MiMiNavigator

A modern dual-panel file manager for macOS, built with SwiftUI

Features · Screenshots · Getting Started · Architecture · Archive Support · Roadmap

⚠️ Under active development. APIs and UI may change without notice.

What is MiMiNavigator?

MiMiNavigator is a dual-panel file manager inspired by Total Commander and Norton Commander, reimagined with native macOS technologies. It combines the efficiency of classic two-panel navigation with modern SwiftUI, Swift concurrency (actors, async/await), and macOS 26 liquid-glass design language.

Why another file manager?

Finder lacks dual-panel workflow → MiMiNavigator gives you two panels side by side
Total Commander doesn't exist on macOS → MiMiNavigator brings TC-style menus and hotkeys
Built as a SwiftUI showcase → clean architecture, strict concurrency, modular packages

Screenshots

Preview

History

Features

Core

Feature	Description
Dual Panels	Two independent file panels with synchronized operations
Tabbed Interface	Multiple tabs per panel (⌘T open, ⌘W close, ⌘⇧]/[ switch); tab context menu; persistence between launches
List & Thumbnail Views	Toggle per panel via toolbar; thumbnail size 16–900 pt via inline status-bar slider
Finder-Style Table	Sortable columns: Name, Size, Date, Permissions, Owner, Type
Multi-Selection	Cmd+Click toggle, Shift+Click range, Insert mark+next, pattern matching, Ctrl+A
Group Operations	Batch Cut/Copy/Compress/Share/Delete on marked files; group context menu
Multi-File Drag & Drop	Drag all marked files together; badge preview with count; Finder-compatible; works in both list and thumbnail views
Open With	Per-extension LRU (max 5) — recently used apps float to top; "Other..." picks persisted and restored
Find Files	Advanced search: by name (wildcards), content, size, date — with archive search
Archive VFS	Open archives as virtual directories, navigate inside, auto-repack on exit
Parent Directory	`...` entry pinned to top of every panel, archive-aware navigation
Navigation History	Per-panel history with quick-jump popover
Breadcrumb Nav	Click-to-navigate path bar with autocomplete popup (ESC/click-outside dismiss, slide animation)
Favorites Sidebar	Quick access to bookmarked locations (FavoritesKit package)
Real-time Updates	Automatic refresh on file system changes
FTP/SFTP	Remote file browsing via curl (FTP) and Citadel/NIOSSH (SFTP)
Network Neighborhood	SMB/AFP share discovery, mounting, and browsing across LAN
Connect to Server	Saved server bookmarks with keychain passwords, session reuse, disconnect

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action	Key	Action
`↑` `↓`	Navigate	`Tab`	Switch panels
`Enter`	Open	`⌘R`	Refresh
`F5`	Copy to other panel	`⌘.`	Toggle hidden files
`⌘O`	Open / Get Info	`⌘T`	New Tab
`⌘W`	Close Tab	`⌘⇧]`/`⌘⇧[`	Next/Prev Tab
`Cmd+Click`	Toggle file mark	`Shift+Click`	Range select
`Insert`	Toggle mark + next	`Ctrl+A`	Mark all files
`Num+`	Mark by pattern	`Num-`	Unmark by pattern
`Num*`	Invert marks	`⌘⌫`	Delete marked/selected

TC-Style Menu System

Eight menu categories matching Total Commander conventions: Files (F6 Rename, Pack/Unpack, Compare) · Mark (Select/Deselect groups) · Commands (Terminal, CD Tree) · Net (FTP) · Show (View modes, Hidden files) · Configuration · Start (Tabs) · Help.

UI & Design

macOS 26 Liquid-Glass menu bar with ultra-thin material, gradient borders, and multi-layered shadows
Pixel-perfect Retina rendering via backingScaleFactor
Sticky column headers, zebra-striped rows with themed colors (active/inactive panel)
Zebra background fill extends below file rows to fill empty panel space
Animated toolbar buttons, NSVisualEffectView popover for autocomplete
Hidden files shown in bluish-gray, symlinks labeled as "Alias"

Archive Support

MiMiNavigator can browse archives as virtual directories. Double-click opens the archive, .. exits with automatic repacking if files were modified.

50+ formats supported:

Category	Formats
Standard	`zip` `7z` `rar` `tar`
Compressed TAR	`tar.gz` `tar.bz2` `tar.xz` `tar.zst` `tar.lz4` `tar.lzo` `tar.lz` `tar.lzma`
Packages	`deb` `rpm` `cab` `cpio` `xar`
macOS	`dmg` `pkg`
Java/Android	`jar` `war` `ear` `aar` `apk`
Disk Images	`iso` `img` `vhd` `vmdk`
Legacy	`arj` `lha` `lzh` `ace` `sit` `sitx` `Z`

Extraction chain: /usr/bin/unzip → /usr/bin/tar (libarchive) → 7z (fallback). Install 7z for full format support: brew install p7zip.

Getting Started

⚠️ Download & Run (Pre-Built Binary)

The app is not notarized. macOS Gatekeeper will block it on first launch. You must run this command after downloading:

xattr -cr ~/Downloads/MiMiNavigator.app

Then double-click MiMiNavigator.app as usual.

Alternatively: right-click the app → Open → click Open in the dialog.

Download latest release →

Build from Source

Requirements:

macOS 26+ (Apple Silicon)
Xcode (latest) with Swift 6.2
Optional: brew install swiftlint swift-format p7zip

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/senatov/MiMiNavigator.git
cd MiMiNavigator
zsh Scripts/stamp_version.zsh   # sync version from git tag
open MiMiNavigator.xcodeproj
# ⌘R to build and run

Or via command line:

zsh Scripts/stamp_version.zsh
xcodebuild -scheme MiMiNavigator -configuration Debug \
  -destination 'platform=macOS' CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO build

Production Build:

xcodebuild -project MiMiNavigator.xcodeproj -scheme MiMiNavigator \
  -configuration Release -derivedDataPath /tmp/mimi_build build CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=YES

Binary output: /tmp/mimi_build/Build/Products/Release/MiMiNavigator.app

Architecture

MiMiNavigator/
├── GUI/Sources/
│   ├── App/                # Entry point, AppLogger, toolbar
│   ├── AppDelegates/       # NSApplicationDelegate
│   ├── States/
│   │   ├── AppState/       # AppState (@Observable), SelectionManager,
│   │   │                   # MultiSelectionManager, StatePersistence,
│   │   │                   # FileListSnapshot, FileSortingService
│   │   ├── Commands/       # AppCommands (menu bindings)
│   │   └── History/        # PanelNavigationHistory, SelectionsHistory,
│   │                       # HistoryEntry, FileSnapshot
│   ├── Features/
│   │   ├── Tabs/           # TabItem, TabManager, TabBarView, TabItemView,
│   │   │                   # TabContextMenu
│   │   ├── Panels/         # FilePanelView, FileRow, FileRowView,
│   │   │   │               # FileTableRowsView, SelectionStatusBar,
│   │   │   │               # AliasIconComposer, PanelDividerView
│   │   │   ├── FileTable/  # FileTableView (+Actions, +State),
│   │   │   │               # TableHeaderView, TableKeyboardNavigation,
│   │   │   │               # ColumnLayoutModel, ResizableDivider
│   │   │   └── Filter/     # PanelFilterBar, PanelFilterHistory
│   │   ├── Network/        # NetworkNeighborhoodView, NetworkHost,
│   │   │                   # NetworkMountService, NetworkDeviceFingerprinter,
│   │   │                   # FritzBoxDiscovery, WebUIProber
│   │   └── ConnectToServer/# ConnectToServerView, RemoteFileProvider,
│   │                       # RemoteConnectionManager, RemoteServerStore
│   ├── ContextMenu/
│   │   ├── ActionsEnums/   # FileAction, DirectoryAction, MultiSelectionAction,
│   │   │                   # PanelBackgroundAction
│   │   ├── Menus/          # FileContextMenu, DirectoryContextMenu,
│   │   │                   # MultiSelectionContextMenu, OpenWithSubmenu
│   │   ├── Dialogs/        # ConfirmationDialog, RenameDialog, PackDialog,
│   │   │   │               # BatchConfirmation/Progress, CreateLinkDialog
│   │   │   └── FileConflict/  # FileConflictDialog, ConflictResolution
│   │   └── Services/       # ContextMenuCoordinator, ClipboardManager,
│   │       │               # CompressService, QuickLookService
│   │       ├── Coordinator/   # FileActionsHandler, DirectoryActionsHandler,
│   │       │                  # MultiSelectionActionsHandler, ActiveDialog
│   │       └── FileOperations/ # FileOperationsService (core: copy/move/conflict),
│   │                          # FileOpsService+Delete, +Rename, +SymLink,
│   │                          # BatchOperationCoordinator, DirectorySizeCalculator
│   ├── Services/
│   │   ├── Archive/        # ArchiveManager (actor), ArchiveExtractor,
│   │   │                   # ArchiveRepacker, ArchiveFormatDetector,
│   │   │                   # ArchiveNavigationState, ArchivePasswordStore
│   │   ├── Scanner/        # DualDirectoryScanner (actor), FileScanner,
│   │   │                   # FSEventsDirectoryWatcher
│   │   ├── FileOperations/ # BasicFileOperations, FileDialogs, VSCodeIntegration
│   │   └── Diagnostics/    # SpinnerWatchdog
│   ├── FindFiles/          # FindFilesViewModel, FindFilesCoordinator,
│   │   │                   # FindFilesWindowContent, SearchHistoryManager
│   │   └── Engine/         # FindFilesEngine (actor), FindFilesNameMatcher,
│   │                       # FindFilesContentSearcher, FindFilesArchiveSearcher,
│   │                       # NativeZipReader, FindFilesResultBuffer
│   ├── DragDrop/           # DragDropManager, DragPreviewView,
│   │                       # FileTransferConfirmationDialog
│   ├── Menus/              # TC-style glass menu bar, MenuCategory, MenuItem
│   ├── BreadCrumbNav/      # BreadCrumbView, PathAutoCompleteField
│   ├── HotKeys/            # HotKeyStore, HotKeySettingsView, HotKeyRecorderView,
│   │                       # ShortcutConflictValidator
│   ├── History/            # HistoryRow, HistoryWindowContent
│   ├── Favorites/          # FavoritesNavigationAdapter, BookmarkStore
│   ├── Settings/           # SettingsWindowView, SettingsColorsPane,
│   │                       # DiffToolRegistry, SettingsPermissionsPane
│   ├── SplitLine/          # OrangeSplitView, SplitContainer, DividerAppearance
│   ├── Toolbar/            # ToolbarStore, ToolbarCustomizeView
│   ├── Config/             # DesignTokens, UserPreferences, AppConstants,
│   │                       # InterfaceScaleStore, PreferenceKeys
│   └── Localization/       # L10n.swift
├── Packages/               # git submodule → github.com/senatov/MiMiKits (private)
│   ├── ArchiveKit/         # Archive format support module
│   ├── FavoritesKit/       # Reusable favorites module (.dylib)
│   ├── FileModelKit/       # CustomFile model and utilities
│   ├── LogKit/             # Centralized logging (SwiftyBeaver)
│   ├── NetworkKit/         # Network neighborhood discovery (SMB/AFP)
│   └── ScannerKit/         # File scanning utilities
└── GUI/Docs/               # Architecture docs, screenshots

Key Patterns

Pattern	Usage
`@Observable` + `@MainActor`	`AppState` — global app state, panels, archive states
`@Observable` + `@MainActor`	`MultiSelectionManager` — Cmd/Shift click, Insert mark, pattern match
`@Observable` + `@MainActor`	`TabManager` — per-panel tab collection, persistence, navigation
`@Observable` + `@MainActor`	`ContextMenuCoordinator` — singleton handling all context menu actions
`actor`	`DualDirectoryScanner` — thread-safe file scanning
`actor`	`ArchiveManager` — session lifecycle, dirty tracking, extraction, repacking
`AsyncStream`	`FindFilesEngine` — streaming search results with cancellation
`filesForOperation()`	Unified API: returns marked files if any, single selected file otherwise
`NSEvent.modifierFlags`	Detecting Cmd/Shift during SwiftUI gesture handlers
Security-Scoped Bookmarks	Persistent file access in sandboxed mode
Swift Package (dynamic)	`FavoritesKit` — extracted as reusable `.dylib`

Logging

Uses SwiftyBeaver with tags: [FindEngine] [ArchiveSearcher] [Extractor] [Repacker] [FormatDetector] [SELECT-FLOW] [NAV] [DOUBLE-CLICK]

Log files:

Sandboxed: ~/Library/Containers/Senatov.MiMiNavigator/Data/Library/Application Support/MiMiNavigator/Logs/MiMiNavigator.log
External (dev): /private/tmp/MiMiNavigator.log

Roadmap

Done ✅

In Progress 🚧

Batch rename for marked files
Terminal integration at current path
Custom themes and color schemes
Scroll-to-selection after rename/create operations

Planned 🎯

Three-panel layout option
FTP/SFTP connectivity (Citadel SFTP + curl-based FTP)
Network filesystem (SMB/AFP mount, Network Neighborhood discovery)
Cloud storage (iCloud, Dropbox)
Advanced file comparison
Plugin system
App Store release

Contributing

Contributions welcome! MiMiNavigator is a real-world SwiftUI project with clean architecture, strict Swift 6.2 concurrency, and plenty of room to grow.

Good First Issues

Looking for a way to start? Here are areas where help is especially appreciated:

Area	Difficulty	Description
Batch Rename	⭐⭐	Rename multiple marked files with pattern (e.g. `Photo_{N}.jpg`)
File Preview	⭐⭐	Quick Look panel for selected file (QLPreviewPanel integration)
Themes	⭐⭐	Dark/light/custom color schemes with persistence
Localization	⭐	Translate UI strings (German and Russian already done)
Unit Tests	⭐⭐	Tests for MultiSelectionManager, FileOperations, ArchiveManager
FTP/SFTP	⭐⭐⭐	Remote file system panel via Network framework
Performance	⭐⭐	Profile and optimize for directories with 10k+ files

How to Contribute

Fork the repo and create a feature branch
Read CONTRIBUTING.md for code style and commit guidelines
Build and test locally (⌘R in Xcode)
Open a PR with a clear description and screenshots for UI changes

Why Contribute?

Learn SwiftUI on a real dual-panel file manager (not a todo app)
Swift 6.2 concurrency — actors, async/await, @Observable, strict Sendable
macOS-native development — NSWorkspace, security-scoped bookmarks, Quick Look, AppleScript
Clean architecture — modular structure, no file over 400 lines, extensive logging
Friendly maintainer who reviews PRs quickly

I openly acknowledge using AI assistants for architecture discussions and code review. This README was crafted with care for both humans and crawlers.

Third-Party Libraries

MiMiNavigator uses the following open-source libraries. We are grateful to their authors.

SwiftyBeaver -- Structured Logging

Author: Sebastian Kreutzberger and contributors
License: MIT
Repository: https://github.com/SwiftyBeaver/SwiftyBeaver
Usage in project: All application logging -- console output and persistent log file at ~/Library/Logs/MiMiNavigator.log. Bootstrapped in LogKit package, re-exported as global log across all source files so every module can use log.debug / log.info / log.error without additional imports.

Citadel -- SSH / SFTP Client

Author: Joannis Orlandos (Orlandos BV) and contributors
License: MIT
Repository: https://github.com/orlandos-nl/Citadel
Usage in project: SFTPFileProvider -- full SFTP connectivity in the Connect to Server feature. Provides SSHClient, SFTPClient, and OpenSSH private-key parsing. Replaces what would otherwise require spawning ssh/sftp CLI processes or linking against libssh2.

Where Open-Source Libraries Could Further Help

Several areas in MiMiNavigator use custom implementations that could be simplified or replaced by existing open-source libraries.

1. Archive handling -- ZIPFoundation

Files: NativeZipReader.swift (~350 lines), ZIP branch of FindFilesArchiveSearcher.swift

Current approach: Custom binary ZIP central-directory parser + Process() wrappers around /usr/bin/unzip, /usr/bin/tar, 7z.

Candidate: ZIPFoundation (MIT, Thomas Zoechling)

Pure Swift, no Process() spawning for ZIP/GZIP
Streaming extraction, password-protected archives, in-memory entries
Would eliminate NativeZipReader and its error-prone manual byte-offset arithmetic
TAR/7z/RAR still require CLI fallback (no pure-Swift lib covers all 50+ formats)

2. FTP file listing -- curl

File: FTPFileProvider.swift -- parseFTPListing() method

Current approach: URLSession FTP + hand-written Unix-style LIST output parser. Fragile: breaks on IIS FTP, DOS-style listings, localized dates. URLSession FTP is deprecated by Apple.

Candidate: curl via Process() -- already present on every Mac

curl -l ftp://host/path gives clean filename-per-line output, no parsing needed
curl --ftp-ssl adds FTPS for free
Handles MLSD, active/passive mode, AUTH TLS automatically

3. Network device fingerprinting -- nmap

Files: NetworkDeviceFingerprinter.swift (~200 lines), WebUIProber.swift

Current approach: Custom async TCP port prober via POSIX connect(), checks 20+ ports per host in parallel, classifies device type by open-port combination.

Candidate: nmap (GPLv2) via Process()

Already used manually during development for Vuduo2 diagnostics -- proven reliable
nmap -sV --open -p <ports> <host> returns service names in machine-parseable format
Would eliminate ~200 lines of custom probing logic
Caveat: requires brew install nmap; must remain optional with graceful fallback

4. SSH private-key auth -- Citadel (already resolved)

Status: Resolved -- Citadel (already a SPM dependency) provides Insecure.RSA.PrivateKey(sshRsa:) and Curve25519.Signing.PrivateKey for OpenSSH private key parsing.

5. Glob / wildcard matching (low priority -- current code is adequate)

File: FindFilesNameMatcher.swift -- ~30-line wildcard-to-regex converter. Works correctly for current feature set; worth revisiting only if {a,b} alternation or ** recursive matching is needed.

Acknowledgements

MiMiNavigator is developed by Iakov Senatov -- Diplom-Ingenieur (Chemical Process Engineering), 35 years of programming experience.

Sincere thanks to the open-source community:

Author	Project	Why it matters
Sebastian Kreutzberger	SwiftyBeaver	Clean, fast, zero-ceremony logging that just works
Joannis Orlandos	Citadel	Excellent SSH/SFTP library, bridges the gap SwiftNIO SSH leaves open
Thomas Zoechling	ZIPFoundation	Model of clean Swift API design, earmarked for adoption
The nmap Project	nmap	Gold standard in network diagnostics, invaluable during LAN discovery development
Apple	SwiftNIO, SwiftUI, kqueue, NetServiceBrowser	Making macOS-native development a genuine pleasure

Special thanks to Anthropic / Claude for pair-programming throughout this project -- architecture decisions, refactoring, debugging, and documentation.

License

AGPL-3.0 — Iakov Senatov

_{Made with ❤️ for macOS · Building the future of file management, one commit at a time}

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 1,135 Commits
.github		.github
GUI		GUI
MiMiNavigator.xcodeproj		MiMiNavigator.xcodeproj
Packages @ 0825509		Packages @ 0825509
Scripts		Scripts
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
.gitmodules		.gitmodules
.periphery-index.yml		.periphery-index.yml
.periphery.yml		.periphery.yml
.swift-format		.swift-format
.swiftlint.yml		.swiftlint.yml
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
Icon.iconset		Icon.iconset
LICENSE		LICENSE
MiMiNavigator.entitlements		MiMiNavigator.entitlements
README.md		README.md
add_logkit.py		add_logkit.py
release.zsh		release.zsh

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MiMiNavigator

A modern dual-panel file manager for macOS, built with SwiftUI

What is MiMiNavigator?

Screenshots

Features

Core

Keyboard Shortcuts

TC-Style Menu System

UI & Design

Archive Support

Getting Started

⚠️ Download & Run (Pre-Built Binary)

Build from Source

Architecture

Key Patterns

Logging

Roadmap

Done ✅

In Progress 🚧

Planned 🎯

Contributing

Good First Issues

How to Contribute

Why Contribute?

Third-Party Libraries

SwiftyBeaver -- Structured Logging

Citadel -- SSH / SFTP Client

Where Open-Source Libraries Could Further Help

1. Archive handling -- ZIPFoundation

2. FTP file listing -- curl

3. Network device fingerprinting -- nmap

4. SSH private-key auth -- Citadel (already resolved)

5. Glob / wildcard matching (low priority -- current code is adequate)

Acknowledgements

License

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