DotnetTerminalExplorer 0.1.0

Dotnet Terminal Explorer

Dotnet Terminal Explorer (dte) is a deliberately lightweight, scoped file explorer for the terminal. It opens a filesystem tree on the left and a read-only text preview on the right.

dte explores only the directory passed to it, similar to opening a folder with code. If the directory is omitted, it uses the current working directory.

Requirements

• .NET 10 SDK to build the repository.
• .NET 10 runtime to run the framework-dependent tool.

Installation

Option 1: Standalone Native Binary (Zero .NET runtime required)

Linux & macOS

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enisn/DotnetTerminalExplorer/main/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell)

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enisn/DotnetTerminalExplorer/main/install.ps1 | iex

Manual Download

You can also download prebuilt standalone binaries directly from the GitHub Releases page (linux-x64, linux-arm64, osx-arm64, win-x64, win-arm64).

Option 2: As a .NET Global Tool (requires .NET 10 Runtime)

dotnet tool install --global DotnetTerminalExplorer

Uninstallation

Standalone Native Binary

Linux & macOS

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enisn/DotnetTerminalExplorer/main/uninstall.sh | bash

(Or simply remove ~/.local/bin/dte)

Windows (PowerShell)

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/enisn/DotnetTerminalExplorer/main/uninstall.ps1 | iex

(Or remove the $HOME\.dte folder)

.NET Global Tool

dotnet tool uninstall --global DotnetTerminalExplorer

Usage

Run it for the current directory or a specific scoped folder:

dte
dte ./src
dte /path/to/project

Use dte --help or dte --version without initializing Terminal.Gui or filesystem services.

Shortcuts

F8 and Ctrl+S are disabled for directories. Files can be edited directly in the right-hand editor pane and saved with Ctrl+S. Press F2 to trigger an inline rename bar in the tree pane (Enter commits, Esc cancels).

Initial behavior

• Directories are listed before files, and hidden entries are included.
• Only the root's immediate children are enumerated at startup. Descendants are read when their directory is expanded.
• Directory symlinks and reparse points inside the selected scope are shown but are not expanded.
• File previews and edits use UTF-8 text read/write with dirty state tracking.
• There is no search, file watcher, binary detection, preview-size limit, or external configuration loading.

Lightweight startup

The startup path intentionally avoids Generic Host and dependency injection containers. Only one source-generated CliFx command descriptor is registered, command activation uses an explicit type switch, and the command constructor stores only a runner delegate. Path validation completes before filesystem services and Terminal.Gui are created.

Projects

• src/DotnetTerminalExplorer.Core — UI-independent explorer logic.
• src/DotnetTerminalExplorer — the packable Terminal.Gui application.
• tests/DotnetTerminalExplorer.Core.Tests — Core unit tests.
• tests/DotnetTerminalExplorer.Tests — CLI and TUI tests.

Build

dotnet restore
dotnet build DotnetTerminalExplorer.sln --no-restore -c Release
dotnet test DotnetTerminalExplorer.sln --no-build --no-restore -c Release

Pack and install for development

Create the tool and symbol packages under nupkg:

pwsh ./pack.ps1

Repack and install the local package globally:

pwsh ./install-dev.ps1

The development install script removes an existing global development installation first so rebuilding the same version is deterministic.

Publishing

CI restores, builds, tests, packs, installs the tool into an isolated directory, and exercises dte --help and dte --version. NuGet.org publishing is a separate manual GitHub Actions workflow that requires the NUGET_API_KEY repository secret.

License

MIT