Yazi — Blazing Fast Terminal File Manager in Rust

What it is

Yazi is a terminal file manager written in Rust, built on async I/O for speed. It supports image and video previews directly in the terminal, fuzzy search, batch rename operations, and a plugin system. It integrates with tools like fzf, zoxide, and ripgrep.

Developers and power users who navigate large project directories from the terminal will find Yazi faster and more feature-rich than traditional file managers like ranger or lf.

How it saves time or tokens

Yazi's async architecture means file listings and previews load without blocking the UI. Tab support, bookmarks, and fuzzy search reduce the number of keystrokes needed to navigate complex directory trees. Batch rename with regex replaces shell one-liners.

How to use

1. Install Yazi via your package manager or cargo.
2. Launch with yazi in your terminal.
3. Navigate with vim-like keybindings (h/j/k/l).
4. Customize via ~/.config/yazi/ configuration files.

# Install on macOS
brew install yazi

# Install via cargo
cargo install --locked yazi-fm yazi-cli

# Launch
yazi

Example

Yazi supports shell integration for changing directories on exit:

# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
function y() {
  local tmp="$(mktemp -t 'yazi-cwd.XXXXXX')" cwd
  yazi "$@" --cwd-file="$tmp"
  if cwd="$(command cat -- "$tmp")" && [ -n "$cwd" ] && [ "$cwd" != "$PWD" ]; then
    builtin cd -- "$cwd"
  fi
  rm -f -- "$tmp"
}

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Common pitfalls

• Image preview requires a terminal emulator with graphics protocol support (Kitty, iTerm2, or Sixel-capable terminals).
• The plugin system uses Lua. Check plugin compatibility with your Yazi version before installing.
• Some keybindings conflict with tmux defaults. Adjust your tmux prefix or Yazi keymap accordingly.