Coxswain

The one at the helm, who steers the boat and keeps the crew in time.

Coxswain is a two-panel file manager in the Norton Commander tradition, built for developers. It comes as a terminal app (Rust + Ratatui) and a desktop app (Tauri + Svelte 5). Both run on one shared Rust core and read the same config file.

The desktop app in Cyber, its default: a green phosphor terminal, glow and scanlines included. Seventeen more themes are one F9 away, from Norton Commander blue to Windows 95 and Mac OS 9; see themes.

• Norton Commander at heart. Blue panels in the terminal, F-key bar, command line, and NC's keys by default.
• Eighteen themes with the looks of their era. Cyber by default in the desktop app; Windows 3.11 to 11 and Mac System 7 to today come with their corners, bevels and fonts.
• Git in every panel. oh-my-posh style branch, ahead/behind, staged/modified/untracked counts and stashes, plus a glyph per file (Nerd Font, or ASCII).
• Search like Everything. Every file name on the machine sits in RAM and queries run in parallel: about 1.4M files index in ~0.2 s and answer in under 10 ms. Every window and the terminal app share one index.
• Search inside your files. Tab in Find file switches from names to the text of your files, with the passage that matched under each hit. It stays on your machine.
• See before you open. The desktop app previews over 60 file types: code, Markdown with Mermaid diagrams and math, Jupyter notebooks, Word, spreadsheets, PDFs, SQLite databases, JSON/YAML/TOML as trees, Parquet, certificates, e-mail, calendars, EPUB books, fonts, images, video and audio, plus the git diff of any changed file.
• Builds what needs building. LaTeX to PDF, Office and Visio files through LibreOffice, PlantUML, Graphviz, AsciiDoc and reStructuredText, with an installed tool or in a podman or docker container, so rarely used tools need not be installed. See the full list.
• Folder sizes, without asking. Both apps measure folders in the background and fill the sizes in as they come, on two threads so the machine stays yours.
• Plays well with the desktop. Delete goes to the trash, folders refresh themselves, files drag to and from other apps, and Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V share files with your other file manager.
• Finds duplicates. Ctrl+D compares folders and whole disks, old backups included, and finds duplicate files and folders by content, whatever they are called: sizes first, then BLAKE3 hashes, cached for next time. Mark the extra copies by rule and move them to the trash. See finding duplicates.
• Speaks your language. 18 languages, from British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand English to Danish, Finnish, the Baltic languages, Catalan, Basque and Hebrew (right to left). Coxswain picks your system's language, or the nearest one it has; Settings changes it.
• Configurable. Key bindings, color schemes, glyphs, user menu and fonts all live in one TOML file.

Find file: every file on the machine, in milliseconds	Themes with the look of their era
Thumbnails (Alt+V) with the preview pane (Space)	PDFs preview in place; the left pane shows git status
Archives list their contents; Ctrl+E extracts them	Miller columns with the preview pane

The preview pane (Space): Markdown with a Mermaid diagram and math, a Jupyter notebook, a spreadsheet, a Word document and a font.

YAML as a tree, a SQLite database's tables, a certificate about to expire, and an e-mail.

A calendar, the git diff of a changed file, a log colored by level, and an EPUB book.

A LaTeX document, built with tectonic; the buttons pick the engine, an installed program or a container. Multi-file projects build from any of their files: Coxswain finds the main document (% !TEX root), the engine (% !TEX program) and the project folder, like a LaTeX editor.

PlantUML (in a container), Graphviz and AsciiDoc (both built in).

Duplicates (Ctrl+D): a backed-up Pictures folder, a PDF downloaded twice, a photo in three places and a document in an old backup.

Install

Coxswain comes as a terminal app (coxswain, or cox for short) and a desktop app (coxswain-gui). Pick one or both. Both check once a day for a newer release and tell you the exact update command for the way you installed them.

macOS

How	App	Install	Update
Homebrew	Terminal	brew install mwo-dk/coxswain/coxswain	brew upgrade coxswain
Homebrew	Desktop	brew install --cask mwo-dk/coxswain/coxswain-gui	brew upgrade --cask coxswain-gui
Download	Desktop	Coxswain_<version>_aarch64.dmg (Apple silicon) or _x64.dmg (Intel) from Releases; drag Coxswain to Applications	Download the new .dmg and drag it over the old app
Download	Terminal	coxswain-terminal-<version>-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz (or x86_64-…); put coxswain on your PATH	Replace the file
Cargo	Terminal	cargo install coxswain	cargo install coxswain again

Linux

How	App	Install	Update
Homebrew	Terminal	brew install mwo-dk/coxswain/coxswain	brew upgrade coxswain
Homebrew	Desktop (x86-64)	brew install --cask mwo-dk/coxswain/coxswain-gui	brew upgrade --cask coxswain-gui
Debian, Ubuntu	Desktop	sudo apt install ./Coxswain_<version>_amd64.deb	The same with the new .deb
Fedora, openSUSE	Desktop	sudo dnf install ./Coxswain-<version>-1.x86_64.rpm	The same with the new .rpm
Any distro	Desktop	Coxswain_<version>_amd64.AppImage: chmod +x and run it	Replace the file
Any distro	Terminal	coxswain-terminal-<version>-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz (or aarch64-…), a static binary; put coxswain on your PATH	Replace the file
Cargo	Terminal	cargo install coxswain	cargo install coxswain again

Windows

How	App	Install	Update
Download	Desktop	Coxswain_<version>_x64_en-US.msi or _x64-setup.exe from Releases	Run the new installer; it upgrades in place
Download	Terminal	coxswain-terminal-<version>-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip; put coxswain.exe on your PATH	Replace the file
Cargo	Terminal	cargo install coxswain	cargo install coxswain again

The builds are not code-signed. The first start shows a warning: on Windows, click More info and then Run anyway. On macOS, if the app "is damaged" or "can't be opened", run xattr -cr /Applications/Coxswain.app once; the Homebrew cask does this for you.

From source (any platform)

git clone https://github.com/mwo-dk/coxswain.git
cd coxswain
./install/install.sh                                          # Linux, macOS
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File install\install.ps1  # Windows

To update, git pull in that folder and run the script again. The script offers to install Rust and Node.js when they are missing, and asks first. See install/INSTALL.md. For development: cargo run -p coxswain, or cd gui && npm ci && npx tauri dev.

Fonts

Git glyphs need a Nerd Font. In the terminal, use one as your terminal font; the GUI picks up any installed Nerd Font listed in gui.icon_font. Without one, set glyphs = "ascii".

Keys (defaults)

Key	Action	Key	Action
F1	Help	Tab	Other panel
F2	User menu	Insert / Shift+Down	Mark
F3	View	+ / - / *	Select / unselect group, invert
F4	Edit	Alt+F7 / Ctrl+F	Find file
F5	Copy	Ctrl+R	Reread
F6	Rename/move	Ctrl+U	Swap panels
F7	Mkdir	Ctrl+O	Show command output
F8 / Delete	Move to trash	Alt+F1 / Alt+F2	Left/right panel: go to
Shift+F8 / Shift+Delete	Delete permanently
F9	Command palette	Ctrl+F3..F6	Sort by name/ext/time/size (again = reverse)
F10	Quit	Alt+letter	Quick search

Typing goes to the command line. Enter runs it in the panel's directory, and cd works. Both apps support the mouse: click, double-click, right-click to mark, and the wheel. The GUI also does Shift-click ranges, drag-and-drop between panels, and clickable column headers and paths.

Using Coxswain

Start either app with up to two folders: coxswain ~/src ~/Downloads or coxswain-gui .. A file opens its folder with the cursor on it, so coxswain-gui ~/Pictures/cat.jpg shows that picture. Without arguments both panels open in the current folder (the desktop app restores your last session).

The NC way. One panel is active. Move with the arrows, Enter opens a folder or file, and Backspace goes up. Mark files with Insert (or + with a pattern like *.rs), then F5 copies or F6 moves them to the other panel's folder. With nothing marked, the file under the cursor is used. F3 views, F4 opens your $EDITOR, F8 moves to the trash (after asking), and Shift+F8 deletes for good. F9 opens a searchable list of every command, so you never need to remember a key.

Reading the git line. Inside a repository the panel's bottom line shows the branch, commits ahead/behind the upstream, and counts of staged, modified and untracked files and stashes. Each file and folder gets the same glyph, so a changed file deep in src/ marks src too. Ignored files get a crossed-out eye.

Find file (Alt+F7 or Ctrl+F). Start typing; results update per key. Enter jumps to the file with the cursor on it, F3 and F4 view and edit it in place, and Tab limits the search to the current folder. The first start builds the index in the background; after that it is loaded from disk and kept current while Coxswain runs.

Desktop app extras (all rebindable, like everything else):

Key	Action	Key	Action
Ctrl+T / Ctrl+W	New / close tab	Space	Preview pane (see below)
Ctrl+Tab	Next tab	Alt+V	Details, Miller columns or thumbnails
Ctrl+C / Ctrl+X / Ctrl+V	Copy, cut, paste files (shared with other file managers)	Alt+Enter	Properties and permissions
Alt+Left / Alt+Right	Back / forward	Ctrl+E	Extract a zip or tar archive to the other pane
Ctrl+B	Sidebar	Ctrl+D	Find duplicates
Ctrl+,	Settings (language, theme, fonts, ...)	Ctrl+L	Type a path
Ctrl+M	Batch rename with regex, previewed	Alt+T	Color tag
Alt+N	Notes for this folder	Alt+.	Hidden files

The preview pane (Space) follows the cursor. At a glance:

Files	Preview
Code, config, logs	Highlighted; logs colored by level. A changed file gets File / Diff
Markdown, .mmd	Rendered, with Mermaid diagrams and math; Rendered / Source
JSON, YAML, TOML	A collapsible tree; Tree / Source
.ipynb, .docx, .epub, .eml, PDF	Notebook with outputs, Word document, first chapter, e-mail, pages
Spreadsheets, CSV, JSON Lines, SQLite	Tables, a button per sheet; database tables with row counts and schema
.ics, .vcf, .plist, certificates	Events, contact cards, property lists, certificate details with expiry
Images, video, audio, fonts	Shown or played; photo EXIF, audio tags, font samples
LaTeX, Office/Visio/RTF, PlantUML, draw.io, .rst	Built to PDF, SVG or HTML by an installed tool or a container; buttons pick the engine
Graphviz, AsciiDoc, Parquet, .duckdb	Graphs, rendered documents, tables with schema
Archives, programs, folders	Contents; the platform a binary is built for; folder counts, sizes, notes

docs/previews.md lists every format, what it shows and how it works. Where there is a choice, buttons at the top of the preview pick it, and the choice sticks. Ctrl+O, or the button next to the view switcher, toggles one or two panes.

Duplicates. Ctrl+D (or coxswain-gui --duplicates <folders>) scans the folders and drives you tick for duplicate files and whole duplicate folders, and lists them by wasted space. "Mark all but the newest / oldest / the one under a folder" marks the extra copies; at least one copy of each always stays, and marked copies go to the trash. docs/duplicates.md explains how it works and stays fast.

Columns and folder sizes. Folders show their size without being asked: each is measured in the background as you open its parent, in both apps. Right-click the column header (or F9, "Columns and folder sizes") to add Files and Created columns, hide Type, or switch the measuring off.

Folders reread themselves when something changes in them. Drag files to the other pane, to another application, or in from one; Coxswain asks whether to copy or move.

The sidebar holds places, drives with free space, favorite groups (right-click a group, then "Add current folder") and the git repositories you visited recently.

Themes

Pick a theme from the F9 command list (type "theme") or in Settings. Besides Cyber, a green phosphor terminal and the desktop default, and Norton Commander blue, the terminal default, there are modern ones (dark, light, Nord, Tokyo Night) and period looks from Windows 3.11 to 11 and Mac System 7 to today, each with the corners, bevels and fonts of its era.

Languages

Both apps speak English (British, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand), Dansk, Svenska, Suomi, Eesti, Latviešu, Lietuvių, Deutsch, Français, Italiano, Nederlands, Español (Argentina), Català, Euskara and עברית (Hebrew, laid out right to left in the desktop app).

• Automatic by default. Coxswain uses your system's language, or the nearest one it has: Norwegian gets Danish, any Spanish gets Argentinian Spanish, US English gets Canadian, any other English gets British.
• Your choice, remembered. Pick a language in Settings (Ctrl+,), where each is listed by its own name and flag, or set language = "da" in the config. It is saved in config.toml and used by both apps.
• All of it: menus, the F-key bar, dialogs, previews, the duplicate finder, messages, sizes (Ko in French) and numbers (1.234,5 in German).

Danish: the F-key bar, sidebar, columns and preview all in Danish.

Hebrew: the whole window is mirrored; file names, sizes and paths stay left to right.

docs/languages.md has the full list, how the language is chosen, and how to correct or add a translation.

Settings

Ctrl+, (or F9 → Settings, or coxswain-gui --settings from a terminal) opens the desktop app's settings:

Section	Settings
Language	Automatic, or any of the 18, each with its flag
Appearance	Theme, Nerd Font glyphs or plain ASCII, text size, fonts
Behaviour	Show hidden files, ask before deleting, check for updates
Previews made by tools	Installed programs or containers, podman or docker, LaTeX image, timeout; each container image with its size, and Pull (which also updates it) and Remove

Every change applies at once and is written to config.toml, keeping your comments and layout; a change that would make the file invalid is refused rather than saved. The terminal app reads the same file. Everything else (keys, colour themes, the user menu) is set in config.toml directly; see Configuration.

Find file

Alt+F7 or Ctrl+F opens it in both apps. Results update as you type.

Key	Action
Up / Down, PageUp / PageDown	Move through the results
Enter	Go to the file, with the cursor on it
F3 / F4	View / edit the file without leaving the search
Tab	Names everywhere, names in the current folder, or the text inside your files
Esc	Close

Alt+letter is the other, smaller search: it jumps to the first name in the current panel starting with that letter. Keep typing to narrow it; Backspace takes a letter back, Esc ends it.

The desktop app lists the first 500 hits and counts the rest; type more to narrow them down.

Search inside your files

Press Tab twice in Find file and type words: Coxswain finds the files whose text has all of them, best match first, each with the passage that matched. The last word may be the start of one, so rocket bud finds "rocket budget".

What is read	Your home folder: text, code, Markdown, logs, configuration, and any other file that is plain text, up to 20 MB each
What is left out	Hidden folders, node_modules, target, build, dist, out, vendor, __pycache__ and the trash; any folder holding a file named .nosearch; files that are not text
When	In the background, one file at a time and at half speed, by the helper. A change shows up in searches within ten minutes
Where it is kept	search.db in Coxswain's cache folder, readable by you alone. Nothing leaves your machine. Delete the file to start afresh
Switching it off	text = false under [search] in config.toml

More folders, other excludes and another size limit are text_roots, text_exclude and text_max_size under [search]. PDF, Word, spreadsheets and other formats follow.

The terminal app does the same, with the passage on a second line:

Everything's syntax:

Query	Matches
foo bar	names containing both
foo|bar	either
!foo	not foo
*.rs, a?c	wildcards, whole name
ext:rs;toml	by extension
file: / folder:	only files / only folders
src/ lib	a term with / matches the full path
case:	case-sensitive
"a b"	phrase with a space

Configuration

coxswain --config-path shows where the file lives (~/.config/coxswain/config.toml on Linux). coxswain --dump-config prints every option with its default. Set only what you want to change:

language = "auto"           # or "en-GB", "da", "de", "es-AR", "he", ... (docs/languages.md)
theme = "nc"                # terminal app; or "cyber", "win95", ... or your own [themes.<name>]
glyphs = "nerd"             # or "ascii"
folder_sizes = true         # measure folders in the background; false to switch it off
editor = "hx"               # else $VISUAL / $EDITOR

[keys]
quit = ["F10", "Ctrl+Q"]    # listing an action replaces its default keys
search = ["Ctrl+P"]

[themes.mine.panel]         # unset slots fall back to the NC scheme
fg = "#e0e0e0"
bg = "#101820"

[[user_menu]]               # F2; %f file, %d dir, %s selection (shell-quoted)
key = "t"
label = "cargo test"
command = "cargo test"
wait = true

[search]
exclude = ["/proc", "/sys", "node_modules"]   # a path skips a tree; a bare name skips every such directory
watch = true

[preview]                   # previews made by tools: LaTeX, LibreOffice, PlantUML, ...
prefer = "container"        # use podman/docker even when a tool is installed ("auto", "local")
images.latex = "docker.io/texlive/texlive:latest-medium"   # see docs/previews.md

[gui]
font_size = 15

How search stays fast

The index (crates/coxswain-core/src/index.rs) keeps each name once in a \0-separated byte buffer, with a 12-byte node per entry (parent, offset, length, flags). A query runs a single SIMD memmem scan over that buffer, split across all cores. Full paths are built only for hits. The index is saved to the cache directory, so it loads in ~90 ms on the next start. It is then rebuilt in the background and kept current by file system events (inotify, FSEvents, ReadDirectoryChangesW).

One index for every window. The index lives in a helper process, which the first window or terminal app starts and the others find. Two windows and a terminal share one copy in memory and one scan of the disk, and a new window searches at once. The helper is the app itself, started with --index-helper; it leaves ten minutes after the last app has closed. Nothing is installed as a service. The apps talk to it over a local socket that only you can use, and if it cannot be reached, each app indexes by itself as before.

Run cargo run --release -p coxswain-core --example bench -- / to measure it on your machine.

Known limits and upgrade paths:

• Linux: inotify needs one watch per directory. Past fs.inotify.max_user_watches, the hourly rebuild catches changes. fanotify would remove that limit, but it needs root.
• Windows: the first index comes from a directory walk. Reading the MFT and USN journal directly, as Everything does, would make cold starts faster.

Layout

crates/coxswain-core   config, fs ops, git status, search index (shared)
crates/coxswain        terminal UI (package and binary: coxswain)
gui/                Svelte 5 frontend
gui/src-tauri       Tauri backend (binary: coxswain-gui)

License

MIT

Norton Commander is a trademark of Gen Digital Inc. Coxswain is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Gen Digital.