Yazi
Hacker ApprovedRanked 7 of 19 file managers by recommenders
A fast terminal file manager with built-in image preview that works well alongside Neovim and other shell tools.
A fast terminal file manager with built-in image preview that works well alongside Neovim and other shell tools.
25 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 25
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 25 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Terminal-based and scriptable
“a TUI file browser that has image (and other filetypes) preview built in”
Comment from 11 May 2026 in “Linux Terminal Memory Usage” “Most of the time, I rely on it within Yazi, a TUI file manager”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “State of Terminal Emulators in 2025: The Errant Champions” “TUI applications like yazi, lsd, fzf , neovim etc”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “Linux 7.2 Released” - Comment from 10 Nov 2025 in “The lazy Git UI you didn't know you need”
- Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Emacs and Vim in the Age of AI”
- Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “Yazi – fast terminal file manager written in Rust, based on async I/O”
Fast and responsive
“I'm impressed that TUI apps like yazi/nnn respond to touch”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “Termux” “Lovely setup, super fast, all in the terminal.”
Comment from 10 Nov 2025 in “The lazy Git UI you didn't know you need” “Maintaining user responsiveness feels so nice.”
Comment from 24 Nov 2025 in “A ncurses-based command line torrent client for high performance” - Comment from 3 Sep 2026 in “Bothy – a one-command terminal workspace from tools you trust”
- Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Claude Chill: Fix Claude Code's Flickering in Terminal”
- Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “Yazi – fast terminal file manager written in Rust, based on async I/O”
Image previews and visual browsing
“a TUI file browser that has image (and other filetypes) preview built in”
Comment from 11 May 2026 in “Linux Terminal Memory Usage” “yazi[0] seems to be able to display images iirc.”
Comment from 11 May 2026 in “Ratty – A terminal emulator with inline 3D graphics” “yazi for a more graphical experience”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “It's hard to justify Tahoe icons” - Comment from 18 May 2026 in “Show HN: Files.md – open-source alternative to Obsidian”
Works with Neovim and shell tools
“TUI applications like yazi, lsd, fzf , neovim etc”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “Linux 7.2 Released” “integrates well with neovim and other shell tools”
Comment from 12 Apr 2026 in “Midnight Captain – A midnight commander inspired file manager” “NeoVim, Yazi, and Tmux are my go-to tools.”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “I switched from VSCode to Zed”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
No reliable exit hook for plugins
“there's no reliable exit hook and plugins have to override hotkeys”
Comment from 12 Apr 2026 in “Midnight Captain – A midnight commander inspired file manager” Not how some people use file managers
“The only problem for me is that it's not how I use a file manager.”
Comment from 12 Apr 2026 in “Midnight Captain – A midnight commander inspired file manager”
Other file managers people recommend
The four most recommended other file managers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dolphin file manager | 77 | 19 | 80% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Finder (macOS) | 61 | 172 | 26% | 9 | 15 yrs22 owners | — |
| Windows Explorer | 36 | 141 | 20% | 11 | 2 yrs4 owners | — |
| Midnight Commander | 34 | 5 | 87% | 12 | — | Approved |
| YaziThis page | 25 | 0 | 100% | 10 | — | Approved |
What people said
23 of the 29 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Faster, lighter, less distracting.”
“TUI applications like yazi, lsd, fzf , neovim etc”
“I find it pretty good for looking at my files.”
“remembering where I put that file with yazi or fzf”
“I use yazi for a visual filepicker”
“yazi[0] seems to be able to display images iirc.”
“a TUI file browser that has image (and other filetypes) preview built in”
“The only problem for me is that it's not how I use a file manager.”
“there's no reliable exit hook and plugins have to override hotkeys”
“integrates well with neovim and other shell tools”
“which was a new, yet practical experience for me”
“excellent tui based file manager named Yazi”
“Very fast and scriptable.”
“Existing file managers like yazi and ranger are great”
“I'm impressed that TUI apps like yazi/nnn respond to touch”
“yazi (Rust) has been a breeze”
“yazi for a more graphical experience”
“NeoVim, Yazi, and Tmux are my go-to tools.”
“Maintaining user responsiveness feels so nice.”
“Lovely setup, super fast, all in the terminal.”
“I find these apps so increadibly useful”
“I have used yazi in the past and I really liked it”
“Most of the time, I rely on it within Yazi, a TUI file manager”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.