Modern dual-panel MC for people who want Norton/MC muscle memory in a single offline Rust binary — no async runtime, forbid(unsafe), zip-safe archives.

Binary name: lc (Libre Commander). crates.io package: librecommander (lc is taken).

cargo install librecommander
lc

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Proof

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Why lc

	Libre Commander	Midnight Commander	ranger / yazi
Panel model	Dual-panel (MC-style)	Dual-panel	Single-pane + preview
Runtime	Sync, no async runtime	C	ranger: Python · yazi: async Tokio
Binary	One static binary	system pkg	ranger: script · yazi: binary
Network	Offline by design	—	yazi: fetches previews
unsafe	forbid crate-wide	—	—
Config	TOML	INI	Python / TOML

MC dual-panel muscle memory in a deterministic Rust binary that stays offline and refuses unsafe code.

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Features

Workflow — dual panels, expandable directory tree, directory compare (3 modes), hotlist (Alt+1…Alt+9), history (Alt+Backspace), quick cd (Alt+C), long/brief listings, mouse (click, double-click, drag-select).

File ops — copy / move / delete / rename / chmod as cancellable background jobs with live progress; symlink-as-symlink, no-clobber chunked copy, cross-device copy+delete fallback, partial-copy cleanup; refuses critical system paths; F4 opens $EDITOR.

Archives — browse, extract, create: zip, tar, tar.gz, tar.bz2, tar.xz, tar.zst (read+write); 7z read-only. Zip-slip protection, size limits, symlink-safe extraction.

Search & view — incremental glob filter, recursive find, grep-like content search, built-in viewer (text / hex / image via chafa, in-file search, wrap, line numbers).

Polish — emoji / ASCII / Nerd Font icon themes, file-type colors, auto-refresh watcher (keeps filter/sort/selection), 12 sort modes, MC-compatible user menu (.mc.menu).

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Install

crates.io (binary lc):

cargo install librecommander

Prebuilt release binaries (Linux x86_64 / aarch64, macOS arm64 / x86_64): GitHub Releases.

From git / source:

cargo install --git https://github.com/leszek3737/LibreCommander
# or from a clone:
git clone https://github.com/leszek3737/LibreCommander.git
cd LibreCommander
cargo build --release    # target/release/lc
# or install onto PATH:
cargo install --path .

First run

lc

No CLI flags required. Config lives at ~/.config/lc/config.toml.

Optional — image preview: lc shells out to chafa (not bundled):

# macOS
brew install chafa
# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install chafa
# Fedora
sudo dnf install chafa
# Arch
sudo pacman -S chafa

Without chafa, image view shows Failed to execute chafa (is it installed?).

30-second cheatsheet

Key	Action		Key	Action
Tab	Switch panel		F3	View / preview
h j k l / arrows	Move		F4	Edit ($EDITOR)
Enter	Open dir / archive		F5	Copy
Alt+Backspace	History back		F6	Move
Ctrl+H	Toggle hidden		F7	Mkdir / extract
Alt+C	Quick cd		F8	Delete
Alt+1…Alt+9	Hotlist		F10 / q	Quit

Press F1 any time for in-app help.

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Keyboard reference

General · Navigation · File ops · Search · Panels · Viewer · Tree · CLI · Menu · Mouse

General

Key	Action
F1	Help dialog
F2	User menu
F9	Menu bar
F10 / q	Quit
Alt+X	Command line

Navigation

Key	Action
Tab	Switch between panels
↑ / k	Move up
↓ / j	Move down
Enter	Open directory / preview archive
Alt+Backspace	Previous directory (history)
Home / End	First / last entry
PageUp / PageDown	Page up / down
Alt+C	Quick cd dialog

File operations

Key	Action
F3	View file / preview archive
F4	Edit ($EDITOR)
F5	Copy
F6	Move
F7	Create directory / extract archive
F8	Delete
F11	Rename
F12	Archive menu
Alt+Enter	Properties
Insert	Toggle selection
Shift+↑ / Shift+↓	Extend selection
Ctrl+R	Refresh panel
Ctrl+O	External viewer (exit to shell temporarily)

Also from F9: File → Rename, File → Chmod.

Search & filter

Key	Action
Type any key	Incremental filter
Ctrl+S	Search mode
Esc	Cancel / clear filter
Enter	Confirm search

Panel & view

Key	Action
Ctrl+U	Swap panels
Ctrl+H	Toggle hidden files

Bookmarks & history

Key	Action
Alt+1 … Alt+9	Hotlist slot 1–9

File viewer

Key	Action
Esc / F3 / F10 / q	Exit
↑ ↓ j k / PgUp / PgDn / Home / End	Scroll
Left / Right	Horizontal scroll
l	Line numbers
w	Word wrap
h	Hex mode
/	Search in file
n / N	Next / previous match

Directory tree

Key	Action
Esc	Exit tree
arrows / Home / End / PgUp / PgDn	Navigate
Enter	Expand/collapse or view file
c	cd to selected directory

Command line (Alt+X)

Key	Action
Esc	Cancel
Enter	Run via shell
↑ / ↓	History
Ctrl+A / Ctrl+E	Line start / end
Ctrl+W	Delete word
Ctrl+U	Delete to start
Ctrl+C	Cancel

Menu bar (F9)

Key	Action
← / →	Category
↑ / ↓	Items
Enter	Execute
Esc / F9	Close

List picker (history, hotlist, user menu)

Key	Action
↑ / ↓	Navigate
Enter	Select
Esc	Close
a / d	Add / delete hotlist entry (hotlist only)

Mouse

Action	Effect
Left click file	Select
Left double-click	Open / view
Left click panel	Activate panel
Left drag	Select range
Middle click	Copy (F5)
Right click	Cancel (Esc)
Scroll	Move cursor
Click function bar	F1–F10

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Configuration

Path: ~/.config/lc/config.toml (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/lc/config.toml)

active_panel   = "left"   # "left" or "right"
dir_first      = true
sort_sensitive = false

[left]
path             = "/home/user"
show_hidden      = true
show_permissions = false
listing_mode     = "long"      # "long" or "brief"
sort_mode        = "name_asc"
filter           = ""

[right]
path             = "/home/user/projects"
show_hidden      = true
show_permissions = false
listing_mode     = "long"
sort_mode        = "name_asc"
filter           = ""

hotlist = ["/home/user", "/home/user/projects"]

Sort modes

name_asc, name_desc, natural_name_asc, natural_name_desc, size_asc, size_desc, mod_time_asc, mod_time_desc, btime_asc, btime_desc, extension_asc, extension_desc

Cycle via Left/Right → Sort order. Rules: .. first, dirs before files, case-insensitive by default (dir_first, sort_sensitive). Natural sort treats digit runs numerically (file9 < file10).

Theming

Two built-in presets: modern (default — dark, truecolor) and classic (the original navy Norton/MC palette, ANSI-safe for terminals without truecolor). Borders are rounded in both. Individual colors override the chosen preset:

[theme]
preset       = "classic"    # "modern" (default) or "classic"
icon_theme   = "emoji"      # "emoji", "ascii", or "nerd_font"
panel_bg     = "navy"
panel_fg     = "white"
highlight_bg = "cyan"
highlight_fg = "black"
directory    = "white"
executable   = "green"
symlink      = "cyan"
archive      = "red"
image        = "magenta"
video        = "light_magenta"
audio        = "light_green"
source_code  = "yellow"
config       = "light_blue"
regular_file = "white"
function_bar_fg    = "light_blue"  # F-key number
function_bar_label = "light_blue"  # F-key label

Colors: named (red, navy), hex (#RRGGBB / #RGB), or ANSI 0–255.

Environment

Variable	Purpose	Default
EDITOR	External editor (F4)	vi
HOME	Config / menu location	required
XDG_CONFIG_HOME	Config base	$HOME/.config

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Archives

Format	Extension	Read	Write
ZIP	.zip	✅	✅
TAR	.tar	✅	✅
TAR+Gzip	.tar.gz, .tgz	✅	✅
TAR+Bzip2	.tar.bz2, .tbz, .tbz2	✅	✅
TAR+XZ	.tar.xz, .txz	✅	✅
TAR+Zstd	.tar.zst, .tzst	✅	✅
7z	.7z	✅	❌

Key	Action
Enter / F3 on archive	Preview contents
F7 on archive	Extract
F12	Archive menu (extract / create)
F12 + selection	Create archive from selection

Extract/create dialogs pick destination or name/format. Jobs run in the background with progress and cancel. Extraction validates paths against zip-slip, enforces size limits, and handles symlinks safely.

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File viewer & image preview

Built-in viewer (F3):

• Text with wrap (w) and line numbers (l)
• Hex dump (h) — 16 bytes/line
• Image preview — MIME detect → chafa character art via ansi-to-tui
• In-file search (/, n / N)
• Horizontal scroll, Unicode (lossy UTF-8 for binary)
• Auto content detection (MIME + null-byte fallback)

Limit: files up to 100 MiB (larger truncated). On first view and on resize, lc runs chafa --size WxH <file>; output is cached so later frames only clone the buffer.

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Search & filter

Incremental filter — type in normal mode; glob (*, ?), case-insensitive.

Find file — Menu → Command → Find file. Recursive glob from active panel; jumps to first match.

Content search — line-by-line, case-insensitive. Limits: skip files > 10 MiB, lines > 64 KiB; max 1000 results, depth 20, 10 000 items scanned. (UI wiring still open — see issues.)

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Directory compare

Command menu → Compare dirs

Mode	Matching
Quick	Filename + entry type
Size	Filename + size (dirs: name + type)
Thorough	Filename + size + mtime (dirs: name + type)

Differing / unique entries are selected in both panels.

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User menu

• Local: .mc.menu in the active panel directory
• Global: ~/.config/lc/menu

# Comment

+ f \.rs$
T  Run Rust tests
	cargo test %f

+ f \.py$
R  Run Python script
	python3 %f

A  Archive selected files
	tar czf archive.tgz %t

D  Diff panels
	diff -rq %d %D

• Hotkey: first character of the title line
• Body: indented shell lines
• Condition: + f <regex> — show when filename matches (OR across lines)

Token	Expands to
%f	Current filename (shell-quoted)
%d / %D	Active / other panel directory
%t / %s	Tagged files (space-separated, quoted); %s ≡ %t
%%	Literal %

Commands: sh -c in the active panel directory. Menu files capped at 1 MiB.

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File operation safety

Long copy / move / delete jobs run in the background with item + byte progress and cancel between safe boundaries.

• Chunked copies do not overwrite existing destinations by default
• Conflicts ask before overwrite
• Recursive copies go through a temporary sibling; partial output cleaned on fail/cancel
• Symlinks copied/deleted as symlinks (targets not followed)
• Cross-device move = copy then delete only after copy succeeds
• Critical system directories protected from delete
• Terminal restored even on panic (TerminalGuard)

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FAQ & troubleshooting

Image preview: "Failed to execute chafa".
Install chafa — not bundled.

Colors wrong / no truecolor.
Set COLORTERM=truecolor. Legacy 8-color terminals stay flat.

Icons are boxes / ?.
Font missing glyphs → icon_theme = "ascii" or install a Nerd Font + icon_theme = "nerd_font".

Where is config?
~/.config/lc/config.toml. Edit directly — no silent migration.

Windows?
Not yet. CI is Linux + macOS. Watcher uses platform notify (macOS: macos_fsevent).

Default desktop file manager?
No — terminal app, not for xdg-open.

Crash / wrong behavior.
Open an issue with repro, OS, terminal, Rust version — see Contributing.

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Supported platforms

OS	Status	Notes
Linux	✅ CI-tested	Primary target
macOS	✅ CI-tested	macos_fsevent watcher
Windows	❌ Not yet	Help wanted
BSDs	⚠️ Untested	May work; please report

Requires Rust 1.95+ (edition 2024).

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Contributing

Read CONTRIBUTING.md for style, tests, and the merge gate.

cargo fmt
cargo clippy --locked --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo test --locked
cargo build --release --locked

Ideas: open issues. Large changes — open an issue first.

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Acknowledgments

• Midnight Commander — dual-panel workflow
• Yazi — some components adapted by Sxyazi (MIT)
• Rust · Ratatui · Crossterm · chafa

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License

MIT © 2026 Leszek3737