listary

listary

A fast command-line file search utility inspired by Listary, built in Rust.

Features

• ⚡ Fast fuzzy search - Quickly find files and applications by typing partial names
• 📁 Directory traversal - Recursively index files and directories
• 🚀 Application search - Find and launch installed applications (Windows/macOS/Linux)
• 💾 Smart caching - Index cache for faster subsequent searches
• 🎨 Colorful output - Beautiful terminal interface with file type icons
• 🔍 Interactive mode - Real-time search with keyboard navigation
• 📊 File information - Show file sizes and locations
• 🎯 Multi-source indexing - Registry, Start Menu, Program Files, and Applications scanning
• 📜 Search history - Remember and browse previous search queries with arrow keys
• 🤖 Smart auto-open - Automatically open exact application matches
• ⌨️ Shell-like experience - Arrow key navigation, Ctrl+C handling, and command history

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone <your-repo-url>
cd listary

# Build and install
cargo build --release
cargo install --path .

Usage

Command Line Search

# Search for files in current directory
listary "config"

# Search for files in specific paths
listary "readme" --paths "/home/user,/opt"

# Search for applications (cross-platform)
listary "notepad" --apps

# Launch an application directly
listary --launch "notepad"

# Disable auto-opening of exact matches
listary "calculator" --apps --no-auto-open

# Limit results
listary "main" --limit 10

# Rebuild index cache
listary --rebuild

Interactive Mode

# Start interactive search (files only)
listary

# Start interactive search with applications
listary --apps

# Then type your search queries and use interactive features
search> config
search> notepad        # Find applications (exact matches auto-open)
search> ↑             # Browse search history with arrow keys
search> history       # View all search history
search> 1             # Open first result by number
search> clear         # Clear search history
search> q             # Quit

Options

• -p, --paths <PATHS> - Comma-separated paths to search (default: current directory)
• -l, --limit <NUMBER> - Maximum number of results (default: 50)
• -r, --rebuild - Rebuild file index cache
• -a, --apps - Include installed applications in search (cross-platform)
• --launch <APP_NAME> - Launch the first matching application
• --no-auto-open - Disable auto-opening of single exact application matches
• -h, --help - Show help information

Examples

# Find all Rust files
listary "rs"

# Search for configuration files
listary "config" --paths "/etc,~/.config"

# Find applications containing "chrome" (exact matches auto-open)
listary "chrome" --apps

# Find applications without auto-opening
listary "calculator" --apps --no-auto-open

# Launch Notepad directly
listary --launch "notepad"

# Interactive search with applications and custom limit
listary --apps --limit 100

# Search only in specific directories
listary "main" --paths "C:\Users\YourName\Documents,D:\Projects"

# Interactive mode examples
listary --apps
# search> Calculator    # Auto-opens Calculator app
# search> ↑↓           # Browse search history
# search> history      # View all search history
# search> 1            # Open first search result

File Type Icons

The tool displays different icons for various file types:

• 📁 Directories
• 🚀 Applications (installed programs)
• 💻 Code files (.rs, .py, .js, etc.)
• 📄 Text files (.txt, .md, etc.)
• 🖼️ Images (.png, .jpg, etc.)
• 🎵 Audio files (.mp3, .wav, etc.)
• 🎬 Video files (.mp4, .avi, etc.)
• 📦 Archives (.zip, .tar, etc.)
• And more...

Application Search Details

The application search feature scans multiple sources across platforms:

Windows

• Windows Registry - Installed programs from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
• Start Menu - Shortcuts from user and system Start Menu folders
• Program Files - Executable files from C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86)

macOS

• Applications - Apps from /Applications, /System/Applications, and ~/Applications
• System Apps - Core system applications from /System/Library/CoreServices
• App Bundles - Parsing of .app bundles and Info.plist files

Linux

• Desktop Entries - Standard .desktop files in system and user directories
• Executable Files - Direct executable discovery using xdg-open

Interactive Features

• 🔍 Search History - All searches are automatically saved and can be browsed with ↑↓ arrow keys
• 🤖 Smart Auto-Open - Exact application name matches are automatically opened (e.g., typing "Calculator" opens Calculator immediately)
• ⌨️ Keyboard Navigation - Full shell-like experience with history, tab completion, and Ctrl+C handling
• 📜 History Management - View history with history command, clear with clear command

Performance

• Fast indexing - File system traversal with configurable depth limits
• Smart caching - Indexes are cached to avoid repeated scanning
• Fuzzy matching - Intelligent search algorithm that finds partial matches
• Concurrent processing - Multi-threaded operations for better performance