SimpleFile

SimpleFile is a Linux desktop file manager for local files, archives, mounted volumes, and power-user file operations. The app uses Tauri 2 for the desktop runtime and Rust command layer, with a Svelte/Vite frontend for the interface.

This repository is Linux-only. The release workflow builds Linux x64 artifacts, and the Tauri bundle targets are Debian package, RPM package, and AppImage. A Flatpak manifest is also included for local Flatpak builds.

This README is the project overview. The documentation index covers the user guide, Advanced Rename, architecture, and contribution process.

Advanced rename	Configurable columns	File compare

SimpleFile targets modern Linux desktop environments with GTK/WebKitGTK support.

Current release artifacts:

Linux integration currently includes:

• inode/directory file association metadata.
• A Settings action for xdg-mime default file-manager registration.
• Single-instance startup routing for folder/file arguments.
• XDG user-directory discovery for Home, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos.
• Mounted-volume listing for /, /home, /mnt, /media, and /run/media/$USER.
• UDisks2 D-Bus monitoring for drive changes.
• Wayland/X11 compatible Tauri windowing through the Linux WebKitGTK stack.

• Tabs for working in multiple folders.
• Dual-pane mode for side-by-side copy and move workflows.
• Folder tree sidebar.
• Breadcrumb navigation and editable path input.
• Quick Access entries based on Linux/XDG user directories.
• Recent locations and bookmarks.
• List and grid views.
• Sortable, configurable, resizable list columns.
• Hidden-file toggle.
• Disk-space status for the current location.

• Create folders and files.
• Rename selected items.
• Advanced Rename with recursive targeting, filters, templates, regex replacement, file-metadata and EXIF tokens, live preview, persisted settings, and undo. See Advanced Rename.
• Copy, cut, paste, and move files or folders.
• Conflict handling for copy and move operations: keep both, replace, skip, cancel, and apply-to-remaining.
• Move to trash with permanent-delete fallback when trash is unavailable.
• Pack selected items into a folder and unpack folder contents.
• Open with the default app.
• Open With dialog for selecting an executable.
• Open terminal in the current directory.
• Drag and drop into the app, between panes, and across file-list/tree targets.

• Undo and redo for supported file operations.
• Inline Undo actions in success toasts.
• Clipboard history for recent copy/cut selections.
• Color labels stored locally.
• Command palette.
• Keyboard-first workflows for common operations.

• Quick filtering inside the current folder.
• Recursive search with filename matching, optional content search, hidden-file inclusion, extension filters, size filters, date filters, max depth, and max result limits.
• Cancellable backend searches with streamed result events.
• Quick Look previews for supported text, image, PDF, and archive-entry content.
• Properties dialog with path, size, modified time, type, permissions, symlink targets, and file hashes.
• Image dimensions and EXIF metadata.
• MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256 checksums.
• Side-by-side UTF-8 text comparison.
• Git repository status and per-file status badges when enabled.
• Disk cleanup scans for large files and duplicate groups.

• Browse archive contents.
• Extract archives.
• Create archives from selected files and folders.
• Supported formats include ZIP, TAR, TAR.GZ/TGZ, and RAR where required tooling is available.
• Extraction uses path-traversal safeguards.

• Dark and light themes.
• Startup location options.
• Persisted tabs.
• Configurable view preferences.
• Delete confirmation setting.
• Git integration toggle.
• Update controls backed by the signed GitHub updater channel.
• About dialog with app metadata and project links.

Download the latest Linux artifact from GitHub Releases.

Debian or Ubuntu:

sudo apt install ./simplefile_*_amd64.deb

Fedora or compatible RPM distributions:

sudo dnf install ./simplefile-*.x86_64.rpm

AppImage:

chmod +x ./simplefile_*.AppImage
./simplefile_*.AppImage

Flatpak local build:

flatpak-builder --force-clean build-dir com.simplefile.SimpleFile.yml

On Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  build-essential \
  curl \
  pkg-config \
  libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
  libgtk-3-dev \
  libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
  librsvg2-dev \
  libsoup-3.0-dev \
  libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1-dev \
  patchelf \
  rpm

Use equivalent WebKitGTK, GTK, Ayatana AppIndicator, librsvg, libsoup, Rust, and RPM tooling packages on other Linux distributions.

Install stable Rust:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
rustup default stable

The frontend requires Node 24 or newer.

node --version
npm --version

Install frontend dependencies:

npm ci --prefix frontend

npm run dev

The root dev script runs the Tauri CLI from the frontend npm toolchain.

Fast application checks:

npm run check

Rust checks:

npm run check:rust

Full release gate:

npm run check:release

What the checks cover:

• Svelte type checking and Vite production build.
• JavaScript syntax checks for repository scripts.
• Frontend/backend Tauri invoke consistency.
• Advanced Rename engine tests.
• Updater configuration and accessibility markup checks.
• GitHub workflow wiring checks.
• Rust formatting, tests, and Clippy when running check:rust or check:release.
• Rust dependency audit when running check:release.

Local Linux installer build without updater artifacts:

npm run build:tauri:local

Signed updater-enabled build:

export TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY="$(cat .secrets/simplefile-updater.key)"
npm --prefix frontend exec -- tauri build --ci

Build output is written under:

src-tauri/target/release/bundle/

SimpleFile uses the Tauri updater plugin with GitHub Releases as the static update endpoint:

https://github.com/conniecombs/SimpleFile-Linux/releases/latest/download/latest.json

Release behavior:

• Manual release versions are optional. If blank, the workflow uses the version in src-tauri/tauri.conf.json.
• Explicit manual versions may be 0.1.0 or v0.1.0.
• The requested version must match both src-tauri/Cargo.toml and src-tauri/tauri.conf.json.
• Draft releases can build installer-only artifacts without updater signing secrets.
• Published updater releases require TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY.

Required GitHub secret for published updater releases:

The updater private key must never be committed. See docs/UPDATER_RELEASE.md for key generation, GitHub secret setup, and release verification.

SimpleFile-Linux/
|-- frontend/
|   |-- index.html
|   |-- package.json
|   |-- src/
|       |-- main.ts
|       |-- App.svelte
|       |-- css/
|       |-- lib/
|           |-- api.ts
|           |-- types.ts
|           |-- app/
|           |-- components/
|           |-- localCommand*.ts
|           |-- transfer*.ts
|-- src-tauri/
|   |-- Cargo.toml
|   |-- Cargo.lock
|   |-- tauri.conf.json
|   |-- tauri.local.conf.json
|   |-- src/
|       |-- lib.rs
|       |-- fs_ops.rs
|       |-- archive.rs
|       |-- search.rs
|       |-- preview.rs
|       |-- progress.rs
|       |-- cleanup.rs
|       |-- git.rs
|       |-- terminal.rs
|       |-- updater.rs
|-- scripts/
|-- docs/
|-- .github/workflows/
|-- com.simplefile.SimpleFile.yml
|-- LICENSE

Common shortcuts. The full list is in keyboard-shortcuts.md.

See the documentation index.

SimpleFile is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See LICENSE.