Picleo

A fuzzy picker/matcher CLI using nucleo, as well as a library to implement this functionality in other programs.

Picleo was inspired by and is most similar to nucleo-picker but with different/expanded functionality e.g. selection of multiple items, and adding non-existing items to the "selection" that should be created.

Additionally, this crate is a test for AI coding using Aider and Claude 3.7 (at least initially). Code that is AI generated is marked with (aider) in the author field of git commit messages. Though all code is checked and refactored by the author.

Status

This is currently alpha phase software. It is feature incomplete compared to Skim, fzf, and other fuzzy finders, though it does handle some basic tasks.

The current development focus is on integrating this into a larger project as a selector widget. As such, it's unlikely to gain feature parity with other CLI fuzzy finders in the near future.

Features

This is a mix of feature list and roadmap. Checked features are present in the current version. Unchecked features may be added in any order.

• Can handle selection of multiple items
• Can handle input on stdin
• List directory contents, with recursive option
• List file contents
• Preview command functionality
• Running commands on selected entries
• Support config via args and file
• Builder pattern for config when used as a library
• Allows custom sorting and re-sorting of items
• Allows for the creation of new items not originally in the input
• Customizable headers and header lines
• Support multi-column chooser with column naming
• Choose columns to display with delimiter pattern
• Choose columns to output with join string
• Support prefix based filters and args e.g. title:
• Has filtering options for fields besides those shown and fuzzy matched against
• Is fast for large numbers of items
• Allows the core functionality to be embedded in other software as a library
• Can wrap arbitrary object types and return the whole objects after matches
• Supports mouse scroll wheel
• Middle-click to toggle item selection
• Click on items to toggle item selection

Due to the excellent design of nucleo we are able to load matches in separate threads while the user starts searching. Currently, the --threaded option controls whether we perform item loads in separate threads. Only one thread is used to load arguments from STDIN while one thread per arg is used when passing file path arguments.

Usage

Picleo allows fuzzy finding of items from potentially enormous item lists. It's been tested with 300k+ items and the performance is good i.e. no user-noticeable delay.

• The currently selected item will be returned when pressing the return key.
• Multiple items can be selected by typing Tab or middle-clicking via the mouse.
• Escape causes picleo to exit and return nothing.

The TUI is rendered on STDERR in Alternate Screen Mode.

• Rendering on STDERR allows for easy redirection of the output on STDOUT into other files or programs.
• Alternate Screen mode is used so as not to interfere with other terminal output and scrollback.

Search Syntax

Picleo supports the fzf style search syntax that nucleo::pattern::AtomKind supports.

Picleo can currently be used in two modes:

Input Mode

Lines can be piped directly into picleo via STDIN.

ls | picleo

Directory Listing Mode

If one or more directories are specified on the command line, their contents will be listed in picleo. Recursive traversal can be achieved with the --recursive flag.

picleo --recursive ~/Movies