Panes

A pane is a filterable, sortable, previewable list of paths. Every feature in f:ist is a pane — the only difference is where the list comes from.

Overview

Pane	Source	Open it	Sortable	Visibility
Nav	A directory on disk	fs, ← / →	Yes	Yes
Find	Recursive search (fd)	ctrl-f, fs :fd	Yes	Yes
Search	Full-text matches (ripgrep)	ctrl-r, fs :rg	Yes, no size	Yes
Files / Folders	Visit history (SQLite)	ctrl-g, fs :file	db sorts	—
Apps	Installed applications	fs :open, Open With	db sorts	—
Stash	A named stash (db or memory)	alt-shift-s, alt-shift-b	Yes	—
Custom	A command's output / stdin	fs :custom	Yes	Yes

Sorting and visibility are covered in depth on their own pages: Sorting and Visibility.

Panes are interchangeable once open: preview, filtering, sorting, selection, file actions, and undo/redo behave identically everywhere.

Nav

The directory browser — the pane you start in and the one you return to.

• Enter accepts: directories cd in, files open via the lessfilter edit preset.
• ← / → go to parent / advance into the selection.
• Sorted by mtime by default, configurable through panes.nav.default_sort (see Sorting).
• Visibility adapts to the directory: dotfiles are shown inside git repositories, and a directory containing only hidden files shows them automatically (see Visibility).

Find (fd)

Recursive filename search, backed by fd. Results stream in and are immediately filterable, sortable, and previewable.

• ctrl-f searches the current directory; fs pattern and fs :fd from the shell.
• The last positional argument is the query (fs ~/gh tokio searches for tokio under ~/gh).
• Queries starting with . automatically include hidden files.
• -t is overloaded: file types (f, d, l, …), extensions (.rs), preset categories (image, video, …), and custom categories. fs :tool types prints the full catalog.

See The find pane (fd).

Search (rg)

Full-text search of file contents, backed by ripgrep. Each result is a file path plus a context column with the matching lines.

• ctrl-r in-app; fs :rg (alias fs :) from the shell.
• Query mode re-runs ripgrep as you type; filter mode narrows already-loaded results. ctrl-r toggles.
• % switches the filter to the context column.
• Advancing on a match sets HIGHLIGHT_LINE / HIGHLIGHT_COLUMN so editors open at the match.

See The search pane (rg).

Files / Folders

Your visited paths, drawn from the SQLite database and ranked by recency × frequency — the same ranking the z shell function uses.

• ctrl-g opens both; fs :file / fs :dir from the shell.
• Sort by name / atime / count / frecency (n / t / c / f in the options overlay).
• fs :dir --cd query prints the best match and exits — that's what z calls.

See History & the database.

Apps

Applications installed on your system (.desktop files, .app bundles). Pick a launch method for a set of files.

• fs :open opens the apps pane; fs :open file.pdf opens directly.
• fs :open -w prog files opens with a specific program.
• In-app: menu → Open With (W), which preloads the current selection.
• The second column shows the command / alias.

Stash

Named, cross-session collections of paths. Two families in practice:

• Scratch (alt-s push / alt-shift-s open): the unnamed stash is transient by default — in-memory, empty each run. Good for a throwaway working set.
• Bookmarks (alt-b / alt-shift-b): a persistent, db-backed stash. Configure kind = "prune" and insert = "skip" under [panes.stashes.bookmark] for permanent references.

Inside a stash pane, delete / shift-delete remove entries from the stash — the underlying files are untouched.

See Stash panes.

Custom (Stream)

Any list of paths — a command's output or stdin — becomes a first-class pane. The full story, including the markdown-notes script example, is on The custom pane.

fd -t md | fs :custom                       # browse stdin
fs :custom fd -t md --max-depth 2           # or run the command
find . -name '*.log' | fs :custom --tail-sep $'\t'

See The custom pane for the complete flag reference.

Pane transitions

• Undo / Redo (ctrl-z / ctrl-shift-z) walk the pane stack.
• Each pane type has its own settings under [panes.*] (preview visibility, prompt locking, default sort) — see Configuration.
• New panes apply their pane's default sort when you switch to them (apply_default_sort).

FAQ

Can I jump between a search and a folder without losing my place?

Yes — ctrl-z / ctrl-shift-z walk the whole pane stack, across find, search, history, and nav panes.

Do all panes support the same actions?

Yes. Preview, edit, queue, trash, selection, and custom actions work identically in every pane.

What happens to a stash entry when I delete it in the stash pane?

The entry is removed from the stash only; the file on disk is untouched.