broot — A Better Way to Navigate Directories

What it is

broot is a terminal-based file manager and directory navigator written in Rust. It displays your filesystem as an interactive tree with fuzzy search, built-in file operations (copy, move, delete), git status integration, and file previews. It replaces the tree | less and find | grep workflows with a single interactive tool.

It targets developers and power users who spend significant time navigating codebases and file systems from the command line and want a faster, more visual approach.

How it saves time or tokens

Finding a file in a large codebase typically involves multiple find or fd commands, piping to grep, and manually cd-ing through directories. broot lets you type a partial filename and instantly see matching files across the entire tree, with the directory structure preserved for context. Navigation and file operations happen in place without switching tools.

How to use

1. Install broot: brew install broot (macOS), cargo install broot (from source), or download from the releases page.
2. Run broot in any directory to open the interactive tree view.
3. Start typing to fuzzy-search. Use arrow keys to navigate. Press Enter to cd into a directory or open a file.

Example

# Launch broot in the current directory
broot

# Launch with git status shown
broot --git-status

# Search for a file pattern
broot -f '*.rs'

# Use broot as a replacement for cd
# Add to shell config: alias br='broot'
br /path/to/project
# Navigate, then press alt+enter to cd into selected directory

Related on TokRepo

• Automation tools — Tools that streamline developer workflows
• Coding tools — Development environment and editor tools

Common pitfalls

• broot needs a shell function (installed on first run) to support cd-ing into directories. Without it, pressing Enter opens files but does not change your working directory.
• Very large directories (100K+ files) may have slower initial scans. Use .gitignore-aware mode or file filters to limit scope.
• Terminal color and font rendering varies. broot works best with a terminal that supports 256 colors and a nerd font for icons.