If you really want to be lazy, use a terminal file manager (I prefer lf[0]) it helps avoiding the cd && ls dance. That way, your history only contains commands you actually would want to rerun.
0: https://github.com/gokcehan/lf
In A shell exclamation mark is not for yelling. Be lazygokcehan
lf
Go2018–2026
gokcehan / lf
lf
Terminal file manager
25Distinct people
25Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
9.6KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
Terminal file manager
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
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Also in these discussions
- jarun/nnn · linked in 4 of the same discussions
- ranger/ranger · linked in 2 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year25 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2018-01-15 16:56:26 UTC to 2026-08-12 06:52:24 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
From the project README
An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.
Read the project’s introduction
LF
Doc
| Wiki
| #lf:matrix.org (with IRC bridge)
lf (as in "list files") is a terminal file manager written in Go with a heavy inspiration from ranger file manager.
See faq for more information and tutorial for a gentle introduction with screencasts.
Features
Cross-platform (Linux, macOS, BSDs, Windows)
Single binary without any runtime dependencies
Fast startup and low memory footprint due to native code and static binaries
Asynchronous IO operations to avoid UI locking
Server/client architecture and remote commands to manage multiple instances
Extendable and configurable with shell commands
Customizable keybindings (vi and readline defaults)
A reasonable set of other features (see the documentation)
Non-Features
Tabs or windows (better handled by window manager or terminal multiplexer)
Builtin pager/editor (better handled by your pager/editor of choice)
Builtin commands for file operations (better handled by the underlying shell tools including but not limited to mkdir, touch, chmod, chown, chgrp, and ln)
Installation
See packages for community maintained packages.
See releases for pre-built binaries.
Building from the source requires Go.
On Unix:
env CGO_ENABLED=0 go install -trimpath -ldflags="-s -w" github.com/gokcehan/lf@latest
On Windows cmd:
set CGO_ENABLED=0
go install -trimpath -ldflags="-s -w" github.com/gokcehan/lf@latest
On Windows PowerShell:
$env:CGO_ENABLED = '0'
go install -trimpath -ldflags="-s -w" github.com/gokcehan/lf@latest
Usage
After the installation lf command should start the application in the current directory.
Run lf -help to see command line options.
Run lf -doc to see the documentation.
See etc directory to integrate lf to your shell and/or editor.
Example configuration files along with example colors and icons files can also be found in this directory.
See integrations to integrate lf to other tools.
See tips for more examples.
Contributing
See contributing for guidelines.
Read the full README on GitHubWhat Hacker News says
25 sources> Also lf. https://github.com/gokcehan/lf You've been wanting this for years as well.
Check out yazi, its the nicest TUI file manager I have used: https://yazi-rs.github.io/
In fd: A simple, fast and user-friendly alternative to 'find'try ugrep https://github.com/Genivia/ugrep ... if you don't switch over in a day, I'll eat my shoe.
It supports all the common grep options and you can split view in the -Q mode and it is smart enough to open your $editor at the line number it's talking about.
Try it, this is the workflow I've been waiting for.
Also lf. https://github.com/gokcehan/lf You've been wanting this for years as well.
No really. Just scroll: https://github.com/gokcehan/lf/wiki/Integrations ... https://github.com/chmouel/zsh-select-with-lf these things will change your life. I promise.
In fd: A simple, fast and user-friendly alternative to 'find'lf is similar (I switched a system Python version update broke ranger). https://github.com/gokcehan/lf
I have it integrated into zsh so the current directory is whatever dir I was in when exiting lf.
In Command Line Tools I Like (2022)This looks neat, but has a lot going on.
I really like how minimalist yet extensible lf [0] is and just use edir [1] to rename files in bulk. Gluing them both together is really easy too.
- [0] https://github.com/gokcehan/lf
- [1] https://github.com/bulletmark/edir
In Superfile – A fancy, pretty terminal file managerA very good alternative to ranger is lf https://github.com/gokcehan/lf
It's a lot faster in all aspects, has mostly the same features and is pretty much a standalone binary.
edit: an even more minimal alteranative is nnn https://github.com/jarun/nnn
In Ask HN: Interesting TUIs (text user interfaces), maybe forgotten ones?You can try https://github.com/gokcehan/lf or https://github.com/sxyazi/yazi or https://github.com/kamiyaa/joshuto.
In Use Midnight Commander like a pro (2015)Nice! For inspiration, you may want to look at `lf`: https://github.com/gokcehan/lf
In Show HN: Nav – A terminal navigator for interactive `ls` workflowsI've tried using LF in the past, but it didn't stick. Will definitely give this a go, as I'm trying to move to an pure terminal workflow as closely as possible.
https://github.com/gokcehan/lf
In Yazi: Fast terminal file manager based on async I/Ohttps://github.com/ranger/ranger
https://github.com/jarun/nnn
https://github.com/gokcehan/lf
https://github.com/MidnightCommander/mc
In Ytree; a Unix Filemanager> does anyone know a lightweight Explorer alternative?
PowerShell. It's builtin, uses little resources, is fast, has pattern globbing, autocompletion, and can be as efficient as using the coreutils on *nix.
Unfortunately nnn and Ranger don't work on Windows, and the WSL uses more resources than explorer so this workaround isn't resource efficient. Cygwin is very efficient and could be a better solution to run them, I haven't tried it.
edit:
Looks like lf works on Windows:
https://github.com/gokcehan/lf
In Windows10Debloater: Script to remove Windows 10 bloatware (2021)See also lf, inspired by ranger.
https://github.com/gokcehan/lf
In Show HN: tere – A Faster Alternative to cd+lsRelated to ranger, nowadays I use lf[0], which is a clone of ranger written in Go. There's also pistol[1] which is a replacement for ranger's rifle file viewer
[0] https://github.com/gokcehan/lf
[1] https://github.com/doronbehar/pistol
In New(ish) command line toolsLF: Terminal file manager written in go
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