HardBore is a file manager that’s in a very early stage of development. Sub-2ms cold start, native OS integration, full keyboard navigation.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Native browser integration – Becomes your system file picker (Linux).
- Keyboard-first – Full navigation without touching the mouse.
- File operations – Copy, cut, paste, move via drag-and-drop, delete.
- Fast search – SQLite FTS5 indexing with fuzzy matching.
- Multi-threaded – Parallel directory crawling with jwalk.
- Low memory – <250MB RAM.
- CLI picker mode – Use as file picker in scripts.
- Default app integration – Open files with system default applications.
Website: github.com/FrogSnot/HardBore
Support:
Developer: FrogSnot
License: GNU Affero General Public License v3.0

HardBore is written in Rust and TypeScript. Learn Rust with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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