norte / Orthodox file manager
The Total Commander you missed on Linux, in your terminal too.
Two panes, F-keys, a menu bar, and keymap presets so your fingers already know it. norte adds what the classics don't have: a journal of every change, a daemon that every screen shares, and agents that ask before they touch anything.
Terminal · ntc
The two-pane file manager for any terminal. No desktop or background service required.
$curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/compilando/norte/releases/download/v0.3.0-alpha.16/norte-tui-installer.sh | shLinux x86_64, 15 MB, no root, installs into ~/.cargo/bin
Window · norte-gui
The native desktop app. Each package also includes ntc and norte.
01
Your keys come with you
Seven keymap presets, transcribed from the managers they are named after: total-commander, far, norton, krusader, orthodox, vim and cua. Every command lives in the palette with the key your preset gives it.
02
The same program, in a window
norte-gui is a native window over the same core, with the same keys and themes. It ships as .deb, .rpm and AppImage for Linux, and as a first preview for Windows.
Coming from somewhere?
norte next to mc, Far, Total Commander and yazi.
| Feature | norte | Midnight Commander | Far Manager | Total Commander | yazi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs in a terminal | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Native desktop window | ✓ | — | — | ✓ | — |
| Two panes by default | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | —Miller columns |
| Several screens on one core (daemon) | ✓ | — | — | — | —DDS syncs state, not tasks |
| SFTP | ✓ | ✓ | Via pluginNetBox | Via pluginSFTP plugin | ✓ |
| S3 / object storage | ✓ | Via plugins3+ extfs, reported broken | Via pluginNetBox | Via pluginthird-party wfx | — |
| Archives as folders | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Via pluginarchivemount.yazi |
| Journal of every operation | ✓hash-chained | — | — | Partlyoptional log file | — |
| AI agents, under a policy (MCP) | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Plugins, sandboxed with consent | ✓WASM, per capability | —scripts, full rights | —native DLLs | —native DLLs | —Lua, no sandbox documented |
| Copies in the background | ✓ | ✓ | Via plugin | ✓ | ✓ |
| Platforms | Linux · Windows (preview) · macOS from source | Linux · macOS · BSD | Windows (far2l fork: Linux, macOS) | Windows · Android | Linux · macOS · Windows |
| License | AGPL-3.0 (protocol MIT/Apache) | GPL-3.0+ | BSD-3-Clause | Shareware | MIT |
Checked against each project's own documentation on 26 September 2026. Something wrong or out of date? Tell us in an issue.
When norte is not the one for you
You need macOS binaries today.
Far Manager's far2l and yazi ship them; on macOS norte builds from source for now.
You want decades of battle-testing.
Midnight Commander has them. norte is an alpha, and says so.
You like Miller columns and a big Lua ecosystem.
That is yazi, and it is excellent at it.
Whichever you pick, you are in good company. If one of them serves you well, star it, report a bug, send a patch or just thank its maintainers: the orthodox family is still going because of them.
FAQ
›Does norte work like Total Commander?
It follows the same orthodox model — two panes, F5 to copy, F6 to move — and has a total-commander keymap preset, along with far, norton, krusader, orthodox, vim and cua.
›Is there a Windows version?
Yes, a first preview for Windows 10 and 11 x64: an installer that needs no admin, or a portable ZIP. It is unsigned for now, so SmartScreen will ask.
›Is norte stable?
It is an alpha: interfaces and configuration may still change. Midnight Commander has decades of use behind it, and norte doesn't pretend otherwise.
Download
Ready to point north?
Install the Linux alpha today, or build norte anywhere Rust runs. No account and no telemetry.
ntc — the file manager
$curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/compilando/norte/releases/download/v0.3.0-alpha.16/norte-tui-installer.sh | shnorte — daemon, CLI, MCP
$curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/compilando/norte/releases/download/v0.3.0-alpha.16/norte-cli-installer.sh | shThe window · one bundle, three binaries
Windows · first preview, unsigned
Each package carries norte and ntc with it, so a clean install always has a daemon to talk to.
Linux x86_64, and a first Windows x86_64 preview. macOS builds from source; binaries come the day releases are built in CI.