telescope-file-browser.nvim

telescope-file-browser.nvim

telescope-file-browser.nvim is a file browser extension for telescope.nvim. It supports synchronized creation, deletion, renaming, and moving of files and folders (with LSP integration with nvim 0.10+) powered by telescope.nvim and plenary.nvim.

More demo examples can be found in the showcase issue.

Table of Contents

• Requirements
• Installation
• Setup and Configuration
• Usage
• Mappings
• Documentation
• Workflow
• Multi-Selections
• File System Operations
• Exports
• Roadmap & Contributing

---

Requirements

• Neovim >= 0.9.0
• fd (optional, for faster browser)
• git (optional, for display git status)

Installation

Install the plugin with your preferred package manager.

--lazy
{
    "nvim-telescope/telescope-file-browser.nvim",
    dependencies = { "nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim", "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim" }
}

-- packer
use {
    "nvim-telescope/telescope-file-browser.nvim",
    requires = { "nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim", "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim" }
}

Plug 'nvim-lua/plenary.nvim'
Plug 'nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim'
Plug 'nvim-telescope/telescope-file-browser.nvim'

Setup and Configuration

You can configure the telescope-file-browser like any other telescope.nvim picker. Please see :h telescope-file-browser.picker for the full set of options dedicated to the picker. Unless otherwise stated, you can pass these options either to your configuration at extension setup or picker startup. For instance, you can map theme and mappings as you are used to from telescope.nvim.

-- You don't need to set any of these options.
-- IMPORTANT!: this is only a showcase of how you can set default options!
require("telescope").setup {
  extensions = {
    file_browser = {
      theme = "ivy",
      -- disables netrw and use telescope-file-browser in its place
      hijack_netrw = true,
      mappings = {
        ["i"] = {
          -- your custom insert mode mappings
        },
        ["n"] = {
          -- your custom normal mode mappings
        },
      },
    },
  },
}
-- To get telescope-file-browser loaded and working with telescope,
-- you need to call load_extension, somewhere after setup function:
require("telescope").load_extension "file_browser"

Non-primative options are commented out. See :h telescope-file-browser.picker.file_browser()

local fb_actions = require "telescope._extensions.file_browser.actions"

require("telescope").setup {
  extensions = {
    file_browser = {
      path = vim.loop.cwd(),
      cwd = vim.loop.cwd(),
      cwd_to_path = false,
      grouped = false,
      files = true,
      add_dirs = true,
      depth = 1,
      auto_depth = false,
      select_buffer = false,
      hidden = { file_browser = false, folder_browser = false },
      respect_gitignore = vim.fn.executable "fd" == 1,
      no_ignore = false,
      follow_symlinks = false,
      browse_files = require("telescope._extensions.file_browser.finders").browse_files,
      browse_folders = require("telescope._extensions.file_browser.finders").browse_folders,
      hide_parent_dir = false,
      collapse_dirs = false,
      prompt_path = false,
      quiet = false,
      dir_icon = "",
      dir_icon_hl = "Default",
      display_stat = { date = true, size = true, mode = true },
      hijack_netrw = false,
      use_fd = true,
      git_status = true,
      mappings = {
        ["i"] = {
          ["<A-c>"] = fb_actions.create,
          ["<S-CR>"] = fb_actions.create_from_prompt,
          ["<A-r>"] = fb_actions.rename,
          ["<A-m>"] = fb_actions.move,
          ["<A-y>"] = fb_actions.copy,
          ["<A-d>"] = fb_actions.remove,
          ["<C-o>"] = fb_actions.open,
          ["<C-g>"] = fb_actions.goto_parent_dir,
          ["<C-e>"] = fb_actions.goto_home_dir,
          ["<C-w>"] = fb_actions.goto_cwd,
          ["<C-t>"] = fb_actions.change_cwd,
          ["<C-f>"] = fb_actions.toggle_browser,
          ["<C-h>"] = fb_actions.toggle_hidden,
          ["<C-s>"] = fb_actions.toggle_all,
          ["<bs>"] = fb_actions.backspace,
        },
        ["n"] = {
          ["c"] = fb_actions.create,
          ["r"] = fb_actions.rename,
          ["m"] = fb_actions.move,
          ["y"] = fb_actions.copy,
          ["d"] = fb_actions.remove,
          ["o"] = fb_actions.open,
          ["g"] = fb_actions.goto_parent_dir,
          ["e"] = fb_actions.goto_home_dir,
          ["w"] = fb_actions.goto_cwd,
          ["t"] = fb_actions.change_cwd,
          ["f"] = fb_actions.toggle_browser,
          ["h"] = fb_actions.toggle_hidden,
          ["s"] = fb_actions.toggle_all,
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Usage

You can use the telescope-file-browser as follows:

vim.keymap.set("n", "<space>fb", ":Telescope file_browser<CR>")

-- open file_browser with the path of the current buffer
vim.keymap.set("n", "<space>fb", ":Telescope file_browser path=%:p:h select_buffer=true<CR>")

-- Alternatively, using lua API
vim.keymap.set("n", "<space>fb", function()
	require("telescope").extensions.file_browser.file_browser()
end)

Mappings

telescope-file-browser.nvim comes with a lot of default mappings for discoverability. You can use telescope's which_key (insert mode: <C-/>, normal mode: ?) to list mappings attached to your picker.

• path denotes the folder the file_browser is currently in
• fb_actions refers to the table of provided telescope-file-browser.actions accessible via require "telescope".extensions.file_browser.actions

Insert / Normal	fb_actions	Description
<A-c>/c	create	Create file/folder at current path (trailing path separator creates folder)
<S-CR>	create_from_prompt	Create and open file/folder from prompt (trailing path separator creates folder)
<A-r>/r	rename	Rename multi-selected files/folders
<A-m>/m	move	Move multi-selected files/folders to current path
<A-y>/y	copy	Copy (multi-)selected files/folders to current path
<A-d>/d	remove	Delete (multi-)selected files/folders
<C-o>/o	open	Open file/folder with default system application
<C-g>/g	goto_parent_dir	Go to parent directory
<C-e>/e	goto_home_dir	Go to home directory
<C-w>/w	goto_cwd	Go to current working directory (cwd)
<C-t>/t	change_cwd	Change nvim's cwd to selected folder/file(parent)
<C-f>/f	toggle_browser	Toggle between file and folder browser
<C-h>/h	toggle_hidden	Toggle hidden files/folders
<C-s>/s	toggle_all	Toggle all entries ignoring ./ and ../
<Tab>	see telescope.nvim	Toggle selection and move to next selection
<S-Tab>	see telescope.nvim	Toggle selection and move to prev selection
<bs>/	backspace	With an empty prompt, goes to parent dir. Otherwise acts normally

fb_actions.create_from_prompt requires that your terminal recognizes these keycodes (e.g. kitty). See :h tui-input for more information.

Remappings

As part of the setup, you can remap actions as you like. The default mappings can also be found in this file.

local fb_actions = require "telescope".extensions.file_browser.actions

require("telescope").setup {
  defaults = { --[[ your defaults]] },
  extensions = {
    file_browser = {
      mappings = {
        ["i"] = {
          -- remap to going to home directory
          ["<C-h>"] = fb_actions.goto_home_dir,
          ["<C-x>"] = function(prompt_bufnr)
            -- your custom function
          end,
        },
        ["n"] = {
          -- unmap toggling `fb_actions.toggle_browser`
          f = false,
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Documentation

The documentation of telescope-file-browser can be be accessed from within Neovim via:

Topic	Vimdoc	Comment
Introduction	:h telescope-file-browser.nvim
Picker options	:h telescope-file-browser.picker.file_browser	For extension setup
Actions	:h telescope-file-browser.actions	Explore mappable actions
Finders	:h telescope-file-browser.finders	Lower level for customization

The documentation can be easily explored via :Telescope help_tags. Search for fb_actions, for instance, nicely lists available actions from within vimdocs. Very much recommended!

Please make sure to consult the docs prior to raising issues for asking questions.

Workflow

telescope-file-browser.nvim unifies a file_browser and a folder_browser into a single finder that can be toggled between:

1. file_browser: finds files and folders in the (currently) selected folder (denoted as path, default: cwd)
2. folder_browser: swiftly fuzzy find folders from cwd downwards to switch folders for the file_browser (i.e. set path to selected folder)

Within a single session, path always refers to the folder the file_browser is currently in and changes by selecting folders from within the file or folder_browser.

If you want to open the file_browser from within the folder of your current buffer, you should pass path = "%:p:h" to the opts table of the picker (Vimscript: :Telescope file_browser path=%:p:h) or to the extension setup configuration. Strings passed to path or cwd are expanded automatically.

By default, the folder_browser always launches from cwd, but it can be configured to launch from path via passing the cwd_to_path = true to picker opts table or at extension setup. The former corresponds to a more project-centric file browser workflow, whereas the latter typically facilitates file and folder browsing across the entire file system.

In practice, it mostly affects how you navigate the file system in multi-hop scenarios, for instance, when moving files from varying folders into a separate folder. The default works well in projects from which the folder_browser can easily reach any folder. cwd_to_path = true would possibly require returning to parent directories or cwd intermittently. However, if you move deeply through the file system, launching the folder_browser from cwd every time is tedious. Hence, it can be configured to follow path instead.

In general, telescope-file-browser.nvim intends to enable any workflow without comprise via opting in as virtually any component can be overriden.

Multi-Selections

Multiple files and directories can be selected at the same time using default bindings (<Tab>/<S-Tab>) from telescope.nvim.

One distinct difference to telescope.nvim is that multi-selections are preserved between browsers.

Hence, whenever you (de-)select a file or folder within {file, folder}_browser, respectively, this change persists across browsers (in a single session).

File System Operations

Note: path corresponds to the folder the file_browser is currently in.

Warning: Batch renaming or moving files with path inter-dependencies are not resolved! For instance, moving a folder somewhere while moving another file into the original folder in later order within same action will fail.

Action (incl. GIF)	Docs	Comment
creation	:h telescope-file-browser.actions.create	Create file or folder (with trailing OS separator) at path (file_browser) or at selected directory (folder_browser)
copying	:h telescope-file-browser.actions.copy	Supports copying current selection & multi-selections to path (file_browser) or selected directory (folder_browser)
moving	:h telescope-file-browser.actions.move	Move multi-selected files to path (file_browser) or selected directory (folder_browser)
removing	:h telescope-file-browser.actions.remove	Remove (multi-)selected files
renaming	:h telescope-file-browser.actions.rename	Rename (multi-)selected files

See fb_actions for a list of native actions and inspiration on how to write your own custom action. As additional reference, plenary's Path library powers a lot of the built-in actions.

For more information on telescope actions and remappings, see also the upstream documentation and associated vimdocs at :h telescope.defaults.mappings.

Additional information can also be found in telescope's developer documentation.

Exports

The extension exports the following attributes via :lua require "telescope".extensions.file_browser:

Export	Description
file_browser	main picker
actions	file browser actions for e.g. remapping
finder	file, folder, and unified finder for user customization
_picker	Unconfigured equivalent of file_browser

Roadmap & Contributing

Please see the associated issue on more immediate open TODOs for telescope-file-browser.nvim.

That said, the primary work surrounds on enabling users to tailor the extension to their individual workflow, primarily through opting in and possibly overriding specific components.