lstr: Browse Directory Trees in the Terminal

Overview

lstr presents directory contents as a tree, offering a faster way to scan project structure than navigating files one at a time. It combines a traditional tree-style command with an optional keyboard- and mouse-driven terminal interface.

It is aimed at terminal users who want more than a static listing: optional Git status, filtering, sorting, file details, and JSON or HTML output make it useful for both interactive exploration and simple automation.

Key Features

• Switch between classic tree output and an interactive terminal UI with expandable directories and file opening in a configured editor.
• Search names in interactive mode using substrings or glob patterns.
• Show Git status for files and directories, and optionally exclude paths ignored by Git.
• Sort by name, size, modification time, or extension, with natural, reverse, and directories-first options.
• Add file sizes, cumulative directory sizes, permissions, or Nerd Font icons to listings.
• Limit tree depth or summarize deep and crowded directories.
• Export JSON for scripts or self-contained HTML for offline browsing.
• Read a path listing from a file or standard input with --fromfile.

Use Cases

• Developers orienting themselves in an unfamiliar repository: inspect the structure interactively, search filenames, and open selected files in an editor.
• Git users reviewing a working tree: display status alongside files and directories, including ignored-file filtering when desired.
• Shell users building file workflows: pipe classic output to tools such as fzf, or use the interactive picker to select a path for shell integration.
• Teams documenting or processing directory contents: generate JSON for scripts or an HTML index for offline browsing.

Getting Started

Install with Homebrew on macOS:

brew install lstr

Or build from the repository with Cargo:

cargo install --path .

Run lstr for a tree of the current directory, or lstr interactive to explore it in the TUI. See the README for other installation options and usage details.

Alternatives

• termscp: termscp is a terminal file manager for browsing and managing local or remote files, while lstr focuses on directory trees and Git status.

Considerations

The project is active, with regular commits and releases, but most contributions come from one person. Its issue history also shows that tickets can take a long time to close, so teams adopting it should account for the limited contributor concentration and slower issue handling. The Rust toolchain requirement may be a hurdle if Rust is not already available in your environment. Some options are mode- or platform-specific: for example, HTML output is classic-mode only, and permission display is limited to Unix-like systems.