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what is commander fr?

shane-farkas/commander — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

0RustAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · moderate

tl;dr

A terminal file picker that lets you visually browse and select files, then send that selection directly into an AI coding assistant like Claude Code, Codex, or Grok Build.

vibe map

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Dual pane file picker
      Sends selection to AI agent
      Opens in new terminal window
    Tech stack
      Rust
      MCP protocol
      Ratatui TUI
    Use cases
      Pick files for AI review
      Speed up agent context building
      Attach explain or review actions
    Audience
      Developers
      AI coding tool users
    Setup
      cargo install
      Register per host
      MIT licensed

Code map

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filefunction / class

what do people make with this?

VIBE 1

Visually browse and mark project files to send directly into an AI coding assistant's context.

VIBE 2

Attach a quick action like review or explain to a batch of selected files before sending them to the agent.

VIBE 3

Register the same Commander binary across multiple AI coding hosts like Claude Code, Codex, and Grok Build.

VIBE 4

Speed up the process of pointing an AI assistant at specific files instead of typing paths manually.

what's the stack?

RustMCPratatuiCargo

how it stacks up fr

shane-farkas/commander04amanrajj/netwatch0xr10t/pulsefi
Stars000
LanguageRustRustRust
Setup difficultymoderatemoderatehard
Complexity2/53/54/5
Audiencedeveloperops devopsdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

how do i run it?

Difficulty · moderate time til it works · 30min

Requires the Rust toolchain to build, plus a one-time registration step specific to whichever AI coding host you use.

MIT license: free to use, modify, and distribute for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as the copyright notice is kept.

in plain english

Commander is a small tool that adds a visual file browser to AI coding assistants that live in your terminal, such as Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, and Grok Build. Instead of typing out file paths by hand when you want an assistant to look at certain files, you open a two panel file picker, mark the files you want with the space bar, and send that selection straight into the assistant's conversation, optionally paired with an action like review or explain. The file picker opens in its own separate terminal window rather than inside the assistant's existing window. This is because these AI assistants take full control of their terminal, so any program they launch normally cannot draw a proper full screen interface there. Once you make your selection in the new window, it is sent back to the assistant using a protocol called MCP, which lets external tools plug into AI assistants. Under the hood, Commander is written in Rust and compiles into a single program with two modes: one that runs the actual dual pane picker interface, and one that acts as the background server the assistant talks to. The two communicate through a small file saved to your computer that records your selection. Setup involves building the program once with Rust's package manager and then registering it with whichever assistant you use, since each one has its own slightly different registration steps. Inside the picker, arrow keys or vim style h j k l keys move between panes and files, space marks or unmarks items, and letters like a, r, and e send your selection with different follow up actions attached. The project describes itself as early stage: the core loop of picking files and sending them to the assistant already works well, but planned features like copying, moving, or deleting files directly from the picker are not built yet. It is released under the MIT license.

prompts (copy fr)

prompt 1
Walk me through building and installing this Commander file picker with cargo.
prompt 2
Explain how Commander communicates a file selection back to Claude Code using MCP.
prompt 3
Show me how to register Commander with OpenAI Codex using the codex mcp add command.
prompt 4
Explain the keymap in Commander's dual pane picker, like what space, a, r, and e do.
prompt 5
Help me understand why Commander opens a separate terminal window instead of drawing inside the agent's own terminal.

Frequently asked questions

what is commander fr?

A terminal file picker that lets you visually browse and select files, then send that selection directly into an AI coding assistant like Claude Code, Codex, or Grok Build.

What language is commander written in?

Mainly Rust. The stack also includes Rust, MCP, ratatui.

What license does commander use?

MIT license: free to use, modify, and distribute for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as the copyright notice is kept.

How hard is commander to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is commander for?

Mainly developer.

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