_{Keyboard-first, dual-panel TUI file manager for cloud and remote storage}

Bucky brings the Midnight Commander dual-panel experience to your terminal, connecting Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, SFTP, and your local filesystem through a single, keyboard-driven interface. Built with Go and the Charm Bracelet stack.

Demo

                                                                                          
                                        App walkthrough GIF                                        
                                                                                          

Features

• Dual-panel browsing -- remote on the left, local on the right, switchable with Tab
• Four backends -- S3, GCS, SFTP, and local filesystem through a unified interface
• Profile picker -- choose a connection at startup, or jump straight in with --profile
• Two-phase transfers -- arm a transfer on the source panel, confirm on the destination
• Panel-to-panel sync -- preview-first sync workflow with include/exclude patterns, dry-run, and configurable compare modes
• Multi-select -- Space to check rows, then bulk transfer, move, or delete
• Vim-style rename modal -- full normal/insert/visual mode editing for file names
• File preview -- syntax-highlighted preview overlay with CSV rainbow columns
• Sort and filter -- by name, size, or date; toggle hidden files; live search with /
• Metadata pane -- inspect file details and storage-specific metadata
• Transfer progress -- floating modal with progress bars and cancel support
• Structured logs -- dedicated log panel for debugging and operation history
• Theming -- auto, dark, and light modes

Installation

Requirements

• Go 1.25.0 or newer
• A terminal with ANSI color support
• Credentials for any remote backends you plan to use

Install

go install github.com/mrpbennett/bucky/cmd/bucky@latest

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/mrpbennett/bucky.git
cd bucky
go build -o bucky ./cmd/bucky

Run

./bucky                          # launch with profile picker
./bucky --profile prod_s3        # connect directly to a profile
./bucky -p staging_sftp          # short flag

Configuration

Bucky reads a single TOML file at ~/.config/bucky/config.toml. If this file is missing or invalid, Bucky exits with an error.

Global options

theme       = "auto"       # auto | dark | light
sort_by     = "name"       # name | size | date
sort_order  = "asc"        # asc | desc
show_hidden = false
local_start_at_cwd = true # true: launch directory; false: home directory

Sync defaults (optional)

[sync]
dry_run_default      = true
compare_mode         = "mtime_size"   # mtime_size | size_only | exact_timestamps
delete_default       = false
no_overwrite_default = false
concurrency          = 4

Backends

[profile.prod_s3]
type   = "s3"
bucket = "my-prod-bucket"     # use "*" or omit to list all accessible buckets
region = "us-east-1"          # defaults to us-east-1
prefix = "backups/"

[profile.staging_sftp]
type             = "sftp"
host             = "sftp.example.com"
port             = 22                          # defaults to 22
username         = "deploy"
private_key_path = "~/.ssh/id_ed25519"
known_hosts_path = "~/.ssh/known_hosts"        # defaults to ~/.ssh/known_hosts
prefix           = "/var/data/"

[profile.analytics_gcs]
type                 = "gcs"
bucket               = "analytics-bucket"
project_id           = "my-project"
gcp_credentials_file = "~/.config/gcloud/app-credentials.json"
prefix               = "exports/"

Workflows

Two-phase transfer (t)

1. Focus the source panel and select files with Space (or just position the cursor).
2. Press t to arm the transfer.
3. Navigate to the destination directory on the opposite panel.
4. Press t again from either panel to execute.

Starting from the left (remote) panel downloads; starting from the right (local) panel uploads.

                                                                                          
                                       File transfer workflow GIF                                       
                                                                                          

Two-phase move (m)

1. Select source items on the remote panel and press m.
2. Navigate to the destination path, then press m again to execute.

Moves are destructive and only operate within the remote backend.

Sync (s)

1. Focus the source panel and position the cursor on the directory to sync.
2. Press s to open the sync setup overlay.
3. Configure direction, compare mode, include/exclude patterns, and dry-run toggle.
4. Press Enter to generate a preview plan showing exactly what will change.
5. Review the plan, then press Enter to execute (or e to return to setup).

                                                                                          
                                            Sync workflow GIF                                           
                                                                                          

File preview (p)

Press p on any file to open a syntax-highlighted preview overlay. CSV and TSV files get rainbow column coloring. Preview reads up to 64 KiB of content.

                                                                                          
                                             File preview GIF                                            
                                                                                          

Rename (R)

Press R to open a Vim-style rename modal with full normal, insert, and visual mode support.

                                                                                          
                                             Rename modal GIF                                            
                                                                                          

Keybindings

Development

go build -o bucky ./cmd/bucky     # build binary
go run ./cmd/bucky                 # run without building
go install ./cmd/bucky             # install to $GOPATH/bin
go test ./...                      # run all tests
go vet ./...                       # static analysis
gofmt -w .                         # format code

Project layout

cmd/bucky/main.go        CLI entrypoint
internal/
  backend/               Storage backend interface and implementations
                           s3.go, sftp.go, gcs.go, local.go, multibucket.go
  config/                Config loading and profile parsing
  transfer/              Transfer primitives and progress messages
  ui/
    app.go               Root Bubble Tea model
    browser/             Dual-panel file browser component
    transfer/            Transfer queue and progress display
    status/              Status bar with keybinding hints
assets/                  Logo and static assets
docs/                    Design documents and implementation plan

Architecture

The Backend interface (internal/backend/) is the core abstraction. S3, GCS, SFTP, and Local backends all implement the same interface so the UI layer never deals with storage-specific logic.

The UI layer (internal/ui/) uses Bubble Tea's Elm architecture (Model / Update / View). The root app.go model orchestrates panels, overlays, and the transfer queue.

The Transfer engine (internal/transfer/) runs outside the Bubble Tea event loop via goroutines, pushing progress updates back through program.Send(). Supports concurrent transfers with configurable limits.

Config (internal/config/) parses TOML profiles from ~/.config/bucky/config.toml using Viper.

License

MIT