Fika

Fika is a Rust file-manager shell for Linux desktops. The active implementation is a GPUI package built around a UI-neutral core and Dolphin-inspired directory lister/model flow.

GPUI is pulled from the official Zed repository: https://github.com/zed-industries/zed. The manifest does not pin GPUI to a crate release, branch, revision, or concrete numeric version.

中文版 / Chinese

Current Scope

The current cutover build contains:

• GPUI manager window with a directory pane.
• Dynamic split panes with stable PaneId routing.
• UI-neutral directory lister and model in fika-core.
• Pane-scoped reload and filesystem watcher refresh.
• Current-directory-removed fallback to the nearest existing ancestor.
• Pane-local selection, navigation shortcuts, move-to-trash, and undo refresh.
• Minimal GPUI chooser mode that prints selected paths and portal metadata.
• XDG Desktop Portal FileChooser backend binary.
• System-bus privileged helper binary boundary.

The older UI implementation has been removed from the main tree. Work that is not present in the GPUI package should be treated as future implementation, not an active feature.

Layout

src/
  lib.rs                     UI-neutral core module exports
  directory.rs               Directory lister and watcher event classification
  entries.rs                 File entry metadata and sorting input
  model.rs                   Directory model snapshots and model signals
  pane.rs                    Pane identity, pane state, split/close routing
  operations.rs              Operation queue and undo payloads
  file_ops.rs                File transfer/trash/create/rename primitives
  privilege.rs               Privileged operation API surface
  main.rs                    Main `fika` GPUI application and chooser shell
  bin/fika-xdp-filechooser.rs
                             XDG Desktop Portal FileChooser backend
  bin/fika-privileged-helper.rs
                             System-bus helper for protected operations

The root manifest is a single Cargo package. It exposes the fika_core library from src/lib.rs and builds the fika, fika-xdp-filechooser, and fika-privileged-helper binaries from src/main.rs and src/bin/.

Build

Prerequisites:

• Rust with the 2024 edition toolchain.
• Linux desktop development libraries needed by GPUI and zbus.
• Network access the first time Cargo fetches the Zed repository dependencies.

Build and run:

cargo build
cargo run -- /path/to/start

Run the chooser shell:

cargo run -- --chooser ~/Downloads
cargo run -- --chooser-directory --chooser-multiple ~/Downloads

Run checks:

cargo fmt --all
cargo test
cargo check

CLI

fika [options] [start-directory]

Option	Description
--chooser	Start in file chooser mode.
--chooser-directory	Select directories instead of files.
--chooser-multiple	Select more than one path before confirmation.
--chooser-title <text>	Set the chooser window title.
--chooser-accept-label <text>	Set the chooser action label.
--chooser-filter-index <n>	Return n as selected filter metadata.
--chooser-return-filter	Print selected filter metadata before paths.
--chooser-choices <list>	Preserve portal choice metadata.
--chooser-return-choices	Print selected choice metadata before paths.
--chooser-parent-window <handle>	Accept the portal parent-window argument.
-h, --help	Print help.

The chooser prints paths to stdout. When requested, metadata rows are printed before paths with FIKA_CHOOSER_FILTER and FIKA_CHOOSER_CHOICE prefixes.

Desktop Integration

Packaged installation deploys D-Bus service files, Polkit policy, and portal metadata alongside the binaries.

sudo PREFIX=/usr BINDIR=/usr/lib/fika scripts/install-data.sh
scripts/check-runtime-integration.sh

Installing fika.portal only registers the backend. To make it the active FileChooser backend, opt in through xdg-desktop-portal configuration. See docs/examples/fika-portals.conf.

Documentation

• docs/DESIGN.md - Current GPUI/core architecture.
• docs/TODO.md - Remaining implementation tasks.
• docs/REFERENCE.md - Dolphin and Fika reference index.
• docs/GPUI_DOLPHIN_MIGRATION_PLAN.md - Original cutover plan.

License

MIT