-v0.1.2-checksums.txt

Notes

• File creation time depends on filesystem/OS support; unavailable values are shown as n/a.
• Inline image rendering is intentionally disabled for now due to terminal compatibility differences.

Architecture notes: docs/architecture.md