VorteX is a high-performance, interactive Terminal User Interface (TUI) file manager and directory router built in modern C++. Powered by the functional FTXUI library and standard filesystem vectors, it provides a lightning-fast, keyboard-driven navigation dashboard with zero dependency bloating.
- Asynchronous Execution Nodes: Offconnects heavy tasks by spawning detached threads for file operations, preventing rendering lag or frozen frames during external triggers.
- Dynamic File System Indexing: Automatically evaluates, tracks, and dynamically sorts directory paths, giving structural layout weight to directory nodes over files.
- Autonomous Query Pipelines: Features an adaptive Find Mode leveraging low-level case-insensitive substring searching algorithms to filter multi-column paths live.
- Dual-Pane Interface Core: Splits structural rendering layouts with highly visible boundary markers that clearly signal state shifts between file trees and text buffers.
Operating VORTEX is strictly decentralized from cursor control devices, relying entirely on direct keystroke event loops mapped for raw velocity:
- Tab Key: Instantly swaps systemic control context between the navigation list and the action layout box.
- Arrow Keys (Up/Down): Moves selection indices smoothly up and down across the discovered entries vector.
- Return / Enter: Validates entry markers; dives deep into subdirectory systems, jumps upwards, or deploys asynchronous background handlers for explicit raw files.
- F / f Key: Drops the operational layer directly into Find Mode, redirecting active alphanumeric characters to input search structures.
- N / n Key: Composes an immediate empty asset inside the local directory path using strings currently waiting in the input staging vector.
- Delete Key: Executes a non-blocking recursive elimination pass on the active item file vector block.
- Escape Key: Completely purges internal search variables and forcibly resets focus parameters back to standard list layouts.
- Q / q Key: Cleanly interrupts the full-screen terminal interaction cycle and returns access gracefully to the execution shell environment.
VorteX strictly obeys the foundational principles of minimized structural footprints. It encapsulates core state managers within isolated component render scopes, ensuring consistent tick performance even under high-density system structures. Part of the automated development toolsets pipeline.
- This project took 4 months from me! There were 3 main attempts for this project.
- Java + JavaFX + Fortran + C++ + C++ Bridge After this attempt, I stopped the project VorteX for about 2 months. I do not think that I should tell the reason it was terminated, but whatever. The reaseon is that all these modules could not communicate efficiently and JavaFX was not good for VorteX.
- C++ CLI This one did not look pretty but more importantly, it did not work well. It had a lot of bugs. After this attempt, I stopped project VorteX again for approximately 1 month.
- C++ FTXUI (TUI) This was the true stabilized version of the project VorteX. It looked so pretty and worked well without bugs.
- 3++ This version is now the rival of Yazi with a far better UI and UX.
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VorteX is inspired by sxyazi/yazi and developed to be an alternative for it.
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VorteX has a one-line edition source code in my other repository OneLineHub. 872 lines, compressed to one!